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Sitting at a small table at Starbucks, hoping a cappuccino will help illuminate the path, I wonder how in the world all of the stuff the Canoe Museum is working on is going to come together. We are working on a full roster of fall adult artisan workshops, new education programs, new public events, new tour packages, fundraisers, a strategic planning retreat, a new exhibit for the spring, a fall appeal, the Beaver Club Gala and on top of it all, a project bigger than any of this–a partnership with Parks Canada and the full redevelopment and moving of the Museum to the water! How do we do it?? Read the rest of this entry »
I’m dedicating this blog post to all of the amazing volunteers, past and present, who have committed their time and energy to the Canoe Museum! It’s National Volunteer Week and we’re celebrating all of our volunteers all week long. Volunteers are at the heart of this Museum. They oversee front line operations, assist with special events and serve on committees and on the Board of Directors. They also volunteer in the wood shop, in the office, and in the areas of collections and archives. Talented artisans and tour guides top off our diverse volunteer team.
To give you an idea of the scope of work our volunteers take on, consider that in 2013 alone, 13,144 total hours were contributed by 124 volunteers including the Board of Directors and committees. We are incredibly lucky that this group of talented, passionate and generous people choose the Canoe Museum as one of the ways they give back to their community. THANK YOU to each and every one of our volunteers. We couldn’t do it without you!!
You may or may not know that Peterborough’s Fleming College offers two post-graduate diplomas in Museum related fields. One in Museum Management and Curatorship, and the other in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management. Every year Fleming releases a new cohort of students into museums across the country and a few (including myself!) have been lucky enough to land here at the Canoe Museum. In fact, it was through my internship with the Fleming Museum Management and Curatorship program that I eventually ended up being hired on here at the Museum.
That’s me cleaning away during my internship at the Museum last summer.
We are very lucky to have access to this pool of highly interested and engaged volunteers. Each year we end up with a handful of awesome and dedicated Museum studies volunteers who want to explore different areas of Museum life. Read the rest of this entry »
People make The Canadian Canoe Museum come alive – literally. Without the invaluable support of members, volunteers, and donors, the Museum would not exist. Did you know we doubled our membership in 2012? But with more than 700 Museum members and over 100 volunteers, who are these individual people and businesses that support the Museum? Where do they come from?
It may surprise you (or not) to know that this great Canadian Museum has members from all over the world. Did you know that we have members in Singapore? Or that we have members in Germany and England? What about our members in Belgium or the USA? Individuals around the world have joined numerous Canadians in showing their support for the Museum, by becoming Museum Members, and demonstrating their support year after year, for preserving and celebrating the irreplaceable history, culture, character, and spirit of paddled watercraft. Read the rest of this entry »
The Museum is opening its doors to the public this Sunday, January 13th and offering FREE admission! Yes Free! We are open from 12pm to 5pm and we are featuring our annual show of models and miniatures. Our friends, the Peterborough Model Railroaders and the Lindsay & District Model Railroaders will be filling the Education Room with cool model trains for the kids and the young at heart! The Maple Leaf Telegraph club will be here as well as Steve Guthrie and his military models. There will be kids’ crafts, a snack bar, live artisan demonstrations including paddle making, kayak building and birch bark canoe repair. The Museum Store will be open and sales are to be expected (25% off selected apparel and 40% off select giftware and jewelry)! It is going to be a fabulous day and one that you won’t want to miss. See you Sunday. For more information check out www.canoemuseum.ca or call 705-748-9153.
About a year ago now, on the 2nd floor of the Museum, a unused corner of space was transformed into an interactive educational puppet theatre. This puppet theatre is one of the many kid-inspired and family-friendly components that makes this Museum a museum that I want to bring my own kids to (and often do, like today for strike day camp)!
Cute and cuddly Folkmanis hand and finger puppets of Canadian creatures that dwell in our forests, fields, lakes, rivers and air, are the backbone of this space and provide kids and adults with their inspiration for the many shows that erupt from behind the puppet theatre’s wall. But these creatures really needed a tapestry to fly, swim and live in…and so we turned to volunteer and artisan, Ipie Van der Veen for help. And take a look at the magic she created–
She has a long history of helping create props for the School programs at the Museum; from creating faux seal skin hides to cover our kayaks in the Kayak Building program to sewing costumes for our Trappers and Traders program. When we asked her to create a backdrop for the puppets in the puppet theatre she jumped on the opportunity!
A little background on Ipie; she is the uber creative force here for all things fabric and before fabric she worked in the woodshop and helped build the Museum’s 36′ birch bark canot du maitre! Her Hudson Bay Company blanket mittens, gun cases and camp vests are on sale in the Museum Store and she co-teaches the HBC blanket coat workshop. To top this off, every Christmas she makes 100’s of HBC blanket coat tree ornaments.
You can find Ipie volunteering in the galleries at the Museum on Mondays and Thursdays
Volunteers have been an essential part of the museum since it was first dreamt of in Peterborough – from the Metal Shop to the Board of Directors, volunteers are an integral. Since this is National Volunteer Week, I’d like to take a moment to recognize and thank the many people – past and present – who’ve given so much to make the museum the strong, fabulous organization it is today.
Whether taking your admission or teaching paddle carving, demonstrating needlework or building display racks, volunteers inform every part of the museum experience. Many of the non-artifact parts of our exhibits were fabricated by the team, and fabulous Beaver Club Gala is coordinated by a hard-working group who pull together donations, ticket sales, venue negotiations, menu, entertainment… the list goes on!
While many of our volunteers are canoeing enthusiasts, we have many who’ve barely set foot in a canoe. Read the rest of this entry »
For some March is about shamrocks, spring, or an escape to sand and sun. Even though I like green beer as much as the next person (?), here in the Education Department this month is all about CanoeKids March Break Camp. In a good way. In a fantastic way, actually. We were sold out and into a waitlist situation as of two weeks before camp… which is like a choir of birdies in my ear singing that we should offer even more camp options next year – stay tuned. But this year, we had a wonderful group of kids from the Tuesday to Thursday of March Break, led by the inimitable Jen Burnard, Kelly Pineault and Holly Poell. Huge thanks go out to our dedicated volunteers: Owen, Margaret, Lynzii, Stephanie, Jordan, Cara, Cole – you were indispensable. It’s only because of you that we could (for example) put so many 7-year-olds and hammers in the same room! Read the rest of this entry »
Day 3: Feb 4th, 2012
Kerf cutting the gunwales
Our first task of the day was to continue working on shaping the gunwales – the foundation of the kayak. We now needed to have the tips of the gunwales meet flat together, and one way of accomplishing this task is by using a technique known as kerf cutting. Kerf cutting is accomplished by standing at the end of the kayak and resting a saw on the line where the two gunwales come together. Cutting carefully at the point where the gunwales meet removes an equal amount of wood with each pass of the saw; enabling the gunwales to eventually meet flat together. Read the rest of this entry »
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