Buoys ahoy! Mary Taylor Makes her Mark with Folk Art on Buoys

Posted on Jul 19 2007 in Feature Articles

by Josh Measures

Canso’s Mary Taylor is turning Canso history into art.

Taylor has spent the last year and a half collecting and decorating wooden buoys, used once upon a time, to mark lobster pots in the water.

Fishermen, who are now using the lighter plastic and styrofoam buoys, had no use or space for the wooden buoys and were burning them.

Taylor saved the buoys, gathered a small team of artists, and have turned these odd-canvases into beautiful masterpieces.
“There’s something to do here, just look in your back yard. It’s just nice to have something for people to look at when they come in [to Canso],” said Taylor.

While the project was only ever meant to be a hobby, close friends convinced Taylor to try and sell the pieces during the Stan Rogers festival weekend. Hesitantly, she agreed. Taylor set up the buoys outside AJ’s Pub for display with price tags ranging from $40 to $115 . Within minutes interested passersby were making inquiries.

Taylor, who originally had a collection of 26 painted buoys, is now left with only a couple. You can now find these pieces of history as far off as Ontario and New York.

There have been many contributors to the project, and Taylor maintains it is in no shape or form a business.

“It’s more about the community. Everyone’s helping out,” says Taylor.

And Taylor’s right, it seems nearly everyone in the town has helped the project in some way or another. AJ Taylor donated his parking lot as a makeshift buoy gallery, Elizabeth Measures assisted with the pricing, local fishermen have kindly donated the buoys, Wayne Avery lent his artistic talent, and even Taylor’s mother, who hasn’t picked up a paintbrush for 30 years, created some stunning pieces.

Some of the buoys had a theme including one Taylor donated to a member of Canso Academy’s graduating class, while other buoys were painted by local children with various pictures and colours. Taylor says one young girl stayed up all night long painting her buoy, and was ecstatic as it sold early the next day.

Taylor had originally planned to unveil the buoys during Canso’s regatta week, but with the limited amount of time and buoys left after launching during StanFest, she says it is still up in the air.