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Welcome to Finn Slough and the Finn Slough Heritage & Wetland Society. The residents and fishers who live and work in this unique community invite you to explore the pages of this website and uncover the many delightful aspects of the "Slough"; its Finnish roots, the who's who of wildlife and plants, current events related to our community and its role in the rich heritage of the Fraser River.

Discover Finn Slough! Click on the buttons to the left and be sure to visit our Gallery to view images collected from artists.

Finn Slough (or sometimes Gilmore or Tiffin Slough) can be found on the south arm of the mighty Fraser River in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The Slough is bounded on the Fraser River side by Gilmour Island and on the north by a dyke built to protect Richmond. Access to homes on the Gilmour Island side of the Slough is by a wooden draw-bridge, creating a definite sense of isolation from the nearby urban areas of Richmond and Vancouver.

It is pronounced "slew".

HELP SAVE THE EVA

2020 Art about Finn Slough Show

We’re so sorry!

This year’s 20^th Annual Art about Finn Slough Show April 2020 is regretfully cancelled due to the need to support social-distancing, to keep people safe from COVID-19.

The well being of all our artists, our supporters, and friends of Finn Slough generally matters more than anything else!

A lot of artists who often contribute are vulnerable: some are older folks, some are people with disabilities and have highly compromised immune systems, and some have other conditions that will make the show too great a health risk for them to participate in, and make it irresponsible for us to tempt them to be exposed to unhealthy conditions by going ahead with the show.

And people who would want to attend may also be elderly, immune-compromised, or vulnerable to sickness. In addition, this year is a bit of a bigger deal as it was to be the 20th annual, so attendance would have been considerably higher, making the risks that much greater.

But Finn Slough is still the subject of art, of photographs, of writing and other expressions. So there will be a digital version of the show, to give us all hope and a bit of delight about our favourite place!

This keeps the energy going in these hard time. This show respects the work that artists have been doing getting ready for the show and keeps us all (artists, locals, public) from feeling the loss of public celebration in the isolation that is our duty. It will lift spirits! Hats off to the people who will do this!

Please check the Finn Slough Village board, Art about Finn Slough Facebook page, and www.finnslough.com for information about how this will all happen.

Join us! Make art now for the 2020 show!

April 2020 is our 20^th annual show, where Finn Slough Heritage and Wetlands brings together and celebrates art about Finn Slough in all sorts of media (painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, fibre arts, writing) in the Richmond Cultural Centre. This show is Finn Slough giving recognition and giving back to those who have appreciated, examined, and thought about this small community on the banks of the Fraser in Richmond, at the intersection of history and nature... and made art of their experience.

The art really makes the show a conversation about this unique spot: bring yours, so take your turn!

Art about Finn Slough show strives to be inclusive, fun, celebratory, thoughtful, and engaged/engaging. With you, this way, we celebrate the love of history, the love of nature, the love of living gently in fragile ecosystems, the belief that small is beautiful, and the belief that making art is for everyone, and how we best engage with and understand the world we live in.

~~Your work can be in the show, whatever medium it is in, if it is in some way ABOUT Finn Slough. See images from earlier shows www.finnslough.com for an idea of the range of possibilities so far.~~

Artists: please bring work to the Richmond Cultural Centre Atrium Wednesday April 15th between 1 and 5 pm. Artists will collect their work at 3 pm Sunday April 19th.

The show will be open for public viewing April 16th from noon to April 19th.

Open Details:

Thurs April 16th from noon to 9 pm.

Friday April 17th from 9 am to 9 pm. There will be a celebration of art and artists from 7 pm to 9 pm, with music, light refreshments, and a speaker.

Saturday April 18th from 10 am to 5 pm

Sunday April from 19th 10 am to 3 pm.

Sam Halonen

One of the fishermen and residents here at Finn Slough in the 1960's was Sam Halonen.

He had a little shack which still stands (slightly modified) down by the entrance of the Slough as his base.

His daughter Päivi has posted a very nice page on her website about him here:

https://www.paivatar.com/2017/finn-slough.htm

The EVA was a big hit at the 2015 Richmond Maritime Festival in Steveston.

Some of our resident artists were also there creating.

Please go the Environment page and read,

Small is Beautiful and Other Slough Considerations

Part of a talk given by Nadeane Trowse at the 13th Annual Art About Finn Slough Show.

Finn Slough: An inspiration for creative expression over the century:

Marina Szijarto, one of our residents has presented at this event on the subject above.

The title of this particular PechaKucha is "Secrets of the Fraser: the stories, hidden histories and creative inspiration that flows from the waterway of the Fraser River".

The evening revolved around a presentation format where each presenter shows 20 images for 20 seconds each while speaking (about a 6 ½ minute presentation).

'PechaKucha' - is organized by Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site, Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site and the City of Richmond Public Art Program.

" PechaKucha events provide a platform for individuals to share ideas, network, and show work in public. The event will offer the community to meet the presenters and engage in conversations about the arts and culture.

The PechaKucha organization is a non-profit, grass-roots group. The event is free to the public and participating presenters are not reimbursed. More information can be obtained on the PechaKucha website: www.pechakucha.org."

Here is a video by Marina Szijarto called Meditation with Tides, a beautiful time lapse art piece showing the pulse of the Finn Slough tides.

In Marina's words: “At Finn Slough, Richmond, BC. 'Where history & nature gently co-exist'
This stop action movie was taken from the deck of a floating converted net-loft. It was originally taken to capture the many tourists who visit Finn Slough over its historic 90 year old bridge, but the movement of the tide, the 'breathing' of the place became the point of interest, the meditation.”

There is another small community that is in peril in the Lower Mainland.

The Belcarra South Preservation Society is trying to keep Metro Vancouver from demolishing their homes. Here are a couple of links pertaining to their struggle. One to the Society’s page and the other to a very good article by Charles Campbell.

http://www.belcarrasouth.ca/

http://thetyee.ca/Life/2013/05/14/Belcarra-Cottage/

Bridge Stories

The 2008 Art About Finn Slough Show theme "A Bridge to History" generated some wonderful bridge stories from some of the residents. Read them here. A definite piano theme seems to be running through.

Here are some videos:

Eva moves through the drawbridge:

April 6, 2008

Here Al is bringing the fish boat EVA down Finn Slough from its winter cradle for the summer. To get through the drawbridge over to Gilmour Island it is necessary to remove five planks, so David is lifting the last one just in time. Hear that sound? That's the distinctive pop-pop pop-pop of EVA's classic make and break Easthope gas engine.

There are more EVA and Slough videos here.

Here are some Mallards and Mute Swans feeding off the bottom.