Homeless

Homeless
Sally DeMerchant
Sowchea Elementary School, Grade 7
Oil Pastel
Ft St James
2007

I have lately been informed of global warming, and how the world is getting warmer and warmer and how there are hotter summers and warm winters. Pine beetles live in cycles, they die off in the winter when it is extremely cold and repopulate in the summer, spring and fall. But since it hasn’t really been cold in the winters, the pine beetles live through the winter. The forests are turning from green to red. It has already devastated many towns, cities and communities like Fort St. James. The trees are like matches, giant matches waiting to be struck. Waiting to destroy families, both animal and human. It doesn’t completely look ugly, it is almost like a sign, a sign that says, This is what will happen to us, if you don’t help stop it. Just think of what will happen if the whole landscape, the whole world is red. We don’t want our planet earth to look like a second Mars do we? At least I don’t. We need to protect the trees, and by protecting the trees we also protect the animals and the ecosystems and we also protect ourselves.

new life

new life
sherry smedley
digital photo collection
vanderhoof
2007

images in red

images in red
sherry smedley
mixed media
vanderhoof
2007

Beetle Probe #3

Beetle Probe #3
Sheila Peters
ink & embossing on aluminum
Smithers
2007

When we hike or wander through the bush around our home near Smithers, we often see the aluminum markers left by prospectors, forest companies, and consultants. Whether half-hidden under a fallen claim stake in the alpine or trailing bright flagging tape in an apparently random line through thick bush, they signal our shifting interests in what the land can give us. Only rarely can we predict what will result. The pine beetle is only one threat to our much loved valley. These three poems explore the uncertainty about that threat, one that has become reality for many of you, a reality you are already living with, adapting to.

In the Pines

In the Pines
Ruth Hooper
Quilted landscape
Vanderhoof
2007


As I look at the placid shores of Sinkut Lake and the rolling mountain I see the green landscape turn to red then grey. This is the harsh truth of Mother nature.

Red Attack

Red Attack
Pat Gauthier
Watercolor
Ft St James
2007


My piece has a close relationship with the theme of the” Red and Blue Beetle Exhibition.”
I have painted a scene from our own Woodlot. I’m showing you my personal feelings of how I look at the Mt Pine Beetle devastation on our Woodlot.
I have a conflict of feeling as there is contrasting of colors.
This piece shows a road and red dying trees. But what I see is a road that I helped build with our cat with skill and planning. I see the shadows lying across the contours of the winding twisting road that was built on steep terrain. I see the bright red trees dying with a last stage of blazing beauty. Set against a hopeful optimistic blue sky. I have a sadness that all will gone soon and anger of the vast waste. Knowing that in my generation the pine will be consumed. Yet I can’t help admire the beauty that caught my attention that day.

Tin Soldiers

Tin Soldiers
Melanie Desjardines
Acrylic Painting and Collage on Metal
Prince George
2007

TIN SOLDIERS

We stand
Vulnerable to your attack
You emblazon your mark upon our skin
Summon the frozen sword!
And seek this enemy within

Lightening, fire and blaze once more!
To drop our ash upon nature’s floor

Our steely knives can’t kill this beast
While ravenous upon their feast
Will this frenzied foray end
Before we’re free to rise again?

Melanie Desjardines