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Rockin Rhonda & The Blues Band: Here comes Peter. Here comes Dave. Oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. So much laughs and insights everywhere. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. Alright, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.

Dave Graham: Well, hello there. Here we go with another episode of the Pulse podcast. Another week has passed. In that time, the earth has moved another 18 million kilometers along its orbit around the sun. Can you believe that? It doesn't feel like more than, uh, maybe 10 million. And welcome to my co-host. Here comes Peter McCully. 

Peter McCully: We're all about the people and stories of Mid Vancouver Island, and we thank you for being part of our community. We're nearing the six month mark since the launch of this weekly series, and we appreciate all the support from listeners and sponsors. There's room for more. On this episode, we'll be chatting with Colt long of the SOS about their fundraising campaign for a new bus to serve the community. 

Colt Long: We've had a bus for 11 years now, but it's reached the end of the road, for lack of a better word. It's on its last legs. It's for the betterment of the community too, that we have a reliable bus. So we're planning ahead of time, making sure that we're being proactive and we want new updated features and things that make it more comfortable, more expansive for the individuals that are utilizing it. So we wanted a nice modern bus that will last us a long time, and also be able to also meet all those needs and not have potential safety issues.

Dave Graham: Jeremy Humperville of Coastal Carvings Gallery is here to talk about the TV show They've been filming at the gallery in Coombs for the A PTN Network, season one debuts this fall. 

Jeremy Humpherville: Maybe we'll do it as a docuseries, and we didn't understand what that was. It was a fly on the wall approach. Maybe the odd question for the viewer that if there was a terminology we were using that people wouldn't understand to explain it, but other than that, they follow at a distance. Just capture what we were doing from start of raw material to finished project. At that point, we were still actually leery because you know, I guess the unknown and there's a discomfort. Art's, a very private thing. A lot of times in your head when you put it on the wall, it's there for people to see and it's up for display and it's very subjective. But while you're making it, it's a private process. They said, let's do some test filming. They came back and we were both really surprised how quality it was and how we really felt. It was a good representation for our art and our artists. At that point, we agreed and move forward. 

Peter McCully: Hey Dave, have you heard the latest dirt?

Dave Graham: What's that, Peter? 

Peter McCully: The Meadow Wood Store's Garden Center is jam packed with dirt. That is to say bagged soils, manure and fertilizers, and get this Chris Burger says he won't be under soiled. 

Dave Graham:  Won’t be undersoiled. That's rich. Now you're spilling premium gossip like it's discount starter plants. 

Peter McCully: Well, funny you should say that because the Meadow Wood Stores Garden Center has a great selection of starter plants and veggies.

Dave Graham: Oh, you're preaching to the choir, my friend. I've been telling everyone my tomatoes look so good. My sister back east thinks photos of my garden were photoshopped. 

Peter McCully: While Chris is pretty serious about his dirt, he says he'll match sale prices just about anywhere, 

Dave Graham: and it's such a great drive to Meadow Wood The bargains also there tariff free.

Peter McCully: And the bargains are big. Bigfoot big. 

Dave Graham:  Thanks to the Meadow Wood Store Garden Center, a sponsor of the Pulse Podcast, the Meadow Wood Garden Center. They dig what you plant. Make sure you have your picture taken with Bigfoot while you're there.

Peter McCully: If you would like a weekly email reminder of the latest pulse podcasts and contests, head over to our website, the Pulse community.ca. Click on contact and you'll find a form to sign up for our weekly contest and podcast newsletter. 

Dave Graham:  Of course you could use those same links to let us know any leads you think we could be following up on. If there's a person or a story we should be featuring, tell us about it. In a future episode of The Pulse Podcast, we'll be talking with Elena Hester from the Old Schoolhouse Art Center. 

Dave Graham: We'll also be featuring a visit with Theresa Cooper from Parksville Downtown Business Association as they continue to feature events and activities to keep the downtown vibrant.

Peter McCully:  We'll have a pharmacist AKI Shaw to explain semaglutides. 

Dave Graham: With increasing rates of obesity, semaglutide came onto the market as being revolutionary. We'll answer everyone's questions as to how they work for losing weight and controlling diabetes. We'll hear more soon. Something else to be listening for is the announcement of our ticket winner.

Peter McCully: Chilliwak will be bringing their farewell tour to Parksville July 12th. It's part of the opening weekend of Beach Fest. And there's still time to enter the draw. Email us with your name and phone number and where you live, and let us know what Chillowak song is your favorite. Enter by sending us that email to contest@thepulsecommunity.ca.

