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| Quebec Chronicle Telegraph, Summer 1996 |
Biography
I’ve loved working with wood ever since I made my first woodcut prints, back in the mid 1970s, when I began doing art work. Born and raised in and around Vancouver, B.C., I spent my early years never far from the Pacific Ocean, the mountains, rain forests and our legendary Northwest Coast totem poles.
After high school, I spent a few years working and travelling around Quebec, eventually returning to B.C. to take a degree in psychology, and afterwards working on projects for a mental patients association. However, I soon discovered that my true calling was art, and so I went on to spend four years at the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University).
Coming from a psychology background, my early art themes always seemed to involve humanitarian questions, and my art school years often found me spending hours upon hours sketching the residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, in particular a then famous hangout called the White Lunch Cafeteria.
During that period I created several woodcut and linocut prints of various people who were living on the margins of society. Of course this was the seventies and early eighties, and the feminist movement was also a strong influence on me - so when I wasn’t doing my White Lunch people, I was creating works that depicted images of strong “Amazon” women. I participated in several art shows around Vancouver, including at the Federation of Canadian Artists, of which I was an active member. Reproductions of my work appeared in a number of newspapers, magazines and books, particularly those focused on mental health and women's issues.
In 1984 I returned to Quebec, and soon discovered the quaint old houses lining the streets of Quebec City’s St-Sauveur neighborhood (where I lived for several years). I began going out to sketch these fascinating buildings. Later on I briefly apprenticed at a woodcarving souvenir shop in the Old Quebec, and also learned traditional cabinetmaking. During this period, I created a large series of relief carvings depicting old Quebec houses, which I sold to the tourist souvenir boutiques, and I was also employed as a shop carpenter.
During the 1990s I had a summer artisan booth at the Artisans de la Cathédrale in the courtyard of the Anglican Cathedral in Old Quebec City, where I created a variety of things to sell to tourists, such as jewellery boxes, relief carvings, clocks, key hangers, carved plates, and Christmas decorations. Articles about me and my booth were featured in the Quebec Chronicle Telegraph newspaper on two different occasions. As those years wore on, I became increasingly interested in spiritual themes and Native American subjects.
Following the year 2000, I closed my booth and took a pause to engage in further study, wishing to explore my new themes, as well as to improve my carving skills. I also worked a lot of hours as a private English tutor and for awhile as a calèche driver, conducting guided carriage tours of the Vieux-Québec.
I took an extensive series of Tarot reading courses, and also began focusing on my other lifelong passion: music. From the summer of 2006 through until 2016 I performed as a street musician, playing keyboards in the Old Quebec City. I also went to St-Jean-Port-Joli a few times for summer intensive woodcarving courses with Benoi Deschênes. Between the years 2008 and 2012 I studied drawing and oil painting with the Quebec City artist and teacher Madame Fleurette Brunet-Levesque, at the same time participating in open drawing and portraiture workshops with a live model. I also took a clay modeling course with sculptor Monique Brunet and other sculpture courses at a local college.
My deepest concerns include social justice issues, our relationship with other species and respect for the environment. I have been a vegetarian for many years and I practice the martial art of kenpo karate. For the past 40 years or so I have been keeping a few ringneck doves and fancy pigeons as my special beloved bird companions.
My Present Work
For my relief carvings, I am continuing to develop themes from Native American culture and legends, Tarot card images, folklore and fantasy. I draw much of my inspiration from the images of the different Tarot card decks, First Nations' legends, Northwest Coast Native carvings, the Native American Indian documentary photographs of Edward S. Curtis, and especially the magnificent paintings of the late visionary artist Susan Seddon Boulet.
In 2019 created a new line of Holiday-themed pieces, which include Christmas ornaments and standing high relief Halloween sculptures.
In 2022 I began work on a series of magic wands inspired by the Harry Potter books and films. I am also working on producing accessories for my wands, such as pouches sewn in colorful fabrics, as well as wooden personal wand display stands. I intend to make my wand collection a mainstay product to sell at my future Christmas markets.
As for my more recent activities, I showed my carvings at the New Age Salons Harmonie in Trois-Rivières and Granby, Quebec prior to the Covid pandemic.
As for my more recent activities, I showed my carvings at the New Age Salons Harmonie in Trois-Rivières and Granby, Quebec prior to the Covid pandemic.
During the pandemic lockdowns I participated in an online woodcarving competition sponsored by the Richmond, B.C. Carvers Society and won four ribbons at the advanced level, including one first place.
Following the Covid lockdowns I began showing my work again in the fall of 2022, participating at the Salon de l'Oie Blanche at St-Joachim, Québec and the Féerie de Noël Christmas market at Lac Beauport, Québec. I will be doing a Christmas market in November 2023 at Ste-Cathérine-de-la-Jacques Cartier, and am presently lining up other regional shows for December in the MRC de la Jacques-Cartier region near Québec City.
