The water flickers with the light of the moon. The wind out in the strait is uncharacteristically calm. Three brothers continue their tasks without a sound—silence. Mind you, the silence is not uncomfortable—everyone has their job to do. Even the moon knows that it is helping by lighting up the otherwise black night. No, the silence offers the brothers a chance to bond in a way that only brothers can. A common pursuit, a common lineage: solidarity, sodality and silence on a moonlit night.
Like my grandfather before me, I grew up the youngest in the family. My brothers would tease me and my sisters would nurture me. With such a gap in age between us boys, I really didn’t have that much in common with my two brothers, Rob and Rick. Adulthood, however, is the great equalizer. We now have much more in common. When we sit on the drum log together we sing the ancient songs of our family. When I need help building a deck, the bros come with tools in hand. When hundreds of food fish arrive in the middle of summer, the boys get together outside to cut and fillet the fish. Most of the time there is ample laughter, memories shared and jokes told. For brief moments, though, there are times of pure silence. I relish those times and embed them in my mind. Sometimes it is the silence that allows us to realize who we really are and what is truly important.
My feelings of brotherhood extend well beyond Rob and Rick—my parents also raised many others. This print echoes the noise and the silence of Rob, Rick, Danny-boy, Greg, Jamie, Mike, Dan, Donovan, Reggie, Don and my newest little bro, Jessie.
“Silence” is a limited edition print using the giclée method of printmaking. This print was released in June of 2007 and printed by Andy Everson at the artist’s own studio in Comox B.C. A total of 109 prints bear the title “Silence” and are signed by Andy Everson: 99 in the primary edition bearing the numbers 1/99 through 99/99; 9 Artist’s Proofs; and 1 Printer’s Proof. The acid-free Moab Entrada 100% cotton rag paper measures 17x22 inches. Image size measures about 14x18.5 inches.