Fireside Books: There's exciting news for book lovers fireside books in Parksville now has a second location in Port Alberni. The bookworm used books are just $5 each. And be sure to ask about their volume discounts. The bookworm on the corner of Redford and Anderson. Open seven days a week from 10 to five fireside books at 464 Island Highway East in Parksville is a book Dragon's Dream come true. Browse their extensive collection weekdays from nine to six and weekends 10 to five. Both locations make growing your personal library easier than ever. New books, used books, activity books, puzzle books, and much more. Order online at firesidebooks.ca and your books will be waiting when you arrive. Ask about returning books for a book, credit Fireside books and the bookworm two locations. One amazing adventure in browsing. 

Windsor Plywood French Creek: The Pulse Community Podcast is brought to you in part by Windsor Plywood in French Creek, specializing in hard to source interior and exterior home finishing products. Including flooring, doors and moldings and exterior project materials such as yellow, cedar, Windsor, plywood, French Creek carries high quality, responsibly sourced products and are committed to providing outstanding value and personalized one-on-one service to all of our customers. Homeowners do-it-yourselfers, renovators, builders, designers, craftsmen, and contractors. Regardless of the type or size of your project, Windsor can help you bring your vision to life from start to finish. Let Windsor plywood and French Creek help you with your renovation, new build or building project. Visit them online or call 752-3122. 

Peter McCully: Every week we add another story to the growing library of adventures in our story series for kids. The Skookum Kids Stories includes a series featuring Captain Dave and his crew of marine creatures aboard the mellow submarine. Be listening for the newest story, captain Dave and the mystery of the Ghost ship narrated by Dave Graham.

Dave Graham: The latest story in the Peter and Gracie series has Peter dealing with feeling nervous about the first soccer practice of the season. He deals with this by bringing along his dog, Gracie, as the team mascot. I don't think I'll be spoiling too much by saying Peter's plan worked out pretty well. It's the latest episode of Peter and Gracie, the perfect soccer practice pal narrated by Peter McCully.

Peter McCully: You'll find the Skookum Kids stories and all the Pulse podcasts at thepulsecommunity.ca, skookum kids.com, apple, Spotify, iHeart, Amazon, and YouTube. If you're interested in joining our growing family of sponsors for either the Pulse Community Podcasts, or SKU Kids stories, let us know. Email me peter@thepulsecommunity.ca.

Dave Graham: Time for our first guest, Marilyn, who's in the green room. 

Marilyn: The Green Room is Colt Long, who is the new resource development manager at SOS. He's lived in Parksville for two years and on the island for over five. He's been fundraising for more than 25 years and has worked for many social service organizations.

Dave Graham: Colt welcome to, not necessarily the area, but to the SOS,I suppose you're new to here. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Yes. I've actually been 

Colt Long: Here for two years. I've been on the island for over five, been fundraising for more than 25 years career. Started in Alberta, went to Ontario for a couple of years, and then ended up back here on the island in 2019, just before Covid, and I'm really happy to be here.

I've worked for many social service organizations over my time. I refinished furniture in my spare time. I like being out in nature, so it's perfect that I'm out on the island and I have three cats that keep me really busy and I love being out on the island. It's a great escape and it's a lot warmer than Alberta.

Dave Graham: Oh yeah. Generally, yes, yes, yes. I understand your enthusiasm for, for this place. See, I was born here, so everybody else almost is a guest, but you're welcome. You're welcome to stay. And that's rare. Everybody I talk to, it seems like they're all Alberta or Ontario or Saskatchewan transplants, and can you blame them? So as we know, SOS relies on financial donations to operate its community programs and services of which there are many. So it's critical. They have enough funds to ensure these invaluable programs remain available now and in the future. And cult that is where you come in. Do you wanna just sort of talk about the, the structure of the SOS, how it works?

Colt Long: Absolutely. We started in 1968 as just a small grassroots organization. Three women started it. They recognized there was a need in the community and they really wanted to address that. And you fast forward 57 years later and here we are with 25 programs helping people of all ages from all different circumstances, and we help them have a, hopefully have a better life and get through the difficult times.

Dave Graham: In your years of fundraising, have you encountered an organization that can be compared to the SOS.

Colt Long:  Not really. No. There's parts of other organizations that do the work that we do, but I've never seen an organization that does the breadth of the work that the SOS does. For example, in a larger city like Vancouver, you would have probably 10, 15 agencies at least, that could do any number of these programs.

