Features

Humans are change agents, even though most of the time it isn't easy. What I love about feature writing is getting the chance to interview people who are doing fascinating things, often overcoming significant challenges and making unexpected discoveries along the way. While the struggle may be universal, each person's story is unique, and I try to capture that.

Submitted by Barb Hunt

The Telegram, Feature Article: Interviewing, Writing, Fact-Checking • August 2012

Fabric of Life

She started by knitting a full-scale pink rifle to give to the then-justice minister Kim Campbell as a thank-you for her role in initiating Canada’s gun control legislation.

Then, some time later, Newfoundland artist Barb Hunt knit a pink landmine. In fact, she knit about a hundred of them, each one an exact rose-coloured woolen replica of a specific model available in Jane’s Mines and Mine Clearance Catalogue.

Credit: Greg Connolly

Downhome Magazine, Feature Article: Interviewinging, Writing, Fact-Checking • January 2007

Reliving the Great War

Artillery fire splinters the air as Private Greg Connolly of the First Newfoundland Regiment takes one last slug of Screech and whispers a prayer before vaulting himself over the top of his trench.

Microsoft Education Discovered Magazine, Feature Article: Interviewing, Writing • November 2015

JOB READY

If Grade 11 student Marc Gagnon has his druthers, there will be a red serge suit with his name on it someday.

Interested in a career in law enforcement, Gagnon was considering his future prospects with Correctional Services, the Ontario Provincial Police or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was a new component in his Grade 10 Careers course that helped him firm up his decision.

Alumni Magazine, Feature Article: Interviewing, Writing • November 2002

Culturing Innovation

On a cold January day in 2002, Fran Kirby was preparing to launch the framework portal of a new e-learning website for rural health practitioners when a major snowstorm closed roads and stranded travellers, putting the event on hold.

The Telegram, Feature Article: Interviewing, Writing, Fact-Checking • October 2012

Artist inspired by Mistaken Point

Kelly Bruton’s artwork has a hypnotic effect. Layered,
patterned, painted and stitched, they compel you to look longer and further, as though there is a great secret to discover.

Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador Member Newsletter: Interviewing, Writing, Editing, Project Management • March 2009

The Design Issue

Crossing the threshold

In one of Deanne Fitzpatrick’s rugs, two women are leaning towards each other, their laughter clanging against a golden sky.

Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador Member Newsletter: Interviewing, Writing, Editing, Project Management • April 2008

The Wearable Art Issue

Oscar Wile said: “One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.” So why not be your own walking, talking, breathing, living art gallery?

From hats to shoes, to clothing, jewelry and tattoos, you can create the perfect self-portrait. To get you started, we talked to some Craft Council members whose passion it is to make fashionable, wearable works of art.

The Telegram, Profile: Interviewing, Writing, Editing, Fact-Checking • August 2011

Gloria Hickey's Art Beat

Gloria Hickey, who was awarded the first ever Critical Eye Award for arts writing at the Excellence in Visual Arts (EVA) Awards May 27, says it was her father, a police officer in the Montreal vice squad, who first taught her how to look at things closely.

Microsoft Education Discovered Magazine, Feature Article: Interviewing, Writing • July 2016

Students without Borders

In April, the Conseil Scolaire Viamonde’s École secondaire Jeunes sans frontières (Youth without Borders School) in Brampton, Ontario, more than lived up to its name when Principal Josée Landriault and her team of dedicated teachers organized a two-day workshop that saw students leaping across the threshold of their comfort zones – with exhilarating results.

Studio Magazine, Profile: Interviewing, Writing, Fact-Checking • April 2012

Tactile Type

Marnie Parsons has a PhD in English Literature, a collection of rubber chickens hanging in her kitchen window, and in her basement, her very own print shop, complete with three printing presses, two cabinets of type, and stacks and stacks of paper.

The Telegram, Feature Article: Interviewing, Writing, Fact-Checking • February 2012

Her Own Spin

When painter and craftswoman Shawn O’Hagan first became interested in art, she didn’t know of any professional female artists. She couldn’t even find one in her first- year university art history book.

Still at an early age, she knew that she was an artist.

The Telegram, Feature Article: Interviewing, Writing, Fact-Checking • November 2011

Ceramicist explores the power of conceptual art

In 2009, Newfoundland artist, Michael Flaherty, who was long-listed for the prestigious Sobey Art Award earlier this year, spent three solitary months living on the now abandoned Grey Islands, off the east coast of the Great Northern Peninsula.

"Gay Decker was a fabulous Newsletter Editor. Her writing style is clean and engaging and she was full of good ideas for themes and articles. Members of the Craft Council found that she connected well with them during interviews and that resulting articles were interesting to read and useful for other promotional purposes. Staff appreciated her initiative, and her helpful positive attitude. Working with Gay was a pleasure!”

Anne Manuel, Executive Director, Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador