Exhibitions

1.    Tell us a bit about yourself, what is your background and how did you begin your professional practice? 
I grew up at a uranium mine in Northern Saskatchewan, surrounded by lakes and wilderness. This experience, plus sailing in the Gulf Islands, creating many gardens and being surrounded by Vancouver’s beauty, have profoundly influenced me and my art. I’ve always been an artist, however a corporate career and raising my family were priorities. While home with my children for a few years, I painted extensively and was fortunate to be selected for a few exhibitions. After retiring, I volunteered and wrote a book about the uranium mine where I grew up. 

In 2021, I found my old paints in a closet. I’d had a growing interest in abstraction, and with my passion for painting reignited, dove in. Since then, I’ve taken multiple courses to develop my skills and have been juried into many art exhibitions.

2.    What subject matter do you work with and why? 
I create abstract interpretations of the natural world, particularly water, sky and plant matter, reflecting the beauty and feelings of being in nature rather than specific scenes. My goal is to create awareness and conversations about the importance of protecting the environment. As a further means of protecting our environment, I donate 50% of all painting sales to environmental organizations.

3.    How does the idea of community relate to your practice? 
We are one community, all of us are affected by climate change and pollution. I have two sons and a precious granddaughter. I want them to live in a better world than what we are currently facing. I take all possible steps to minimize my impact on the environment, and through my work, encourage others to do the same.

4.    What is your dream project? 
My dream project would be to paint a wall-size canvas with all the proceeds going to an environmental organization.

5.    What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as an artist? 
Every artist has a distinct path. If you have that passion, then persevere.

6.    Name three artists who’ve inspired you. 
Painterly Inspiration -Shar Coulsen for her stunning use of colour, expressive mark making, and abstracted imagery of nature.
Courage - Wyanne Thompson who turned a devastating cancer journey into colour fields of joy. 
Dedication - Gerard ten Broek for his mesmerizing creations in the sand that are washed away in daily tides. 
Environmentalism - Edward Burtynski for the incongruent beauty of his photographs of the impact of industrialization.

1.    Tell us a bit about yourself, what is your background and how did you begin your professional practice?Born in Peru, I immigrated to Canada in 1976. I studied Ecology obtained a Bachelor in Science and then completed a Master’s in environmental planning and landscape architecture, both at Guelph University. My career focused on contaminated land reclamation on large-scale commercial, railway and government projects. For over 20 years, I represented the Federal Government in treaty negotiations with the province of BC and First Nations. I retired in 2017.

My initial creative interest was in nature photography. I started transforming my photographs (without Photoshop), by painting on top of them to add my creative spin. I began jewelry-making in 2010, gaining an interest in “trade beads” after my exposure to aboriginal beadwork in Peru and British Columbia. I developed my jewellery brand “MG Designs” and was successful in having them sold in stores and galleries in BC.

Feeling a need to expand, I began art courses at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I took abstract mixed media painting. I embraced it and took part-time courses until graduating in 2014. I began selling commercially my artworks at the Ukama Gallery, Vancouver (2016), and at the Tofino Gallery of Contemporary Art, Vancouver Island (2021).

The sea and its associated reflections in water and atmospheric light during dusk are major inspirations. Born near the Pacific Ocean in Peru, and now living in a beautiful seaside community, Lions Bay, I look at the water every day. I also get inspired by traditional art that I have encountered on my numerous travels, including Peru, India, Morocco, and Iceland. I always take something away: the colours, textures, patterns and symbolism from the local culture.

I like to describe my artwork as semi-abstract- ethereal landscapes, that are luminous, textured, beautiful, impactful and have a universal seascape inspiration. My inspiration is pulled from nature, my surroundings, experiences and imagination. The abstraction of the constantly changing shapes, colours and patterns of light in the reflected water and sky and the patinas of precious minerals mesmerize me.

My work is unique in the way I combine textures and washes with metallic paints and foil to conjure up a sense of mystery and ethereal light. To create it, I apply multiple layers of coloured gel mediums, mixed with textural elements, each partially revealed to create a 3D effect. I use texture to blur the line between painting and sculpture, inviting the viewer to touch them and evoke an emotional response.

I also use multiple glazes of colour to produce contrast and harmony, creating lightness, fluidity, and ephemeral atmospheric effects. Initially, I started painting using the brush, then I transitioned to using mainly the palette knife and unconventional tools and materials, resulting in my art becoming more abstract and complex. I use an earthy-quiet palette echoing the colour found in metallic patinas and nature.

I am passionate about the environment. I use my science background to send an environmental message through my eco-artwork. Some artworks include the use of upcycled plastic, textiles, papers or foils. My goal is that the physical and emotional connection with my art will increase environmental awareness and encourage positive action among a broad spectrum of viewers. A “pretty picture” (with a message) visually remains longer with people.

