Karen Baldwin, A Feast for the Fairies (2023), needle felting, 23.5 x 29 x 41 cm.
The Douglas Family Art Centre is pleased to partner with TryLight Theatre Co. in bringing to life Kingfisher Days, a memoir written by Lake of the Woods summer resident Susan Coyne. TryLight will be presenting the play on April 23-29, 2023.
This enchanting story has inspired us as well to present a community exhibition titled Kingfisher Days: A Tale of Wonder which will be on view from April 19 – June 3 at the Douglas Family Art Centre. Artists from the community were asked to submit works inspired by themes found in Coyne’s Kingfisher Days.
The book can be borrowed from the Keewatin and Kenora Libraries as well as online.
Please enjoy an excerpt from this lovely book:
A magical tale of friendship and wonder — the perfect gift for the imaginative child in all of us. One summer, in a hedge near her family’s cottage in Kenora, five-year-old Susan Coyne discovered an overgrown stone fireplace. Her father said it was the home of Uncle Joe Spondoolak, an elf who’d moved in after the cottage had burned down long ago. Susan, a fanciful child, decided to become keeper of the hearth, tidying it up and leaving little gifts for the elves: handfuls of wild strawberries, daisy chains, a tiny birchbark canoe. Overnight the gifts would disappear. One morning, there was a tiny piece of carefully folded pink paper wedged in between the mossy stones. “To Helen Susan Cameron Coyne: Greetings Her Majesty, Queen Mab, has instructed me to thank you for making a home for all her people.” Thus began Susan’s correspondence with a precocious young fairy princess, Nootsie Tah, and her indoctrination into the world of the great and little people.Susan took the letter next door to Mr. Moir, because he knew all sorts of interesting things. Sure enough, he had an entire library filled with books about characters such as Puck, Ariel and Oberon. The letters from Nootsie Tah continued, and that summer Susan developed two unique relationships: one with a proud princess from a mystical land, and the other with a gentle gardener with infinite wisdom and patience.
Did you know?
Some names that were originally considered instead of Kenora were— Sultana, Island City, Norman, Pequonga, Lakeside, Imperial, Portage Falls, and Goldwater.