Eric Goggin has honed his skills as a graphic artist for more than 30 years. This month, he unveiled a unique and breathtaking creation: a colossal moose imprinted on the frozen surface of Washademoak Lake near Cambridge Narrows, New Brunswick.
“I had to have something with an obvious silhouette,” Goggin explained. “You can’t mistake a moose, and it’s such a Canadian symbol, representative of the great outdoors.”
Goggin combined his artistic passion with the beauty of the New Brunswick winter landscape to produce an impressive feat of land art. He planned his design from his cottage, using a drone to map the steps and relying on visual cues and his drone’s monitor to guide his progress.
“There was no GPS,” he said, dispelling rumors of advanced technology use. “I could see the scale of the circle, refer to the picture in my hand, and just start walking it out.”
Even isolated on the lake, Goggin’s art found some critics.
“I had a lot of people say if you were trying to achieve a quarter, you got it wrong,” Goggin said. “It’s a caribou. Well, I didn’t try to do a quarter. I just had a sketch of a moose. I did, kept it pretty basic.”
Goggin said the project took about three hours and required precise, wintry conditions.
“You need four or five inches of snow,” Goggin said. “It has to be dry, marbled snow. You kick it away to expose the ice underneath. You don’t want to mistakenly do the legs the wrong way, because that’s going to just blow it right? It’s easy to mess up, so it was fun to get it done and I think that turned out pretty good!‘”
Goggin said the project was a creative outlet and an expression of Canadian pride.
“It’s simple fun. Stomping around in the snow is no politics about it.”
Goggin’s moose caught the attention of other drone photographers who messaged him to say they might try their hand at landscape art along with Goggin’s who said he has plans for future projects.
“Oh yeah, I’ll do another one next winter!”
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