Artist Statement:
Not long after Phoebe Watson moved to Homer Watson House in 1918, she “planted the first garden in a ring of stones to the east of the house.” While we don’t know for sure if she planted them, daylilies dominate the current gardens at Homer Watson House & Gallery.
In this sculpture, I present 2 different lilies as a juxtaposition of native and introduced plants. The common orange daylily (Hemerocallis fulva), originally from Asia, was introduced to Ontario, but is so widely spread across the countryside that we often assume, incorrectly, that it is native. Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) is a true lily and is native to Ontario. Given the many current sightings of wood lilies in the area around her beloved Oliphant, in her day Phoebe likely saw them as well.
The Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) is common to southern Ontario and often nests on human structures such as bridges and buildings. Phoebe wrote in an April 1938 letter: “…of this month it is said the time of the Phoebe bird, and I always have one of these birds nesting on the front porch.”