Karen Sunabacka
Karen Sunabacka, Alumni Laurie Laird Karen Sunabacka, Alumni Laurie Laird

Karen Sunabacka

July 2022

Composer Karen Sunabacka is an Associate Professor of Music at Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo. She often finds inspiration from her Métis and mixed European heritage. She has deep roots in the Red River Settlement of Manitoba and feels a strong connection to the Métis, Scottish, Swedish and Finnish cultures. This mix of cultural connections sometimes creates conflicts and new perspectives which she finds both interesting and challenging. Her music reflects this cultural mix through the exploration of the sounds and stories of the Canadian prairies.

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Joyce Clouston
Joyce Clouston, Alumni Laurie Laird Joyce Clouston, Alumni Laurie Laird

Joyce Clouston

July 2022

I am a writer and social worker. My mother was of Metis ancestry whose ancestors of mixed Cree and Orkney/Scots heritage supported Riel. My father’s family were blacksmiths and stonemasons. I have begun to develop writing to encourage healing though art to broad audiences. Joining my daughter in creating opportunities to reach larger audiences brings joy. Karen Sunabacka, my daughter and collaborator in some of the work I plan to complete, will join me part of the residency. My writing focuses on my childhood experience close to land, and Karen draws on her passion for the wilderness through leadership in children’s camping and canoeing, as well as connecting to the lively community of our extended family in the heart of the Metis Nation.

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Helen Solmes
Helen Solmes, Alumni Safira Lachapelle Helen Solmes, Alumni Safira Lachapelle

Helen Solmes

September 2022

Helen Solmes is a photographer who is passionate about the prairie landscape, more so now than ever. After retiring in 2014 Solmes chose to leave the prairies she called home for 30 years to return to her native Ontario to be closer to family and to be part of her two grandchildren’s lives. Though Solmes has had many opportunities to photograph Ontario and parts of Utah these past five years, her heart is still on the prairies.

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Alison McCreesh
Alumni, Alison McCreesh Safira Lachapelle Alumni, Alison McCreesh Safira Lachapelle

Alison McCreesh

October 2022

Alison McCreesh is a graphic novelist, illustrator and fibre artist as well as the mother of two young children. Originally from Quebec, Alison has lived in Yellowknife since 2009 and, over the past decade, she has extensively travelled around the Arctic and sub Arctic. Contemporary day-to-day life in the north, in all its complexity, is a theme that carries through her creative work.

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Jaynie Himsl
Jaynie Himsl, Alumni Laurie Laird Jaynie Himsl, Alumni Laurie Laird

Jaynie Himsl

November 2022

Jaynie Himsl uses fabric and a domestic sewing machine to make statements about her environment. Design classes over the years along with sewing skills practiced for decades provide a base for her creativity. Working intuitively, she uses a variety of materials to complete her original textile art. While at Wallace Stegner House Himsl plans to explore the area taking photos and observing the colours and light. These observations will be the inspiration for new textile landscapes. Jaynie Himsl is an award winning artist whose work has been exhibited in solo and group shows provincially, nationally and internationally. She resides in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

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Alexia Normand
Alexia Normand, Alumni Laurie Laird Alexia Normand, Alumni Laurie Laird

Alexia Normand

Alexis will be writing acoustic songs in French and English that explore her linguistic insecurities and francophone identity - themes that are connected to a documentary film she wrote and directed for the National Film Board this past August.

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Julie Burtinshaw
Alumni, Julie Burtinshaw Safira Lachapelle Alumni, Julie Burtinshaw Safira Lachapelle

Julie Burtinshaw

October 2021

Julie was born in Vancouver and has lived in many cities and towns both in and out of Canada. Julie is an award-winning author of seven books for young adults. Her last novel, Saying Goodbye to London was named one of the five outstanding books for children in the 2018, BC Book Prizes.

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Beverly Sandalack
Alumni, Beverly Sandalack Safira Lachapelle Alumni, Beverly Sandalack Safira Lachapelle

Beverly Sandalack

August 2021

Dr. Beverly Sandalack is a Professor at the University of Calgary (School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape) and a practicing landscape architect and planner. She writes, draws and paints.  Her PhD thesis and several subsequent papers dealt with a methodology for urban analysis and design, with three prairie towns (including Eastend) as case studies. As part of a research process she completed abstract paintings of the three towns, and the painting of Eastend emphasized the river and the landscape.  

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Brian Hoxka
Alumni, Brian Hoxha Safira Lachapelle Alumni, Brian Hoxha Safira Lachapelle

Brian Hoxka

July 2021

Brian Hoxha is a painter of light whose work explores the natural world and the beauty and solace that he has found in the sunlit silence of nature. Serenity and solitude are his rewards, and he welcomes the viewer into this world through his landscape prints. While on location, Hoxha works either in oils or watercolours. In the studio, these works are translated into etchings, lithographs, and woodcuts. Hoxha often facilitates his travels by pursuing various residency programs in places where he would like to paint. These journeys have taken him to Montana, Newfoundland and Ireland.

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