RESIDENCIES
International Avenue Arts and Culture (IAAC) Artist in Residency at Fuse33 Makerspace (2025)
Between January-March 2025, I participated in the International Avenue Arts and Culture (IAAC) Artist in Residency at Fuse33 Makerspace in Calgary, Alberta. During the residency, I learned how to make frames and also how to use the CNC Milling Machine. One of the goals I had in the residency was to combine weaving into a new process.
Contextural Fibre Residency at AU Arts (2024)
In the spring/summer of 2024, I was invited to participate in a Self-Directed Residency Program organized by Contextural Fibre Co-op and hosted at the Alberta University for the Arts. I had a few projects in mind, but did not expect to actually have the opportunity to work on a massive stand-up loom. While the residency was self-directed, I did have some guidance from an AUArts staff on setting up my warp on the loom and taking it off. I was relieved! I decided to experiment weaving a PEI landscape painting that my mom made. It was really hard at first to approach weaving on such a big loom and do a landscape in this way, but it did get easier over many hours of practice. In addition to this big project, I submitted a small weaving to the final summer Contextural exhibit at AUArts on the theme of “Exposure”.
TD Incubator and RBC Emerging Visual Artists Programs at Arts Commons (2023-2024)
Between September 2023-September 2024, I participated in two residencies: the TD Incubator Program curated by Josh Dalledone and the RBC Emerging Visual Artists Program curated by Sanja Lukac at Arts Commons in Calgary, Alberta. The residencies included opportunities for networking, professional development, mentorship, performance, and exhibition. Wakefield Brewster, professional poet & spoken word artist, educator, producer and literacy advocate curated the 2023/2024 performance season as the TD Incubator Fellow.
My experience in the residencies felt very affirmative. Being with artists in different settings, scenarios, and practices over a whole year helped to make connections and develop relationships. The RBC Emerging Visual Artists Program also gave me the opportunity to develop two weavings and poetry under the title “The Emperor is Naked: Now What?” and exhibit them in the Window Galleries at Arts Commons. The two weavings and poetry explore white supremacy through the eyes of the townspeople in the classic folk tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”.
Santa Rosa Arts and Healing (2023)
In July 2023, I drove from Calgary, Alberta to Christina Lake, British Columbia for the Agua Viva Water Residency at Santa Rosa Arts and Healing. It was a long and beautiful drive full of anticipation. My plan was to work on writing a chapter for my memoir, but just before leaving I decided I was going to teach myself to weave.
My first weaving was on a cardboard loom that I slid onto a wooden frame and exhibited at the Grand Forks Art Gallery, along with a poem about my grandparent’s journey across the ocean to what they knew was called “Canada” from the Netherlands.
My time in the residency, curated and created by Rocio Graham, was life-changing. Spending time with different bodies of water, the water taught me to let go. Let go of the stories I tell myself, let go of burdens, let go of responsibilities, and let go of holding back.
And the riverstones reminded me to breathe. That may actually be the beginning of my memoir.
