Mackay Creek Series: Paintings by Ron den Daas

The Mackay Creek series started in November 2008 when den Daas found returned Coho salmon adults in Upper Mackay Creek; this once-common occurrence in North Vancouver creeks was a rare event in the endangered urban creek ecosystem of 2008. His response to seeing those fish was two-fold: painting onsite, he completed the first of the 60 studies of a pool and small waterfall in the creek. Then, he took on the leadership role in protecting the creek and restoring its salmon runs?a project that continues to this day. 59 more paintings followed from that one transformative experience of observing the stream's complex ecology respond to slowly evolving conditions. What we see in the paintings is one of the countless waterfall obstacles the exhausted returning salmon negotiate to reach their upstream spawning grounds. In his 'Mackay Creek Series' den Daas mirrors the obstacles that humanity puts in its own way when it comes to preserving habitat. Den Daas argues that the rhythms of a stream can be taken as a meaningful sign of the state of the environment. His everyday images, seemingly of little consequence, forcibly reference much larger global phenomena. By treating the creek diaristically, observing the same site over two months, the series monitors and records the state of one ecosystem through a single cycle of the seasons. SELLING POINTS: ? Written by artist and activist, Bill Jeffries, with a foreword by Brian Riddle, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Salmon Foundation in Vancouver. ? Ron den Daas' works are held in public and private collections in North America and Europe. He has created a number of permanent wall installations in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver including a public wall installation at York University. 121 colour and b/w illustrations