But we're one of the only ones in town that can do all this, and then some. And you don't really find that very often. Mm-hmm. Like you have ones that help with homelessness and ones that will help, but we kind of run the gamut. Also too, they're usually segmented. A lot of organizations will help certain areas or certain demographics where we cover every DI demographic, where we can help anybody at any age.

And that's what I think gives us an advantage. And we wanted to do that because we don't wanna say that we're supporting the community unless we can support everyone in the community. 

Dave Graham: Well, you mentioned to me prior to our conversation here that even while you'd been in Parksville for a couple of years, it's only since you started working here, you really became more fully aware of all that this place encompasses the impact it has on the community. And I bet you were pretty impressed. Huh? 

Colt Long:  I was pretty blown away, and I had even said that with Suzanne, our executive director. She checked in with me after a couple of days and asked how I was doing, and I would see the thrift store, and I've shopped at the thrift store. I'm a regular, but I had no idea the breadth of the children's programming of taking the seniors out for anything, from getting their groceries to outings, to helping them with medical appointments.

Families too. It's not just individuals like families. You can go in on outings to places like the Wildlife Recovery Center, which is one of my favorite places in all of Canada, probably next to the SOS. And it really gets an opportunity for people that may be struggling or going through a difficult time to get out into the community and still enjoy the same things that they should be able to, and that's what we wanna provide.

Dave Graham: So you mentioned the thrift store and that's what really propels a lot of what goes on here aside from additional fundraising efforts. You, you wanna talk a little bit about how that works? 

Colt Long:  Absolutely. A lot of the proceeds right now come from the thrift store, as you mentioned. I. One thing that I was brought into besides what we're going to be talking about, is to raise additional funding to help with those other 25 programs, but also to raise funds as needed for this bus campaign and to meet the needs of our citizens because it's ever changing and needs change and come and go.

As you know, things happen. We want to be there to be diversified and be able to help anybody who needs it at any time. So sometimes we'll have to adjust if a need presents itself, that needs to be addressed. We will do anything we can to make sure that we can provide that service so nobody feels left out.

Dave Graham: Is it too soon in your tenure here to. Ask about quantifying things in terms of how many people the SOS touches in a given period. I imagine that'd be rather difficult to pinpoint just because of the essence of the surfaces and the nature of, of what happens. here. 

Colt Long:  It is. We help hundreds, even thousands of people in one way or another. A lot of individuals have been touched by us in one way or another, and we have a breadth of volunteers that help a tremendous deal. We also of course, rely on funding. If I was to quantify it, I'd say in hundreds and thousands of people that we've helped over the years and are currently helping right now, day to day, especially with some struggles that people are going through.

It's probably a little bit more now, and I didn't realize that until I come here. I think there's a misnomer when people think of Parksville and other areas, they're struggling people everywhere. It's just a reality, and that's why I'm glad and pleased to be a part of. Just so we can actually help these people and help anybody who needs it, if you will.

Dave Graham: Let's get onto the SOS Connecting Community Campaign recently launched. What would you like to say about it? 

Colt Long:  We've had a bus for 11 years now, but it's reached the end of the road, for lack of a better word. It's on its last legs. It's for the betterment of the community too, that we have a reliable bus. So we're planning ahead of time, making sure that we're being proactive and we want new updated features and things that make it more comfortable, more expansive for the individuals that are utilizing it. So we wanted a nice, modern. Bus that will last us a long time and also be able to also meet all those needs and not have potential safety issues is what it would come down to.

Dave Graham: Can I push you for some details in terms of what kind of service would be expected out of this new bus, uh, trips per week, where you go, what you do. 

Colt Long: Well, it's everybody. Everyone utilizes our services. Uh, the seniors themselves, it's to take them out to their appointments. Grocery shopping is one really big one I mentioned earlier with the families going out on different outings and to parks and to local tourist attractions like Butterfly World Wildlife Recovery Center. The market and see the goats. That's what I like to do. Having access also to our child, youth and family services for their programs and for our adults as well. It's just being used all the time, so it's something that we really need and we're looking to use it more with our ever expanding programs.

There's gonna be other opportunities, so we want to have a reliable bus in case there's excursions that may take us somewhere further in the community or somewhere where, remotely where. Things could happen, or if there's weather conditions, things can happen and we wanna make sure that everybody that drives has a great experience, but is also safe at the same time.

Dave Graham:  You know, I haven't been out to price buses lately. I imagine they're a little pricey. So what's the fundraising goal here? 

