The East Ironbound Island will hopefully help multiple individuals this summer as a place of creative inspiration, as a residency program aims to bring some attention to the island.
The Ironbound Creative Residency (ICR), emerged from a project organized by the Kingsburg Coastal Conservancy (KCC), whose mandate is to protect public access to coastal areas in the Kingsburg area.
Sheep grazing on East Ironbound Island. Photo: KCC.
This self-directed residency provides an opportunity for selected individuals to immerse themselves in their work in a comfortable, inspiring, remote, off-grid setting.
Janet Peace is heading the residency program and shared why she thinks the island is an ideal place to relax and work, “The island is very raw, with few trails and lots of wildlife, residents can expect to see dolphins, sheep all from a beautiful isolated island,”.
Those interested in applying will need to be comfortable by themselves as according to the program’s description the island doesn’t have many amenities.
Located near LaHave, off the tip of Gaff Point on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, West Ironbound Island is an extraordinarily beautiful and geologically significant island. While uninhabited, the island includes one artfully restored 850-sq-ft cabin (where ICR Residents stay). The island is also home to a flock of sheep managed by a farmer who visits intermittently. The island environment offers ocean vistas, sandy beaches, coves for swimming and seal-watching, an intricate network of sheep-trails, dramatic pyritic-shale cliffs, grasslands and meadows full of berries, and sculptural tree formations. The rich bird, fish, and marine life surrounding the island is nurtured by the special conditions created by the Scotia Shelf, the warm Gulf Stream, and frigid Labrador currents.A hand-drawn map of East Ironbound Island. Photo: KCC
