THE ARTIST THE EXPLORER

During my first year of art school I began to smile breath because I finally felt excited to learn what the actual school had to offer. It was equally exciting to be surrounded by creative individuals and rooms of tools, space and equipment at my disposal. At some point I was questioned by an instructor as to why I decided to attend and what did I want to become in the process? The question caught me off guard. How did I end up in an art school if I never considered art, artist or creator as a profession?

During my foundation year at Emily Carr in Vancouver, British Columbia (now University of Art and Design) I wrote a letter to the administration to request that I skip the foundation year because I wanted to learn photography, specifically color photography offered in the 2nd year and I needed to speed up the process. I attended various art schools from the age of 5 and I was confident in my skill and I knew what I wanted to learn next.

My argument was rejected. By the end of the foundation year 50% of the students dropped out and I realized that this was the schools plan all along. With less competition and even more focus I firmly took my place inside the photography department and added a side hustle in painting and ceramics. I averaged 14 hours a day borrowing every camera, lens and tool from the AV Crib and taught myself everything I could.

Over the weekends, I borrowed 4X5 and 8X10 cameras, bought boxes of film, took everything home, created still life sets to photograph and then learned how to process the film. As soon as I had a stack of usable negatives… in color too (wink wink), I sweet talked the dean of photography to teach me color printing a year before the curriculum. Now, I was ahead of the game, confident and the school felt like my own studio.

By second year, I realized that there were scholarships including attending other schools. My grades were high, as well as my work ethic. I began applying for everything. Some were cash prizes others for equipment and some for trips.  It seemed that everyone was too distracted to notice that these opportunities were available. I received a lot of scholarship sometimes because no one else applied. The greatest award was to attend the San Francisco Art Institute during my 3rd year.
 

I turned 21 in San Francisco with two roommates on top of Nob Hill. This time of my life was about adventure, new perspectives and learning how hard work pays off. One of the pivotal classes I took was a book binding and portfolio making from a gentleman that made Robert Mapplethorpe’s (an American Photographer) portfolios. I wish I could remember his name, but he taught me the art of presentation and how to select the best photographs to tell a story for my clients.

Post graduation I put his process to use and entered a competition in New York with Nikon and PDN Magazine. I won best new talent in photography for self promotion and flew to NY to receive the award and a new Nikon camera. Months later the organizers of the event facilitated a connection between myself and AMFAR (American Foundation for Aids Research). AMFAR was organizing a travelling show of the Aids Quilts to Vancouver, Canada. The focus of the opportunity was to document the event including a private photo shoot with Elizabeth Taylor. I was awarded the photo shoot and it was a pleasure and highlight of my life to meet her and her dog Sugar.

The path of the artist has never been explained to me. Its as if the path of the artist must be chosen and then created, perpetually through exploration. I feel many people including artist think I paint, therefore I am… which might be partially true. To me, The artist is the explorer and life is the canvas.

 

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