Judith Williams started the Water/Colour project more than a decade ago when she became concerned about numerous applications for hydro power installations in the remote Bute Inlet on the coast of B.C.
The 17 hydro projects did not materialize, nor did plans for the collection and export of water from the inlet, but the landscape has still changed dramatically due to the effects of climate change, Williams says.
The retired art professor went to great lengths and made numerous trips to the area to collect water samples for her Water/Colour project, currently on display at the Old School House Arts Centre (TOSH) in Qualicum Beach.
“I decided I would use the water but no pigment to make the paintings," Williams said. "And I wasn’t even sure whether that was possible, but I simply persisted and I collected myself, and received from people who helped me."
The 80-kilometre Bute Inlet stretches from the Homathko River estuaries to the Southgate River and is highly difficult to traverse.
“It’s extremely rugged," Williams said. "One of the reasons I include a map in these installations is so people can see what this place looks like and how deeply it intrudes into the mountains."
Williams said she was alarmed at the prospect of companies building the infrastructure, since it would be disruptive to the environment and lead to more avalanches in an already avalanche-prone area.
She made several trips from her home on Cortes Island to collect water samples from various waterways in the inlet. Lodging is not easy to find or affordable, but Williams said she was fortunate to befriend a couple who ran a logging camp in the area who let her stay there.
Williams also received help collecting samples, including from a man who flew fishermen in on a helicopter to remote areas of the inlet.
In 2020, there was a huge landslide at Elliot Creek.
“The biggest they think that there’s ever been," Williams said. "And so that creek simply blew itself apart."
Scientific investigation soon revealed that a "tongue" — part of a glacier — had melted away and released a boulder, Williams said.
The cascading effects led to massive flooding in the creek, which was turned into a canyon, destroying the salmon habitat there. Williams was able to obtain samples of Elliot Creek water both before and after the landslide.
The high level of silt in the post-landslide sample water (and the painting that used it), is a testament to the profound effects of the shrinking glacier and its effects on the landscape.
“This isn’t a story about climate change. These are facts about climate change,” she said. “To have some of it borne out in such a graphic way and such a destructive way was kind of the end of my project. I was coming to the end of it anyway, but I used that as the end.”
Williams' exhibition includes her water paintings, photos that document her trips to the Bute Inlet and a cabinet that contains folders of images, objects and stories from each water collection site.
Water/Colour will be at TOSH (122 Fern Rd W) until Sept. 9.