Colt Long: Fundraising goal is 200,000. We've already raised funds for it. We've already received a grant, but this would cover the other half because with expenses combined with the price of the vehicle, it would be about $400,000. And what we're asking the community for is, anything that they can do to support us and to make sure that we can just continue doing what we're doing. 

Dave Graham:  Let me put you on the spot here. If I drop off a donation to the thrift shop, can I say I want that money to go to the bus fundraising campaign?

Colt Long: Absolutely. If you were to go on the website, which is SSD 60 nine.com, you can give through the thrift store or you can actually give online as well through Canada Helps. We covered the bases in terms of ways people can help. You can even call and make a donation by calling our number, which is 250-248-2093.

And also there's an opportunity for local businesses. We have another program going on now called Biz for Good. Any organization that donates a thousand dollars, they'll get their name displayed on the back of the bus. Also based on the amount given, we're looking at how that would look on the bus, and we would love to have any company's logo, anybody that wants to be a part of it.

This bus lasted 11 years, so if you want to promote your organization and you would make a a donation, it'll primarily display your business and show that you're aligned with an organization like SOS, which is all about community. So there's really not too many other organizations that you could align yourself with that that does the breadth of work here.

Dave Graham: Colt, it's been a pleasure to chat with you. Nice to meet you too. Thank you. 

Colt Long: Thank you so much. 

Peter McCully: The SOS provides more than 20 different programs and services to the community. Over 200 volunteers make everything go and Dave, a new bus would make everything go, go, go. 

Dave Graham:  We always appreciate your feedback. If anything you hear on the Pulse Community Podcast sparks some thoughts, let us know. You can literally speak your mind with a feature we call Speak to Us. That happens with a click of the mouse. You can also email us or text us all the links available at thepulsecommunity.ca. 

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with re max Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural strata recreational investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally. As well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both re Max International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca. 

Meadowood Store Garden Center: The Meadow Wood Store's Garden Center is jammed packed with starter plants and veggies, bag soils, manure, and fertilizers. Chris Burger says he won't be under soiled. The folks at the Meadowood Store Garden Center will match sales prices just about anywhere. Enjoy the relaxing drive to Meadow Wood, where the bargains are tariff free and are big. Bigfoot big. The Meadow Wood General Store in Dashwood is the home of Bigfoot. It's a convenient spot for beer, wine, and spirits, groceries, deli, propane, and lotto. Come in and have your picture taken with Bigfoot inside or outside the store at 1221 Meadow Wood Way in Dashwood. 

Dave Graham: The sad news of the passing of Patrick Weber broke recently, and it had me thinking back to some of the times we'd had together. I remember one time when Pat explained to me how we sometimes have a tendency to not fully appreciate experts that come from within our own communities for whatever reason, we tend to give experts that come from away as having more credibility. Patrick was speaking from experience, and this always comes to mind whenever I encounter people from our area who are leaders in their field. And our next guest qualifies Marilyn, who's in the green room?

Marilyn: Coastal Carvings, fine Art Gallery and Coombs and its artist will be the subject of a documentary series on A PTN featuring the process of creating fine art pieces. Jeremy Ville artist and gallery owner joins us from the green room. 

Dave Graham: Jeremy, thanks for joining the podcast.

Jeremy Humpherville: A pleasure to see you again as well. It's nice to be here. 

Dave Graham: You and your artists have been in the spotlight lately filming a TV series, coastal Carvings Care. To talk a little bit about the start of this show, how it came about?

Jeremy Humpherville: Oh man. I guess we're probably entering our third year of filming, but it was proposed to us as an idea for a reality TV show.

It's one of those things where we weren't really comfortable with that. We're not actors and the idea of making our art into something I. Humorous just for the sake of it was not anything we were interested in. So my brother, Jarrod and myself, we talked about it and we were a hard no on the fact that we wouldn't even entertain changing the gallery in this art into a comedy type scenario.

After lengthy discussions, it came around to the fact, Hey, we can still do this, but maybe we'll do it as a docuseries. And we didn't understand what that was. It was a fly on the wall approach. Maybe the odd question for the viewer that if there was a terminology we were using that people wouldn't understand to explain it, but other than that, they follow that a distance just capture what we were doing from start of raw material to finished project.

At that point, we were still actually leery because you know, I guess the unknown and there's a discomfort. Art's a very private thing. A lot of times in your head when you put it on the wall, it's there for people to see and it's up for display and it's very subjective, but while you're making it, it's a private process.

