Bill Mason | |
---|---|
Born | William Clifford Mason 1929 |
Died | Meech Lake, Quebec, Canada | October 29, 1988
Occupation(s) | Naturalist, author, artist, filmmaker, and conservationist |
Children | 2 |
Awards | BAFTA Best Specialised Film 1970 The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes 1977 Path of the Paddle: Doubles Basic ; Path of the Paddle: Doubles Whitewater ; Path of the Paddle: Solo Basic ; Path of the Paddle: Solo Whitewater |
Bill Mason was a Canadian naturalist, author, artist, filmmaker, and conservationist, noted primarily for his popular canoeing books, films, and art as well as his documentaries on wolves. Mason was also known for including passages from Christian sermons in his films. [1] He was born in 1929 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and graduated from the University of Manitoba School of Art in 1951. He developed and refined canoeing strokes and river-running techniques, especially for complex whitewater situations. Mason canoed all of his adult life, ranging widely over the wilderness areas of Canada and the United States. Termed a "wilderness artist," Mason left a legacy that includes books, films, and artwork on canoeing and nature. His daughter Becky [2] and son Paul are also both canoeists and artists. Mason died of cancer in 1988.
In his review of James Raffan's 1996 biography of Mason, Michael Peake refers to Mason as "the patron saint of canoeing." To many Canadian and American paddlers and canoeists growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, his series of instructional films were the introduction to technique and the canoeing experience. In many ways, Bill, Joyce, Paul, and Becky Mason were the "faces" of Canadian canoeing in the 1970s. Mason's good friend, filmmaker Blake James, also frequently appeared in his films. [3]
Although he used a variety of Chestnut models in his films, including the "Pal", his favourite boat was a red "Fort" Chestnut Prospector, a 16-foot canvas covered wood canoe that he claimed was the most versatile design ever manufactured, in spite of the popularity of more modern construction techniques and materials. After his death, this canoe was donated to the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, where it is on display. His wife, Joyce, and children, Paul and Becky, frequently travelled with him and contributed to his later books and films, and have continued his life work and environmentalism.
Mason won several honours, including being featured on a Canadian postage stamp in 1998. [3] After his death, a warden at Nahanni National Park Reserve informally started calling the dramatic rock spire, in the midst of Virginia Falls, "Mason's Rock". This usage appears to have become widespread, although it has not yet been made official. His films can be viewed for free on the internet through the website of the National Film Board of Canada.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has memorialized Mason with a "72 acre outdoor classroom on the west side of the City of Ottawa which its primary focus to provide an opportunity to Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) and non-OCDSB students to explore, experience, appreciate and learn about natural science and outdoor activities in an outdoor setting." [4]
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness comprises 1,090,000 acres (440,000 ha) of pristine forests, glacial lakes, and streams in the Superior National Forest. Located entirely within the U.S. state of Minnesota at the Boundary Waters, the wilderness area is under the administration of the United States Forest Service. Efforts to preserve the primitive landscape began in the 1900s and culminated in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978. The area is a popular destination for canoeing, hiking, and fishing, and is the most visited wilderness in the United States.
Canoe camping, also known as touring, tripping or expedition canoeing, is a combination of canoeing and camping. Canoe campers typically carry enough supplies with them to travel and camp for several days via a canoe.
Quetico Provincial Park is a large wilderness park in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, known for its excellent canoeing and fishing. The 4,760 km2 (1,180,000-acre) park shares its southern border with Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which is part of the larger Superior National Forest. These large wilderness parks are often collectively referred to as the Boundary Waters or the Quetico-Superior Country.
Northern Tier High Adventure is a collection of high adventure bases run by the Boy Scouts of America in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of Minnesota, Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park and Canadian Crown Lands, Manitoba's Atikaki Provincial Wilderness Park, Woodland Caribou Provincial Park, and points beyond. Northern Tier is the oldest of the four National High Adventure Bases operated by the Boy Scouts of America; the others currently in operation are Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, Florida Sea Base in the Keys, and The Summit in West Virginia. The oldest, largest and most prominent of the Northern Tier bases is the Charles L. Sommers National High Adventure Base. Central to its programs is trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) and Quetico Provincial Park
The Pukaskwa River is a river in Thunder Bay District and Algoma District in Northern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin and is a tributary of Lake Superior, which it enters at the south end of Pukaskwa National Park. It is a remote, pristine, free-flowing, medium-sized Shield river, with lots of whitewater, best travelled in spring.
