Beginning in June 2014, I was honoured to be the first Artist in Residence in Edmonton's City Hall. Funded by the Edmonton Arts Council, and sponsored through the Office of the City Clerk, the six month residency is a part of the City's "Art of Living" initiative, which aims to promote Edmonton as an arts and cultural centre and encourage recreational, cultural, artistic and entertainment opportunity for all residents.
During my stay, I had complete artistic freedom to make work, in the hopes that it will somehow reflect my environment here in City Hall.
Part of my role was to engage the staff by encouraging those who were interested to come and paint with me. I also enjoyed engagements with the City Hall School. The kids were always excited to see my beautiful hidden studio, analyze my work with an "art detective game", and to meet someone who got to do art as a job!
To end off my stint as artist in residence, I had the honour of collaborating on an Aboriginal reconciliation project with a team of powerhouse passionate women: Anna Marie Sewell, former poet laureate, Miranda Jimmy, founder of RISE Edmonton, and Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail, historian laureate.
I have painted seven images from photographs from the Edmonton City Archives selected by the group marking seven generations of intersections between indigenous people and settlers in Edmonton. These images were revealed on November 25th, 2015 during the first-ever round dance to occur at City Hall, accompanied by poetry from Sewell and Metcalfe-Chenail.