They said, let's do some test filming. It came back and we were both really surprised how quality it was and how we really felt. It was a good representation for our art and our artists. At that point, we agreed and move forward. 

Dave Graham: I'm curious to know what it was then that sparked that initial outreach to you, I'm assuming as to, Hey, we've got an idea. Do you know the genesis there? 

Jeremy Humpherville: Probably partly my fault, I was over at a friend's house and the one fellow that was co-owner of this company, he was relatives with this friend. I was working on a project and he said, this is really cool. Everything's hands on. And he was watching me work in the garage and we got chatting and I said, well, actually, that's kind of our calling card.

He said, we come to a person's house and design to order. He said, oh, that's really neat. And I said, well, you know, stop by the gallery sometime. He came by the gallery, I don't even think I was here that day. And he looked at the books and he said, this is really neat that all these are clients' homes. The art, didn't generate as off a wall. Let's make it fit, but instead, let's look at the space and design to order. So he really liked the uniqueness of that. He says, you know, a lot of people would be really interested in seeing that process. Jim Shockey is executive producer. He's really the funding and the driving force behind production company, road River Films.

He's in an arms distance, but he's supportive of them and all their ideas, and I think that he just loves to see stuff be created. I also have been to his museum and he has a large collection of indigenous art as well. I think that it probably was interesting to him to see this be made. It still takes someone like that so that we can get the show moving forward.

Dave Graham: I think there is a fascination among those of us who love art to get a glimpse into its creation. And for me at least, it's a kind of a magical process because artists have abilities many of us do not possess. 

Jeremy Humpherville: It's funny because when we first started this, I think there was still nerves for the first little while.

Then you forget the camera's there you get a really good glimpse into our lives. And you know what? My brother and I were both. You don't want to ever come across as people who fight or have drama for purpose of the show. But our passions came out and when we're passionate people, we both want, we're only interested in the priests being as good as it can be.

But once your guard's down, you forget the camera's. There. There's some passion in moments where we're in a, a heated discussion over how things are gonna go, or timelines and the realities of life. I think that's the glimpse that people will get is that your artistic, your full artistic side, from the creative side, the generating of ideas, all that's on camera, none of it's planned ahead of time.

It's like that day at that second, in that moment of time, I. We're not looking to be personalities. It's more to really focus on the art and that creative process, and I wish there was more of that. I mean, when you create a TV show, it's explained to you there's this many minutes, there's this many minutes of commercial, so you really don't get the whole story, but you get enough of it. That I really feel that you feel the passion from our artists in this show. 

Dave Graham:  As we sit here in your gallery, Coastal Carvings Fine Art Gallery, you've been leaning against a carving, I'm assuming is yours. 

Jeremy Humpherville: Yeah. So this is a good example of a piece. Because there's no script. They'd like a timeline of when things are gonna finish and you got all these different projects on the go.

This was never planned on. I had a client come in, it's a 50th wedding anniversary and it's last minute and I don't have time for it. But you know what? I've known him forever. He's come here for 20 years for gifts. I'm getting this done and we're including it. He was okay with filming it and we're getting it done for his 50.

That's the reality of this. There's no script and there's no timeline. And I know it frustrates the director. I think probably a little frustrated by me. I'm a DHD, I'm an artist and I'm always changing the narrative, but if we're gonna tell a true story, this is it. I love carving and I love this client and his family.

So this to me is a really important story because it is what coastal carvings is. We can have more elaborate stories, but this is what it is. Someone coming to us with maybe an idea or a concept, or even just a blank space, and then we design to it. Then delivery. And I think that's the truth of what the gallery is. So this kind of panel is the truth of that story. 

Dave Graham:  Is the show primarily about life in coastal carvings, fine art gallery, or is it about the life of artist Jeremy Humperville, or how would you describe it? 

Jeremy Humpherville: Right from the beginning. One of my youngest artists, Levi Perdue, he's front and center in this show. And I think it's really important to show the truth of who we're supporting, what this gallery is.

So it's named Coastal Carvings and that was a very firm request because it has to be about all of our artists, not just myself and my brother. Yeah, maybe we're the feature and it's the start of what this gallery is, and it's probably really heavy around us 'cause my wife and I own the gallery. My brother's been working with us for 20 some odd years.

All my artists are important. And when someone walks in the door. They usually have to ask. If I'm an artist, I don't go on, Hey, I'm an artist, and look at my, my pieces. I don't feel comfortable with that. If they're looking at someone's work, I give them information about that. We are purveyors of information, so anybody who comes to work here, it's very odd for them if they've been in retail because they feel they need to sell something.

