Animal spirit

Walking with Thunder at home

By Sharon Harrison

When the Walking with Thunder art project by local artist Conrad Beaubien launched last October, it was done so because of, and in spite of, COVID-19, where ever-changing gathering restrictions were observed for each walk. Beaubien knew he was charting uncertain times, aware the monthly walks may have to happen at short notice with limited invited attendees, mindful the outdoor events complied with the latest provincial and local lockdown restrictions.

Ordinarily, the monthly events, a commissioned public art project, run in conjunction with Toronto-based not-for-profit arts producer DeRAIL Platform for Art and Architecture, led by landscape architect Victoria Taylor. With chapter four scheduled for mid-January put on hold at the last minute, Walking with Thunder 3.1 evolved instead, spontaneously and successfully. Held at Noble Beast Farms, Thunder’s home, Beaubien felt it more important than ever to continue walking with Thunder as best and as safely as possible.

Beaubien will tell you this exercise is not about him or a donkey, yet it is all of that and more. His journey is one of discovery and adaptation and capturing a moment and running, or walking, with it. For Beaubien, this is something he handles with ease, the challenge of operating on the fly with what’s available, unfazed by an unexpected last-minute change of direction. This artist and storyteller and filmmaker knows how to operate, to pivot, to seize an opportunity, to act with spontaneity and do some good when limitations present. While the initial idea and the ultimate goal of the project is about how art can be integrated into the landscape, as a way to animate the landscape, the relationship to animals is also important to Beaubien. “My drive here is to share that because I am very interested in the project being able to serve and help with mental health.”

The idea around Walking with Thunder utilizing different sections of the Millennium Trail, focussing primarily on the northwest corner of Prince Edward County, isn’t just about walking. It’s not just about capturing the richness of a section of trail, it goes much deeper where every footstep counts, where rhythm is important; interacting with an animal, learning about and observing behaviour. Beaubien said he would like everyone who takes part in the walks to feel the energy while in Thunder’s presence. “This guy is very powerful and it’s really trying to understand how he thinks, how he sees, how he hears.” It is about a quiet, contemplative respectful passage in time, a unique opportunity to not only respect and observe the surrounding midwinter landscape, as bland and austere as it is, but to find colour and beauty in that surrounding landscape.

There is an uplifting energy and light in the act of doing, in the process of walking, being in the company of others, in the presence of a donkey itself. It may be a spiritual connection for some, an enjoyment of the beauty of the enivronment for others, or maybe the acknowledgement of the connection of physical and mental well-being. For Beaubien, it is about capturing that essence, where Walking with Thunder is about many things: it will be about new ideas yet to surface, but primarily it is a reminder of the importance of identifying mental health concerns, not just during a period of winter, but also acknowledging the very challenging time existing for many during a global pandemic. “I am coming to understand more than ever the quality and the benefit of being with animals, so these ideas of mental health and art and the landscape merging, which is the reach right now, to try to find those words and expressions and ways to fully understand that.”

The switch to Thunder’s home base for this walk, Noble Beast Farms just outside Bloomfield, meant an opportunity for five people to not only to walk with Thunder, to get to know the friendly beast, but to meet his equine family in the paddock and to see where he hangs out. Introductions were made to Joe, Thunder’s donkey companion, and Micah, a magnificent 1,200-pound Norwegian horse, who live as a family at the farm, along with around 85 alpacas. Neither mule nor ass nor burro, nor fast-talking fictional cartoon character, Thunder is uniquely Thunder. As a male donkey, he is known as a ‘jack’ and while they may appear stubborn on the surface, and won’t be rushed in doing anything they don’t want to do, donkeys are highly intelligent, social, gentle creatures where 14-year-old Thunder is no different.

“They are quite interesting to watch in their behaviour,” says Beaubien, of Thunder and Joe. “As two brothers together, they will bump each other or play with each other. I have really come to know that part of it and often I’ll go down to the paddock and I’ll have a treat of carrots,“ he says. “Sometimes, they will follow me for no reason, except perhaps we like each other’s company, and I’ve had beautiful moments where I’ll sit on a stump and they come and just hang out like three friends: this big horse and two donkeys and that’s when you appreciate and come to understand the power of animal spirit.”

The select group included Suzanne Latchford with Heal with Horses Therapeutic Centre, as well as artist and filmmaker Nicholas Peat who captured the walk on video to be made into a three- or four-minute film. Consecon resident Peat, a multi-disciplinary artist working in sculpture, video and performance art, is looking to continue the conversation around contemporary public art. “Ultimately, what I had the opportunity to do, which was very important for me, was to film it and to be able to capture on film the experience all around and the meeting up with the animals in the paddock and capture not just the walk, but what’s important is the landscape, the landscape within the walk,” explains Beaubien. “As a career filmmaker as my background, I began to envision a short film that would encapsulate the spirit of Walking with Thunder where I try to get underneath the values and our spiritual connections with animals and the meaning that they have in our life.”

The journey of Walking with Thunder is documented at walkingwiththunder.com.