Waterwalker is a 1984 documentary film by Bill Mason, a Canadian outdoorsman, painter, canoeist and environmentalist, who made many films on the art of canoeing and on the appreciation of nature. Released theatrically in Canada in 1984, it was nominated for a Genie Award for "Best Documentary Feature."
The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes is a 1968 Canadian short film produced by the National Film Board of Canada and directed by Bill Mason. It won the 1971 BAFTA Award for Best Specialised Film.
Colin Archibald Low was a Canadian animation and documentary filmmaker with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). He was known as a pioneer, one of Canada's most important filmmakers, and was regularly referred to as "the gentleman genius". His numerous honors include five BAFTA awards, eight Cannes Film Festival awards, and six Academy Award nominations.
Madame Tutli-Putli is a 2007 stop motion-animated short film by Montreal filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, collectively known as Clyde Henry Productions, and produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). It is available on the Cinema16: World Short Films DVD and from the NFB.
Saint John's School of Ontario (SJSO) was the third of three private Anglican boys' boarding schools in Toronto founded on conservative Anglican ideas and the notion that children were not challenged by present-day society.
Paddle to the Sea is a 1966 National Film Board of Canada short live-action film directed, shot and edited by Bill Mason. It is based on the 1941 children's book Paddle-to-the-Sea by American author and illustrator Holling C. Holling, and follows the adventures of a child's hand-carved toy Indian in a canoe as it makes its way from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, through Canada's waterways. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 40th Academy Awards.
Garrett and Alexandra Conover have been professional canoe and snowshoe guides since 1980. They are American authors and registered Maine Guides, who have specialized in traditional wilderness travelling techniques of the boreal north woods.
Kevin Callan is a Canadian canoe enthusiast, media personality, and author of thirteen books, including the bestselling The Happy Camper and "A Paddler's Guide To" series.
Blake is a 1969 Canadian short documentary film produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The film was directed by Bill Mason, and his fellow filmmaker Blake James, who pilots his own aircraft and lives by a unique code. Blake is Mason's cinematic testimonial to his friend and his "hobo of the skies" lifestyle.
Chestnut Canoe Company was established in Fredericton in the Canadian province of New Brunswick at the end of the 19th century and became one of the pre-eminent producers of wood-and-canvas canoes. The company closed in 1979.
Canoe Country Outfitters was formed in 1946 in Ely, Minnesota, to provide canoe trip outfitting services for Quetico Provincial Park and Superior National Forest and what was to become Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Bill Rom started the business and then sold it to Bob Olson Sr. in 1975. At times they have been dubbed to be the largest canoe outfitter in the world. They operate from two locations, one in downtown [ Ely, Minnesota, the other on Moose lake, about 20 miles east of Ely.
Gary and Joanie McGuffin are Canadian explorers, conservation photographers, writers, motivational speakers, documentarians and conservationists. Their most documented adventures have been about canoeing on waterways throughout North America, bicycling from the Arctic to the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans, backpacking the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, circumnavigating Lake Superior by canoe and paddling across Northern Ontario in the footsteps of Grey Owl. The McGuffins are noted primarily for their popular paddle sports instructional books on canoeing and kayaking, and their documentary film based on their research about the Group of Seven artists. Between adventures, the McGuffins are ambassadors of the wilderness, touring the world through speaking events, photo exhibitions, book tours, eco-tourism development, and educational seminars on conservation. In 2000, the Ontario government officially appointed Gary and Joanie as Champions of the Coast under the Great Lakes Heritage Coast program. In 2003, they were the recipients of the Premier's Award and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for wilderness preservation and environmental education achievements for their province and their country.
David Hadfield is a Canadian singer/songwriter, author, wilderness adventurer, historic aircraft pilot, and classic-boat sailor. He shares writing credits on the album Songs From a Tin Can, recorded by his brother Commander Chris Hadfield, which is the first album of music recorded off the planet Earth.
A canoe pack, also known as a portage pack, is a specialized type of backpack used primarily where travel is largely by water punctuated by portages where the gear needs to be carried over land.
The 11th Canadian Film Awards were held on June 5, 1959 to honour achievements in Canadian film.
Media related to Bill Mason at Wikimedia Commons