There are should be a decision where it sells itself. They love it and then we provide information about it and maybe they don't buy it then, but maybe they come back and purchase it. This show is about all of my artists, and this last year, especially in season two, we've gotten multiple contacts and multiple artists from this gallery involved. As many as I could drag in kicking and screaming. 

Dave Graham:  Talking about carving, is that where it began for you? What was the starting point? 

Jeremy Humpherville: So my starting point was actually in the forest. I was doing custom decks and building structures out of cedar that we milled and fell the trees and milled them ourselves Up in Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii, my brother was doing custom log homes. We both had a building background and we understood wood and wood movement. Growing up and watching our father, he was a painter and an artist and carving. Then my uncle went full-time artist and then my grandma was an artist and my great aunt was an artist. Start of my career was not to be an artist. It was just like, okay, I'm gonna do this art for fun, raise with a pencil in my head, designing, but not ever thinking, okay, that will be my career. It wasn't until years later, I had an injury at my late teens and then I looked back and said, why am I doing this when I love the art? And my brother had taken it on full time and a year later I followed full time. 

Dave Graham: This work of art that you're leaning on at the moment, this medallion is one of the ways you express your artistic creativity. Is there a media you haven't touched on yet?

Jeremy Humpherville: There probably is. I know we've done casting, we've done metal, glass, all these different materials, but I don't ever close to the door. There's probably many things I haven't experienced yet or would like to work in. I never say never, and honestly, when someone comes to me, I had once had a fellow stop by and he asked me if I'd paint his jet.

So I always say to my brother, the answer is never, no. It is just the logistics of how do we get this done? So we never say no, and honestly, that's what we're there for us to facilitate these ideas that people have. I'm not there to shut them down. I'm not say, oh, I didn't, I've never done that before. No, no.

If one man can do it, another man can too. I'm a huge believer in that. So we always just figure out the way, more than not, we become inventors of ways to even do things and use tools in a way that they are not designed to, just to fulfill ideas for clients. 

Dave Graham: You mentioned earlier the books that you have the public can flip through to get an idea of just, just some of the things you've created.

When you speak of having worked with houses, it can be pretty much from the ground up. 

Jeremy Humpherville: Yeah, it was an art show that we hosted out in Alberta and my brother, myself, and again, something unique. We grabbed all our artists, said, let's go on a road trip. Rented a public gallery and open for three days in Alberta.

And it was a huge success. And because we had the artists there, not just the art, but the artists, so you can understand and meaning behind the pieces. A fellow comes to the show on his motorbike. He just happens to be going by stops. Walks in, he says, after this show, can you stop by my property? I didn't know the distances.

It was probably an hour and a bit drive away in the wrong direction. Towing a big trailer, but I was like, yeah, sure. Again, never say no. And then I get to the property. There's nothing there. I thought, there's this house in this space. It's an empty lot, a pile of dirt. I want what I see out there, and he points at the mountains and he says, can you design me that?

I said, sure I can. And so I left, and that ended up being one of the pieces in the book actually, and it became a wall mural of all of his mountains. I took a photograph and I superimposed them, but then I put all the animals that would live there over top of it as a mural. He was just blown away by that, but he inspired it, you know, he gave me a challenge. Can you do what I see out there? And there was no animal. It was just a silhouette of mountains at the time on a pile of dirt. 

Dave Graham: I'm curious as to the creator process flipping through one of those books that I noticed, for example, a stair railing that was this intertwining of wood and metal out. I've never seen anything like it before. Do you ever get the image of what you want to just appearing or is it a, an evolutionary process? 

Jeremy Humpherville: That's the funny part about it, to explain that. I don't understand the brain. So I always tell people when they ask that, I say, it just occurs to me. So I literally will have the biggest smile on my face. 'cause they're painting a picture mentally. So those clients you're talking about, they said, listen, we can't draw a stigma. They said, we're not artists, but here's what we love. And they gave me the parameters of their children. Of course, music in the ocean. That was it. And they said, but we can't draw a stick, man.

What do you think? That house ended up working for four years and we themed the entire thing about music. And that staircase you're talking about is a playable harp that blends into metalwork up the staircase. I don't know. I stood at that spot. It was raw construction. There was only two by fours there, and it just occurred to me that that's what that had to be. So I don't understand how the brain works. I know that many artists are probably the same, that you visualize it and then you can't stop working on it until you've realized that vision out of your head onto a paper. 

