Hope and Memories

all photographs by Dave Hupke

Dave's canoe is as much at home on a muddy creek bank as it is in an art gallery—it was shown at the Galesburg Civic Art Center. Dave, a professional photographer, is no stranger to the art world.

Six years ago, a nearly fatal injury landed Dave Hupke in the hospital. While his life hung in the balance, he imagined what he would do if he were to have the good fortune to live beyond the age of 46. As a teen, he had been a Boy Scout guide at the Charles L. Sommers Wilderness Canoe Base in Ely, Minnesota, and later, as an Eagle Scout, led trips through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. He had fond memories of wilderness paddling and of the beauty of cedar-strip canoes. He decided that if he walked out of the hospital he’d build a canoe.

David's father, Horst Hupke, had the tools and his skills as a woodworker to hasten progress on the canoe project. Note the splitter secured by the smallest clamp. It holds the work to the fence and keeps the cedar from binding on the saw blade.