TEAMING UP
Tracy Gallant and her sister, Cheryl Thomson, team up to print fish T-shirts in North Rustico
Tracy Gallant and Cheryl Thomson leaving an impression with their print fish T-shirts
Tracy Gallant is passionate about art.
She also loves aquatic life. So, when she was searching for an art project, she didn’t have far to look for inspiration.
She remembered the summer, 25 years ago, when she and P.E.I. artist Karen Gallant, her sister-inlaw, created a series of fish print T-shirts.
“They were very popular. Back then, Karen and I ran a wholesale business through trade shows. Soon we were selling our shirts across North America, into the Cayman Islands,” says Gallant.
However, their overnight success meant being on the road for long periods of time and missing their families.
“It was hard to keep the momentum with small children at home. So, we stopped,” says Gallant.
But, this past spring, after retiring from working at the Gardens of Hope at the P.E.I. Preserve Company, she decided it was time to resurrect the fish shirt idea. So, she asked her sister to help her.
“Cheryl had just retired from DVA. So, this is our encore career. We’re doing this again because we love it. But this time we’re doing it as retail, so we won’t have to travel,” Gallant says.
The result is Fishirts — one-ofa-kind, wearable art works available at Fishead Company
Store, which is situated in a replica lighthouse, on the wharf in North Rustico.
Each T-shirt features a local species, like Acadian redfish or ocean perch, captured in vibrant colour.
Interest has been strong. To keep up with the demand they printed 80 shirts, the first run and 45 the second.
“The shirts are being received very well.”
The printing is done using Gyotaku, a Japanese method of printing.
The practice dates back to the mid-1800s when it was used to record and commemorate a fisherman’s catch.
“They use rice paper. We use a T-shirt.”
To create the image, a fish is covered with paint and a T-shirt is pressed into it. This rubbing of the fish — scales, fins, eyes and lips — creates a colourful pattern on the cotton fabric.
Thomson is enjoying this new venture.
“I like that I’m working with my sister and we’re doing something creative.”
Gallant was introduced to the creative process more than 20 years ago when she received a fish print T-shirt as a gift from her friend Trudy Gilbertson, who was a carver.
“I had never seen an art form like it before. It was really cool, biologically, to record (a fish) that way. It was also fun and funky,” says Gallant, who studied biology at university.
Now, as she re-introduces the idea to a new generation, she’s enjoying herself.
“There’s a little bit of nostalgia surrounding people and their fish shirts.”
One day she noticed a man walking across the parking lot wearing a T-shirt with a winter flounder on it.
“It was one of the original fish shirts. So, I asked him about it and he said he had two, but the neck was frayed.”
Standing on a deck, nearby, his wife shouted out to Gallant that he was very proud of his fish shirts.
“We were happy to tell him he could get a fresh one, any time now.”