The Alberta Rose Flood Project

This explains the idea behind the project

My family has lived on a piece of land near Fort Macleod for 3 generations. In 1995, their lives were altered by a flood. My parents' home was condemned and they were left homeless. My brother's home was on slightly higher ground and was salvageable. The flood of 2013 struck again.

My husband, son and I live in Calgary. While my family helped with the cleanup in Fort Macleod, we helped in various way with the flood relief in Calgary. Bowness. Chinatown. Cooking. Baking.

Then we headed to Fort Macleod to help family.

Such sadness. This family was hit twice.......living on land that was NOT in a flood plain when it was purchased. It was only after the OLD MAN RIVER DAM was built that politicians considered it a flood plain!

This is a pocket of Alberta that the news does not report on. True, the numbers are not as large as those around Calgary, but the heartache is just as real, and even more sad because it seems so unnecessary.

My contribution starts with a 4" x 4" piece of bronze, which I chemically etched to provide texture for the background.

The large leaf is made from a silverplated spoon that was recovered in the flood. It was once my grandmother's. She and grandpa were the original owners of the land. The spoon was heated and forged, and then pierced to resemble an Alberta Rose leaf. "FM 2013" was stamped into it to symbolize the unforgotten victims in Fort Macleod.

The smaller copper leaf was also forged, and then heat "tormented" to symbolize my family's ragged emotions.

The rose itself was pierced out of nickel silver, heated and shaped to give it dimension. The centre of the rose is bronze, the stamen are copper with a yellow laquer.

No mass of water is complete with out its pests. A sterling silver mosquito hovers around the rose in the top right corner.

 

The project was assembled with hand made rivets and soldering, just as the flood victims lives must now be reassembled. From experience, the financial loss is immense, but the emotion toll this takes is unfathomable.

 

My thoughts are will all of you.