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The
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The Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, the tip of the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, and the great limestone Burren of Co. Clare in Ireland provide geological, botanical and cultural correspondences related to survival and adaptation. As landscape, the three areas are known for the spectacular rugged beauty of the sculptural limestone outcroppings. These limestone barrens, covered with a thin layer of soil, if any at all, and marked by crevices or grikes, support an incredible diversity of plant life These plants are survivors: usually small, often rare, and always hardy. The limestone environment of the Bruce Peninsula have been described as being home to species at the extreme limits of their normal range. And, in the literature about the Burren in Co. Clare, it is noted that while the flowers found there may not be unique to the barrens, what is unusual, is for such rare plants be found in abundance and together in an environment which combines Mediterranean, Arctic and North American conditions. The Burren, however, stands in marked contrast to the other two areas because its rugged environment is the result of Bronze Age farming practices which turned the area into grazing pastures which eventually encouraged complete erosion of the soil and the exposure of the underlying limestone. Subsequently the region was overrun by the alpine and sub-arctic species of plants.
A report on the Watt's Point Ecological Reserve raises the interesting question as to whether the plants in the limestone barrens of Newfoundland's Great Northern Peninsula live there because they have specific qualities which allow them to grow there or whether they have survived because there is no competition-nothing else can survive in that environment. Furthermore, these species that are forced into the less ideal habitats become the basis for adaptation and change within the species.
These three regions stand as metaphor for survival and adaptation, on the one hand, and, on the other, fragility. Linked as they are through history and culture, similar geology and botany, they also raise questions about exchange, edges and cultural attitudes towards "Nature", environmentalism and landscape. This project, using visual art and the written word, will continue to cultivate a lasting relationship between three regions which share much in character and culture and will build on a previous cultural exchange between Newfoundland & Labrador and the island of Ireland, The Wood Project. Further, we see the project as an opportunity to facilitate contemporary landscape art and art about the environment, particularly in new media. On the Canadian side, we see this project as an opportunity to promote the work of Canadian artists internationally and to cultivate a young audience.
For mor detailed description of the project, go HERE.
L I M E S T O N E
B A R R E N S
Project [all text © 2004 — Charlotte Jones]
Official Limestone Barrens Project Site.
Project Background: Introduction: