Don Marston - Earth, Air and Water
Don Marston was born in Elora, Ontario in 1933. As a young boy his artistic streak came to the fore when he began to make figurines from clay he found in caves that gave his hometown its name. Elora is named after famous caves in India.Don went on to marry Shirley Tulck, a girl from Newfoundland, and he became a devoted father of four children and many grandchildren. For many years he was employed as a RCMP Officer before ending his working career as a Provincial investigator for the Humane Society.
Throughout his life his love of art continued as he worked for a time in visual media of watercolours and oil painting, creating molds and casting pewter figurines based on maritime motifs, and finally in the early 1980's turning his hand to woodcarving.
The most common themes are fish, birds, and creations made from burls supplied by friend Carmen Steele. (Carmen and Don are shown together in the photo below) How does he arrive at what will be created from each burl? Don states matter of factly, "the burl tells you what it is." We can only hope that Carmen Steel keeps telling him what to create out of them for a long tome to come.
As an artist, Don Marston is not only inspired by nature, he also he recycles natural materials. In 2000 or 2001, Two Finback whales met an unfortunate end in Minas Basin. A female Finback beached on the shore by Huntington Point and was hauled away by the government and disposed of. Another, believed to be a male, may have been struck by a passing ship as the vertebrae on the right side indicate the whale was struck by something large. The carcass decomposed and many of the bones washed up on the beach at Huntington Point.
A good friend of Don's, Carmen Steele, salvaged many of the bones from the dead whale and eventually gave them to Don. Don is now using the whale bones to create artwork - recycling a natural treasure.
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