Cranky: Sylvan Hamburger
On October 22, 2022 Eastern Edge hosted a pop-up art installation Cranky by artist Sylvan Hamburger. Sylvan will be back for a self-directed residency in EE Studio March 10 – April 22 2023.
Cranky features the printed impressions of a decaying punt found near Eastport NL. Dating back to 1955, the punt was built by farmer Alfred Squire (b. Salvage, NL) to collect capelin fish as a fertilizer for his fields. During a
month-long artist residency in Terra Nova National Park, Sylvan inked and hand pressed the boat’s textures onto linen at the old farm as well as at the local school where Alfred’s great great-grandsons study and helped print the punt with their classmates. The resulting monoprints hung in various outdoor locations along the east coast of Newfoundland, including the old mill in Glovertown, the Factory and Union House Arts buildings in Port Union, the Eastern Edge Gallery building in St. John’s, and the coastal trail in Terra Nova National Park.
Sylvan Hamburger is visual artist working in printmaking, installation, and community collaboration. He often engages architectural debris to reconsider the implications of placemaking and displacement within changing landscapes. Sylvan’s work is shaped by specificities of place, notably his home of East Vancouver within the unceded homelands of the the Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Selílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.