The Brazeau/High Water

The Brazeau/​High Water refers to the Brazeau tributary, a significant fur trade travel route used by the Hudson’s Bay Company. 

Ellis’s abstract interpretation of the North Saskatchewan River, flowing from its Brazeau headwaters to Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay, was chosen by a jury led by Catherine Crowston, chief curator of the Art Gallery of Alberta.

The acrylic-on-canvas work, with bold colours ranging from green and gold, capture the energy and motion of the raging river. Like the two other pieces in this series, the imagery depicted in _​The Brazeau/​High Water_ draws inspiration from an excerpt from ​“The Last Crossing” by Canadian author Guy Vanderhaeghe:

“Headwater. Almost immediately, after pushing off, the boulders, the cut-banks, and stands of trees that line the banks of the Brazeau are moving by at an unnerving pace. The experienced canoeist, whose boat I’m sharing, shouts ​“You’ve got control if you’re moving faster or slower than the current”.

A moment later, after back-paddling hard, over the swell of a standing wave, we put in to empty the water from the canoe. I think of another time, fur trade and all, when this was the means of travel. H.B.C., the Hudson Bay Company, or ​“Here Before Christ”. This river certainly was. I see an ammonite on the shore, washed down from a bank well above us, and I think of another time.”