An Art Escape to the Coast

I moved back to the north the same summer that COVID hit and the rainfall was higher than any summer on record. It was challenging to feel settled – to feel like I was actually home – when socializing was off the table, and the weather was putting a damper on most outdoor activities. This…

Finding My Voice, or There and Back Again

My voice has always been hard to find. I remember as a child someone asking me: “What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?” I was livid, and yes, it DID feel like a cat had my tongue. If someone asked me to repeat something, I would repeat it, but a little bit quieter the second…

Martial Arts as a Therapeutic Tool

“There is stillness in motion and motion in the stillness” Sensei Chee Ling As I began my second year in the Expressive Arts Therapy program at Langara College, I also started training in Karate and Iaido. This was not my first time training in martial arts, but it was the first time I had connected…

Collaborative Poetry: A How-to Guide

Expressive Arts Therapy is less about techniques and more about presence. It’s less about a system of rules, and more about learning to be with what is there – maintaining a tolerance for uncertainty and even discomfort. This is part of why it is such a powerful way of doing therapy. Because of this, it…

A New Way of Being in the World: What Movement Teaches Me

My blog has fallen almost completely by the wayside since I started training as an Expressive Arts Therapist almost two years ago. My life has been all about writing poetry, painting, journalling, clay modelling, learning, growing, personal therapy, crying, connecting, moving, exploring, reading, reflecting, practicing, and so much more. I really can’t complain about any…

100 Years of French Art and How Canada Was Influenced

Vancouver Art Gallery French Moderns: Monet to Matisse 1850-1950 ANDAffinities: Canadian Artists and France On until May 20, 2019 Before New York, it was France that held the highest status as the birthplace of the latest art movements in the Western world. The exhibit, French Moderns: Monet to Matisse (1850-1950) at the Vancouver Art Gallery…

Artist Strain Subverts the Colonial Gaze

Manuel Axel Strain Unsettling Perspectives: Subverting the Colonial GazeDowntown Eastside Centre for the Arts January 9 – 26, 2019 I love checking out little art shows around Vancouver, and last night I got the chance to see one at the Downtown Eastside Centre for the Arts for the first time. Manuel Axel Strain is an…

Top 10 Art Finds of 2018

With only a few days left in 2018, I find myself looking back on all the blog posts I didn’t write, dozens of incredible art finds that I didn’t share with you, and photos I never posted. But my regret won’t get you those photos, so instead I’m going to jam my 10 favourites into…

Patricia Piccinini: Curious Imaginings

Patricia Piccinini: Curious Imaginings Patricia Hotel Ends December 15, 2018 Open Daily 11am – 7pm Just a few days ago I was lamenting to a friend that, in just three short years of living in Vancouver, I had become jaded by art. I remember when I first moved here, everything was new and interesting. I…

The Universality of Guo Pei’s Designs

Guo Pei: Couture Beyond Vancouver Art Gallery October 13, 2018 – January 20, 2019 This season’s blockbuster, not-to-be-missed show at the Vancouver Art Gallery is Guo Pei: Couture Beyond. The Guo Pei exhibit features everything from Chinese wedding dresses, to religious iconography, to the dress worn by singer Rihanna at the Met Ball in 2015….

Dana Claxton: Fringing the Cube

Dana Claxton: Fringing the Cube Vancouver Art Gallery  October 27, 2018 – February 3, 2019 About ten minutes into the media preview for Dana Claxton: Fringing the Cube at the Vancouver Art Gallery, curator Grant Arnold turned to Claxton to ask her about one of her performance pieces. As she started talking I realized she…

Sketchbook: A Variety Show at the York Theatre

Sketchbook: A Collection of Short Films by Danny McCreery September 20th, 2018, 7:30pm The York Theatre Buy tickets here 19 + only The following interview took place on August 30, 2018 at Moja Coffee on Commerical Drive in East Van between filmmaker Danny McCreery and me, Big City Art. Yes, Danny is my brother, and…