Medalta Residency Project
During February and March of 2020, I had the wonderful opportunity of doing an artist residency at the Shaw International Centre for Contemporary Ceramics at Medalta in Medicine Hat AB with the assistance of the BC Arts Council. I used my time there to develop new skills and to work on a specific project that explores the connections between place, landscape, flora, fauna and our human imprint, while focusing on wild salmon. I continue to do work related to this project with the goal of exhibiting the series.
I am interested in creating work that tells a story about northwest BC and I reflect on my own life experiences on the river as a white-water kayaker, and on coastal waters by sea kayak. I’ve felt the swish of migrating salmon against my face while rolling up at the bottom of rapids, woven my way through grizzly tracks and salmon remains while scouting river rapids up which salmon struggle homeward to spawn, and walked through rotting spawned-out remains at river take-outs.
Wild salmon are a critical keystone species in this region and are a valuable food source with deep cultural significance to first nations and other peoples. We are witness to an ongoing tragedy,where the survival of wild salmon is seriously endangered by climate change, habitat destruction, and long-term over-exploitation by poorly managed commercial interests.
