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Dimensions: 173 x 74 cm
I found the rake while looking for banded harlequin ducks at Helliwell Park on Hornby Island. As soon as I picked it up I saw the potential outline of a face. It was funny carrying it up the trail to the parking lot. I had my binoculares around my neck, a spotting scope over one shoulder and the rake over the other. Everybody did a double take as they passed by me. Sometimes you just have to be a little un-ordinary. The wrinkled floats came in together with about 6 other floats all in the same condition. I was really perplexed aabout their origin until I met John Fraser, an ex-crabber from Tofino. He explained that the floats get rolled up in the big kelp balls that get torn loose during the winter storms. When the kelp decays it sinks, dragging the floats down with them. Below 120 feet or so, they compress from the pressure. Eventually the kelp disintegrates, releasing their grip on the floats, sending them back to the surface. The eye lash is a from a child’s comb which I heated and curled with my wife’s hair drier. The eyes are made from camera lense covers, a common tourism by-product on Long Beach. This piece is best viewed hanging outside in the rain on a winter’s day in Tofino. The colours shine like they’ve got a spotlight on them.