S3 E1 Tilting: A Conversation with Robert Mellin

Part One

Architect and artist, Robert Mellin has made a long-term study of the architecture and lifeways of the community of Tilting on Fogo Island here in Newfoundland. He began this exploration in the late 1980s and it continues until this day. His observations, photographs, water colors and drawings as well as his transcriptions of residents’ recollections and comments are documented in two books: Tilting (Princeton Architectural Press, 2003) and Winter in Tilting (Pedlar Press, 2015). Together they testify to the enormous creativity, ingenuity and fortitude of the villagers, including their many remarkable acts of bricolage.

Robert has been a registered architect in Newfoundland and Labrador since 1978, teaches at McGill University’s School of Architecture and is a member Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Tilting won the Winterset Literary award for excellence in Newfoundland writing. Robert was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2014.

Two Aerial Views of Tilting

Robert’s watercolours of Slide Hauling

Slide Hauling: Into the woods

Slide Hauling: Following Boughs Marking a Pond

‘Guest book’ writing on a twine store beam

Visitor at Robert’s house in Tilting

References: from our conversation.

Books:

Robert Mellin, Tilting: Slide Hauling, Potato Trenching and Other Tales from A Newfoundland Fishing Village, Princeton Architectural Press, 2003.

Robert Mellin, Winter in Tilting: Slide Hauling in a Newfoundland Outport, Pedlar Press, 2015.

G.W. Sebald, The Rings of Saturn, New Direction Books, 1998.

Herzog and DeMeuron, Natural History, Lars Müller Publishers, 2008

Podcast:

The Currency Exchange by Chris Brookes, on the BBC Series, Something Understood