Dave Graham: You're visualizing something that didn't exist before. You've elluded to it already in terms of having to, uh, discover or invent or you've gotta make it happen.

Jeremy Humpherville: Oh, for sure. When it comes to that harp and a staircase, it's a concert harp tuned and playable with a Steve back box on it. We've never built a harp before, so we're on the phone with three different heart makers. How do you do this? My brother in the first shot builds this thing. I had the concept and I had a dimensions form, but he's able to actually make it a playable heart.

Structurally, people have to come down the stairs and be able to grab it. If they're falling, it has to actually work and it wouldn't work. It was gonna break the harp in half, so we actually had to hide a steel. I-beam inside the harp, into the floor joist to make it work. There's nothing else like it, but that's what had to happen.

Dave Graham: Do you ever get the equivalent of writer's block? 

Jeremy Humpherville: I'll go on holiday with my family. You really crave that. You're working full time. We have the gallery, and you're like, okay, let's get away. I've been gone for two weeks. I literally feel rusty. I always say it takes me two to four weeks to get back in the swing of things.

That's why with all my designs, no matter, even if I'm right in the mood of things, I start them. I walk away from 'em, I go back to them, and I don't give you a design overnight. I give you a design I'd have in my own house based on what you've asked. 

Dave Graham: We've talked a little bit about the television series. You're all ready filming season two? 

Jeremy Humpherville: Yeah. Season two is just felt completed. I mean, this is the life of not understanding how TV works. I really must praise the editors. I never get to see them, but those are the people who take 152 days of filming and two moments that are the full distance apart and find them have to watch every minute.

They can't skip anything. There's no fast forward. They watch every second for voice and for image because they don't have a script and they have to piece the needle out together into what are episodes. Believe it was up to four editors working on it for the first season and their first episode took them 37 tries to get it.

I can't even imagine how much sitting at a computer and just watching us all day, it wouldn't be very worried to me. But if somehow they make it work and when we watch it, I think that's actually a very accurate representation of what went on and without a storyline. So that's amazing. 

Dave Graham: It speaks to me at least also of a significant investment on behalf of the producers and the others involved in their belief in making this happen and work. They know it's there, they gotta make it work. 

Jeremy Humpherville: Yeah, and I think everybody's excited, even though they know what they've got when they film it, they don't know what they have until it's edited. So they actually may have one complete concept, and that's completely out the door by the time they've added it.

And I haven't yet been upset by one aspect of any of this. I think they've nailed it and they haven't misrepresented and they've told a true story. That's difficult, along with the fact that it all has to work in these episodes, and I guess you have to have a lot of experience. The people working with us are experienced. They've done shows before. This is different than anything that's ever done before, and I think they're all very proud of the outcome. 

Dave Graham: So when do we get to see it? 

Jeremy Humpherville: So fall of this year. That's the thing, is that I guess they wanna find a perfect time slot. They're not gonna throw you on two in the morning and they want to do a little bit of publicity. We really, at this point, haven't had to act, I guess we'll have to go and talk about this out loud, which I'm doing now, but you'd like to forget. It's there as the people in it. You're like, oh, okay. I guess it'll just show up. But we have to go and just tell people it's coming and do a few interviews and whatnot, which is fine. I'm really happy to have the exposure from my artist and for the gallery. 

Dave Graham: There's a question here about some of the artists featured from the gallery, and I'm wondering if that's a fair one to pose if you can handpick some. 

Jeremy Humpherville:  Every season's gonna be different. That's the thing is we're not pointing fingers at one person's more special another.

They're all amazing, and I think that's what's gonna come across is every episode you watch, every artist you see, you'll be like, okay, I really like what they're doing. And they love that artist. That's what Coastal Carvings is about. We have Bert, Tom and I ended up working with him in Alberta. He's speaks fluent Blackfoot and just does amazing inlays of stone and it's what they work with amite and different things in Alberta.

Be able to be around a guy like that with so much life experience and so much really creative ideas on his own. These are the guys that inspire me to be better. I wanna mix our talents and even be better. So there's Bert Toman, there's Brenda Dodo, she's a weaver, and she taught my daughter on the television series and is also Lisa Shepherd.

She's also worked with my daughter. So my daughter is coming out as an artist, and when it comes to that, her ideas are good, but you need the refining. And these people are professionals in their own right. All these artists, you can't really name them all, but all the artists that are involved. When you see their stories, you'll realize they're just as important as anybody else's stories.

