Blog

This painting of an underwater rocky shoal is a work in progress. Over the coming weeks, I'll be filling it in with sea stars, sea anemones, nudibranchs, swimming rockfish and herring, floating jellies, and more. 

You're invited to help me complete this painting by answering the following question:

If you and the ocean spoke the same language, what would you say (to each other)? 

In 2016, I was honoured to be commissioned to create a narrative mural for a surgical treatment room where children will be awake during their operations.

In early October, I was honoured to be invited for a celebration and tour of the new BC Children's Hospital Teck Acute Care Centre. This new hospital is designed as a healing centre for children, with artwork covering walls, ceilings, floors, windows and filling outdoor spaces. Now that the new hospital is open, I'm thrilled to be able to share the artwork with you!

My latest project stems from my feelings of overwhelm and anxiety about the results of the recent US election. I decided to refocus my attention on positive, action-oriented words in order to stay mindful of the things I can do to inspire change. The result is a series of mixed-media postcard-sized artworks that each feature one word. I'm creating 52—one for each week over the next year.

Check out this great video by Metro Vancouver that showcases how the arts are integrated into Earth Day in Maple Ridge.

The video features me making my Canned Salmon sculptures, now part of the Confluence exhibition at The ACT Art Gallery until July 2, 2016.

I`m back in the studio after a hiatus while my family moved out to Maple Ridge, BC, where I`m artist in residence for the next few years. My residency project this summer is to build a lantern installation in the park adjacent to the studio. The project is very fun, but a different kind of art making for me. My hands have been aching to get back to painting and making collages.

Eelgrass beds hum with life. They're the nurseries of coastal waters, protecting young fish, providing them with food and shelter. Tiny crustaceans hide among the foliage. Herring eggs cling to eelgrass stems. Larger fish like lingcod and salmon swim among the grasses.

In my current work, I'm exploring the interconnections between marine species. What better place to start than here?

This past weekend, the temperature dropped and ice formed over parts of the Alouette river. Looking through the ice, I found myriad patterns, frozen and embedded leaves, and ice covered plants. All beautiful and inspiring.

Like many artists, I subscribe to a variety of email lists that advertise opportunities for artists—public art calls, exhibitions, grants, residencies and more. Most don't match my art practice or goals, but every once in a while an opportunity comes along that speaks to me. Like this one: a three year residency in a live/work house/studio in a park featuring a salmon-bearing river. How could I resist?

One of the reasons I love collage is the ability to create layers of meaning by taking existing material and placing disparate images and texts in proximity to each other. This simple act creates connections in our minds that can't necessarily be explained in a straightforward way, but intuitively create a little story.