Science Needs You in the Chukchi Sea
Who: Ian Tamblyn
When: Wednesday, May 8, 2024 7:00 – 9:00pm
Where: Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association Fish Hatchery, 6712 Gelert Road Haliburton, ON
In the winter of 1984, I received a letter from an American marine biologist who I had never met. The letter read” Hey, Tamblyn, Science Needs you in the Chukchi Sea. Get your diver’s licence and join us in Nome on July 7th for a month study of the feeding habits of Gray Whales and walrus.”
I burst out laughing when I read this letter but it not a joke. It was an offer that changed the course of my life. I spent that winter in a suburban Ottawa pool and I got my PADI open water certificate diving the murky waters of the St. Lawrence on July 4th. Six days later I made my first Arctic dive at King Island, in the middle of the Bering Strait.
The scientist who made the offer was Dr. John Oliver from the Marine Lab at Moss Landing, California. He had seen me play the previous summer at the marine station at Bamfield, B.C. He wanted me to be the artist in residence on the expedition, believing firmly in a multi discipline approach to his work. As he said, “Tamblyn, we’re benthic scientists, we’ve got our heads in the mud or eyes down a microscope, I am interested in your observational eyes to take in the big picture from another perspective.” He was the first scientist besides Richard Feynman I had ever heard take this approach and since that time there have been few since.
The adventure in the Bering Strait and the Chukchi Sea led to several other expeditions with the “benthic bubs”, culminating with a month of diving under the ice of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. It also led to the creation of two albums, a Juno nomination, a play and a two-part series called “Notes from the Bottom of the World” that aired on CBC’s “Ideas” series with host, Lester Sinclair.
That first expedition opened the door to several other adventures as well, including 27 years guiding and driving zodiacs in the Arctic, Antarctic and other remote parts of the world.
Say “YES!” to adventure.
Ian's Bio
Ian Tamblyn was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1947. He has been playing music and writing plays since the age of seventeen. His first “professional” and self titled album was recorded in 1976 at Marc Sound in Ottawa. It was the first fully produced album in Ottawa. It was awarded a Juno for its unique cover design. Since that time Ian has recorded forty – four more albums, CDs and cassettes as well as producing albums for over thirty other artists. His songs have been covered by over forty artists and his song “Woodsmoke and Oranges’ has been presented by close to one hundred choirs in North America and Europe.
Ian Tamblyn has won several awards for his work including a Juno award and nomination, songwriting awards and nominations from the Canadian Folk Music Awards as well awards and nominations for his theatre and film soundtracks. He holds an honourary doctorate from Lakehead University, a distinguished alumni award from Trent University and he is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. In 2021 Ian Tamblyn was selected as an Officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General Mary Simon. Ian is also the recipient of the Jackie Washington Award, the Victor Tolgasy Award, Estelle Klein Award and the J.D. Coulsen Award.
Mr. Tamblyn has written seventeen plays and is currently researching a play about his grandmother Vera Baird who was a vaudeville type singer in the lumber and logging camps of North Western Ontario. Music for this play was discovered her piano bench. The play will be called Vera. His most recent play Ice Storm 1998 was given a stage reading in December 2022 at the La Fab centre in Chelsea, Quebec. He is also collaborating with Jan Irwin on a play based on Brian Doyle’s book, Mary Ann Alice. In 2018 Ian was music director for Up to Low, another Irwin/Doyle production that was staged at the Studio of the National Arts Centre.
Currently Ian is working on several music and writing projects. A “best of” collection is presently being considered for release on both vinyl and CD formats. The vinyl presentation will be a companion piece to the vinyl version of Magnetic North which was released by the Record Centre and Precision Records in 2022.. There is also a collection of new songs being assembled for release sometime next year. As well Ian has been writing a collection of stories centred around his life as an adventure guide and another reflecting on the songwriting process.
As of this writing there is an exhibit of paintings by Lorenzo Fracchetti featuring Tamblyn’s music showing in Trento, Italy and a film entitled -”Piccolo Musiquevibration” by Jean Marc Gauthier-------- featuring his music recently released in France. There is also a video interviewing Ian directed by Adam Russo called “Unsung Heroes”. These videos and others can be seen on Ian’s website at www.iantamblyn.com
On Thursday, May 9 Ian will be in concert at the Dominion Hotel. Make it a double header with amazing adventures one night and the songs inspired by those adventures the next night. For more info and concert tickets Dominion Hotel Events and Tickets | Eventbrite