Keels, Newfoundland, when Fletcher first encountered it, was a place where sheep, cattle and horses roamed freely. Animal vertebrae and horns are some specific objects that came back to her studio for careful observation and precise rendering. In the drawings Ossuary I & II, Pan's Horn and the etching called What is Lost, there is a palpable impulse for preservation and an honouring of a now vanished way of life. Within little more than one generation, a breath of time in geological terms, Fletcher has witnessed a significant environmental and cultural change. It is this understanding of the fragility of the land, and of life in general, that surfaces in multiple and varied ways throughout her work.
Sheila McMath, Independent Curator
