The old K&P inspires a trio of artists

Mar 16, 2016

A trio of young, primarily urban-based artists, are planning to bring some local K&P railroad history to Toronto.

The trio, architect/sculptor Noah Scheinman, and photographer/film makers Adam Biehler and Allan Poon, will be participating in the annual "Grow Op" show, which will be held at Toronto's Gladstone Hotel from April 21 to April 24.

All three have been in the area doing site research and talking to locals about the old K&P railway, which has inspired them and will be the subject of their installation at the show.

Scheinman, who now resides near Perth Road village, has long been visiting his family cottage on Bobs Lake and said that he has always been fascinated with the old K&P railway.

He shared that interest with Poon and Biehler and the trio will be producing artwork based on their findings from the research they have been doing in the area.

This will be the fourth installment of the Grow OP show at the Gladstone Hotel. “The show typically focuses on the responses of the participating artists to different landscapes and spaces in and around the GTA but I wanted to represent a different landscape, one that people may not have experienced before, with the aim of linking them to the history of this old railroad, which many people likely know nothing about,” Scheinman said.

“Personally, I am really interested in the old K&P station names and sites on the map and it has been really interesting traveling to those places, seeing what still is and what is no longer there. For the show I will be primarily working with a construction technique known as rammed earth to construct and locate the aspects of the old K&P station sites in the actual space of the gallery,” he explained.

Rammed earth is an ancient building technique for constructing walls, foundations, and floors using natural raw materials like earth, chalk, lime or gravel. The construction method has seen a revival in recent years as people seek out more sustainable building materials and construction techniques. Biehler and Poon will be using their expertise behind their lenses to create different impressions of the landscape using their preferred digital mediums.

The three, who are all working professionals, managed to get hold of Sally Angle, former chair of the Central Frontenac Railway Heritage Society, who agreed to meet with them at the society's caboose and museum at the Railway Heritage Park in Sharbot Lake.

The three were mostly interested in the old time artifacts and stories as well as the “then and now aspects of the trail, both what is used to be and what it has become,” said Angle.

She said she was not surprised by their interest because, “The K&P fascinates many different kinds of people and it has a certain romance about it, I think, that can especially attract artists. And in fact, some of the people you would never suspect to be, are real railway enthusiasts.”

For more information about the Grow Op show, visit www.gladstone hotel.com