Woman completes 100 swims, documents them in paintings
Lori Deeley says swims were an excuse to explore Newfoundland during COVID-19 pandemic
KIPPENS — On a sunny day in January 2021, Lori Deeley jumped into the Atlantic Ocean at Sandbanks Provincial Park in Burgeo and began what would be her year of 100 swims.
The Kippens resident, artist, art therapist and visual arts instructor had been skating with a group in Burgeo.
As they walked along the beach, Deeley and Urve Manuel, a fellow artist and friend, dared each other to jump in the water.
“It was such a beautiful calm day,” said Deeley, who was up for the challenge.
After that experience, Deeley decided she would try to swim in 100 different swimming spots over the course of the year.
She’s sharing those spots for all to see in an exhibit of landscape paintings titled “Salt & Fresh” now on display at the Rotary Arts Centre in Corner Brook.
The 2021 swimming challenge wasn’t her first.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, Deeley and her friend, Tina Newbury of Corner Brook, decided they would try to swim in 50 different spots.
Throughout that summer, they reached their goal.
So, when she undertook the 100 swims, Deeley was confident she could do it.
“If you had enough time in a year you could go to more than 100 places in Newfoundland easily,” she said.
From January to November, starting and finishing in Burgeo where the beaches are gorgeous, Deeley completed her goal.
Along the way she visited Fox Island River, a family favourite, where each pool is different, and there are still many that she hasn’t been to.
“Some of them go through rock like in the Tablelands, so you get this turquoise water and the orange rock and it’s just gorgeous.”
She went into the Lewis Hills, which took a bit of travelling to get to.
“The more remote they are, the less populated they are, too, which is nice.”
Deeley also canoed and swam in Grand Lake and Red Indian Lake (now called Beothuk Lake), and in Long Harbour she took a boat ride to an area known as the Blue Lagoon where the water on top was cold but warmed up more and more as it went down.
“Almost like a hot spring,” she said.
Added into the mix were visits to a variety of waterfalls.
It was kind of an excuse to explore, she said.
“We do lots of hiking and exploring and because of COVID we were kind of stuck on the island. We couldn’t travel as much. It gave us an opportunity to explore different parts of Newfoundland where I hadn’t been before.”
Her husband, John Deeley, who would say he wasn’t getting in, joined her on most adventures as the lifeguard.
“He would have only got in if he had to,” she said with a laugh.
During some swims she was joined by her sons or friends, including Newbury and some members of the Coldwater Cowgirls Swim Club, an informal group Deeley started with chapters in Stephenville and Corner Brook.
“It’s just a bunch of women who were interested in trying out coldwater swimming because they had heard of all the benefits to mental health and physical health,” she said.
Newbury was there for all 50 swims in 2020 and 52 of 2021’s 100 swims.
In the first year, Deeley took her to places she’d never been before.
“For the most part they’re easily accessible and it’s easily doable after a day of work. It’s a nice mini escape,” said Newbury.
Her first swim of 2021 was on May 21 in Flat Bay Brook.
“It wasn’t warm, but it was enjoyable.”
Close to the end of the challenge, Newbury took Deeley to places she’d never been. Meeting on the side of the highway on an October day, they knocked off three spots — including Blow Me Down Brook and Copper Mine Falls.
The entire experience was an adventure, and to see it come full circle with the exhibit is really something, said Newbury.
Deeley’s paintings are based on pictures of all the locations, and they were painted on six-inch-by-six-inch canvases over the course of 25 weeks
Completing four each week, the process was relaxing, helping her to unwind, and therapeutic, Deeley said.
“It was wonderful because every time I’d go looking for pictures and then started painting them, I’d relive that moment. And there’s so many good memories in every single one of those paintings.
That feeling continued as she varnished each one and then hung them in the exhibit.
“Every time I handled them, I got to relive those days. So, it was wonderful.”
“Salt & Fresh” will be on display until May 26.