Sir William the Explorer is a new character that i have developed for the StoreFront, objects of desire project at the Lansdowne Centre. Sir William, played by actor/dancer Billy Marchenski appeared on July 14 looking to trade magic beans for gold. He asked people where he could find large trees to rebuild the mast of his ship as he has heard of the giant Douglas Fir trees on the West Coast that are big enough to make a large mast for a ship. His coat is made from Magnolia leaves and the braided trim is a Mongolian rope made from goat and horse hair. Front collar is made from Calla lilies and corn husk.
The jacket is made from Magnolia leaves attached to a framework of Seagrass decorated with a braid of Mongolian horse and goat rope, yellow Billy Button flowers, white Calla Lilies, Corn Husks and natural mesh. His hair is made from Sisal attached to a straw hat. The boot chaps are from the sleeves of an old leather jacket.
-
- Sir William is woken from his centuries old sleep to find himself on display in the StoreFront, objects of desire window at Lansdowne Centre.
-
- Escaping the confines of the retail experience he sets out to find a new mast for his ship and gold to bring back to his Queen.
-
- Peering through his trusted telescope he spies the riches of this new world.
-
- Magical beans are time honoured currency for the colonial subject.
-
- A fair exchange is made, one magical bean for one magical blue transportation devise.
-
- Investigating the many new medicines from the apothecary. Did he land in Asia by mistake instead of the western shores of the New World?
-
- Fascinated by the maps on offer for his future travels. Unfortunately he does not find the root to his homeland marked on any of these but Palm Springs sounds intreging
-
- Sir William discovers the Future and loves the wheeled basket
-
- Sir William ventures outdoors to find the large trees he has heard about.
-
- He does not find the large Douglas Firs that once covered this land and he realizes that they were all cut down hundreds of years ago.
-
- He explains how big a tree would have to be at the base for it to be tall enough to make a mast for a ship.
-
- Hopeful of having happened upon the site for buried treasure, he steps onto the X on this asphalt map.
2 Douglas Firs left standing as the new city of Vancouver encroaches. Man in the middle points to the scale of these massive trees.