Park Residency Benefits Fredericton Artist

Eight provincial artists brought their work to New Brunswick parks and tourist sites over the Labour Day weekend.

Fredericton photographer Jason Nugent took part in the Fresh Air residency taking photos at Mount Carleton Provincial Park.

Nugent really enjoyed the concept adding it’s helpful to artists who are struggling because of COVID-19.

“I am really grateful for Tourism N.B. for putting this together. It was a great way to go up and work on an art project I have been thinking about for a long time and also interact with the public and then share that with them,” Nugent said.

Nugent’s project was to create new memories with his father who passed away in 2003 but, who he visited the park with many times.

“The challenge is blending the technologies. The old photos of course are these old blurry Polaroids and Instamatics photos, my mom’s thumb is in them stuff like that and then making them look the same basically. I was able to create the images I wanted. I’m still working on it,” Nugent said.

He was able to interact with people in the park which was challenging considering the size of it.

“What I found is later on in the day when I was technically off-duty, I would be at my campsite or I would be out on a trail someplace setting up a shot and I would see people come by or they
would kayak over to the shore when they saw me on the side of the lake and then I would interact and talk to them about what I was doing,” Nugent said.

Nugent is a fan of Justin Sappier, a wood carver, who also took part in the Fresh AIR residency from Mactaquac Provincial Park.

The other artists who took participated are Valerie LeBlanc, Daniel Dugas, Bruno Jacques Pelletier, Charline Collette and Jonathan Roy.