Dave Graham:  What is it like for you to be able to witness and participate in your daughter's beginning journey as an artist? I. 

Jeremy Humpherville: It's been fun. It wasn't something for years I wanted her to, but I wasn't going to bush her. And then when it came about, it was a year before filming started and that year she came to me and said, Dad, I'd like to do something. I'd like to start something. And she didn't know what, maybe I could start learning, carving and she'd been a natural artist. I think as a person who can take a pencil and draw what they see, she's better than I am. I can't do that. I can only create from my mind, I can't look at something and draw it.

She's got an amazing ability that way and she was able to now learn to formulate ideas from forms like I taught her. And also her bead work is amazing. It's been proud parents all the way. My wife and I are like, you couldn't be happier to see her enjoying that. And if she never, she's been gifting pieces. She gets into the fact that she just does this for friends, family, and loves doing it. That's all I started out as, so it's perfect. 

Dave Graham:  I had this chance encounter in the woods a few months back with this artist. She'd gone to Emily Carr School and seemed like quite a personality, and I'd mentioned to her that I'd been starting with the idea of painting and not knowing where to begin, and she said no. Right off the bat for first year, everything you're gonna create is insert four letter word here. Have you found that you've dealt with learning curves as an artist? Do you just have a knack for it? I'm curious to know how that comes to be. 

Jeremy Humpherville: Let's just say you're not born an artistic family. It doesn't mean anything. The human mind is amazing. So if you're willing to pursue that aspect of your mind, you're gonna get to some sort of art and what scale that is up to you. But there's a huge time factor in there. So when you talk about starting something and all your first pieces are not great, that's okay. And I tell people, don't concentrate on your first one.

Trying to make it a masterpiece. You actually probably don't have the talent at that point. Working through ideas and working through time, you'll develop into that person. It can do wonderful things. So yeah, my pieces were, I look back and I'm like, oh, that's embarrassing. And I think every single artist is probably that way.

It's maybe not a terrible piece, but it's not as good as it could do now. So you're always your worst critic and you're always hard on yourself. And I know this from my brother, my other artists I've met. And honestly, it's those relationships like you meeting that person in the forest well. Every person you meet is gonna add to your ability when they're sharing information. And eventually you'll look back and say, yeah, you had to start somewhere. 

Dave Graham: Any further words to share. 

Jeremy Humpherville:  I can't wait for people to meet these people, but now to know their life story. 'cause the stories really go into their personal lives as well. 'cause it's following them through ups and downs of their personal life to see the people we have at Coastal Car.

I've always said to people, we have nothing but nice artists. I truly believe that. So I think that this, sharing this with people, they'll feel like they're part of our family and they'll really get an essence for what coastal carvings is about. And that's been the goal of us all along. Whether you can afford art or not, if you come in here with your children and you just enjoy it and learn something, that's what it's all about.

Dave Graham:  Looking forward to the show, Coastal Carvings and thank you so much, Jeremy. Great to see you again. 

Jeremy Humpherville: Thank you very much for taking the time. 

Peter McCully: A reminder, the Coastal Carvings Gallery will be celebrating their 20th anniversary with an open house May 9th, 10th, and 11th. The show will be the largest ever at the gallery.

They have a 40 foot dugout canoe coming with its carvers from Totino set up in front of the gallery. They'll also have guest artists from out of town and out of province attending. 

Dave Graham: I'm very glad to know Jeremy because that means I can not only appreciate what he creates, but also so that I may encourage others to check out his gallery or take a look at his website to get an idea of the remarkably high level at which he operates, and know that this level of craftsmanship is from within our midst. Another thing to be proud of. We have some extraordinarily accomplished people right here, and it's just a joy to share their stories. 

Peter McCully: Speaking of accomplishments, I think we're about done here. What do you say, Dave? Is it time to head down to the cafeteria and check out Mabel's special? 

Dave Graham: Okay. Mabel's on her latest kick.You know, she's all about fusion in food now. 

Peter McCully: What do you mean? Like fusing foods together from different cultures? 

Dave Graham: Yes, but you know Mabel? 

Peter McCully: Yeah, sure do. Okay. What has she done? 

Dave Graham: Well, I believe it's all the regular menu items, but they now come with your choice of topping gravy, chili, or cheese sauce. I don't think she gets the fusion concept.

Rockin Rhonda & The Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave, oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. So to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Peer and Dave. They're on the mics all right. Join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.