Saying Farewell to AiR, Sylvan Hamburger
It’s with great fondness that we reflect on our time with recent AiR, Sylvan Hamburger! For six weeks, the studio was brought to life by Sylvan’s vibrant prints and one beautiful old boat, until it was time to say goodbye. It was a joy to see Sylvan’s prints come together in the space to create massive sail-like textile pieces, and the culmination of his work in a performance during HOLD FAST was simply magical!
Photo Credit: Ethel Brown
Thank you for sharing your work with EE and the St. John’s community, Sylvan! We look forward to seeing where your work brings you next!
Read on to hear a bit about Sylvan’s experience in his own words!
“The Eastern Edge residency was an opportunity to revisit my interests in boatbuilding, community collaboration and site-specific installation. Over the course of my stay, I worked with printed textiles, musicians, boatbuilders and an old wooden punt to create an immersive installation at the First Light Centre for the HOLD FAST Festival.
Photo Credit: Ethel Brown
The installation built upon a previous residency in Terra Nova National Park, where I had worked with the community of Eastport NL to salvage a punt and mono-print its decaying timbres onto colourful textiles. With the support of Eastern Edge, I was able to expand the project to include new textile compositions alongside sound recordings from the Wooden Boat Museum of NL, where I apprenticed in the construction of a boat at the beginning of my residency. Later, I collaborated with the New Aeolian String Quartet to create a live performance in response to the sound and textile works. The resulting installation attempted to reimagine the once-ubiquitous punt as a spectacle of sound, colour and texture—a site of both remembrance and creative possibility.
I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to return to Newfoundland to re-engage this project. Many
thanks to the EE team for their generosity and to all the folks who supported my stay. I can’t wait
to come back!”