I find it amazing and exciting that the connection some of my ethereal-like paintings illicit from viewers that I have never met. At the same time, I find it humbling when viewers immerse themselves in the layers, shades and texture of my paintings and they share with me how they are seduced into a visual, tactile and emotional experience ranging from curiosity, serenity, contemplation, to energy. When this connection is made, I feel my mission is accomplished as I inspired self-discovery and created a connection, an encounter- a meeting of minds and souls between the viewer and me.

2.    What subject matter do you work with and why?
Water is my muse. My passion for the natural world as a scientist and as an artist grew from living on the West Coast and my international travels. I live surrounded by mountains, forests, and sea view vistas with amazing ever-changing sunsets, that provide me with a continuous sense of awe and solace, grounding me in a set of interconnected spaces whose beauty and complexity I find endlessly fascinating.

Nature’s enduring appeal is what propels my creative drive as well as my commitment to responsible environmental stewardship. Through a visual language that aims to reflect the universal through the personal, my work aims to compel our connection to nature, and our responsibility for its stewardship and protection, since we owe a great debt because of our dependence on it.

Because of my science background, I sometimes aim to communicate using upcycled materials and natural pigments in my art, issues about the environment, such as climate change, the overuse of plastics and our large carbon footprint, to invite dialogue and discussion to improve the future of our local environment, making it more sustainable. Upcycling diverts waste from landfills and simultaneously poses the question of modern society’s rampant consumerism and waste.

I use mixed media for its capacity to reach beyond the visual, to a more tactile process and overall experience, especially for the visually impaired. I invite the viewer to come closer and observe the ridges, cracks, holes, and bumps like books that suggest and hint at layers of meaning.

For example, some of my paintings have a distinct coloured sharp horizon line, which intuitively depicts the transition between sky and water, but also depicts either a “line of fire” due to the increase of global temperatures or a “line of rising waters” due to melting glaciers. They are also statements that we can all make a difference, but we must all cross “the Line” to make an environmentally substantial positive change.

3.    How does the idea of community relate to your practice?
Lions Bay has been my home and studio since 1997.  Having a small business in a community where I feel supported, recognized and appreciated makes it very enjoyable and satisfying. I always buy locally and have done my utmost to support local businesses.

I like to create art, but I also like to give back to the community that supports me. I donate a portion of my sales to the SPCA. I also donate art and money for fundraising purposes to not-for-profit organizations such as the Lions Gate Hospital, BC Cancer Society, The Loving Spoonful, The Nature Trust of BC, and the Pacific Salmon Foundation.

I have and continue to donate artworks to permanent collections at health centers so patients can enjoy art, such as the Vancouver General Hospital, Lions Gate Hospital, and the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver.

I was a board director at the North Van Arts for the past 8 years, attending board meetings, events and doing local volunteer work.

4.    What is your dream project?
Doing commissions that hung in both private and public places like the one I did for the Gold City Nobel Hotel, a five-star venue located in Shanwei City, Guangdong, China-measuring 4 by 7 feet, and creating and exhibiting works of art from trash, where I can convey an environmental message through art.

I participated in the 2022 “Diving In- from marine litter to works of art,” a rotating exhibition in several galleries in BC with one of my creations titled S-O-S (Save Our Seas, or Save Our Sirens).  11 artists representing 9 communities were chosen to transform marine litter into works of art as a vehicle to talk about water pollution, especially plastics. This exhibit brought awareness that if we do not recycle or properly dispose of trash, it eventually ends up in the food chain, killing plankton, wildlife, and humans, including mermaids!

5.    What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as an artist?
Embracing creativity, building a strong practice, developing professional skills and remembering that art should be fun. It should be a way to express oneself and share the story with the world.

6.    Name three artists who’ve inspired you.
William Turner for simple compositions, movement, and atmospheric blending.
Vincent Van Gogh for his fantastic texture and palette knife bold strokes.
Edward Burtynsky for depicting in his photography the impact of humans on the natural environment, often eliciting a sense of both wonder and unease.

1. Tell Us A Bit About Yourself, What Is Your Background And How Did You Begin Your Professional Practice?
I’m an artist based in British Columbia, working primarily in abstract painting. I began painting seriously after being diagnosed with cancer—a moment that forced me to confront the fragility of time and the need to live more intentionally. What started as a way to process that experience quickly grew into a daily practice and a professional path.

My background isn’t in formal art education; instead, I’ve arrived at this point through lived experience, experimentation, and a deepening commitment to creative expression. As I recovered, painting became a space for healing, questioning, and connection—and eventually a means to engage with the wider world through exhibitions, community shows, and environmental themes. It’s been a journey of reclaiming both materials and purpose.

2. What Subject Matter Do You Work With And Why?
My work explores emotional landscapes, identity, and transformation—often through abstract forms. I’m interested in how we carry experience, how memory and environment shape us, and how meaning can be found in imperfection or repair. Recently, I’ve been working with reclaimed canvases and materials, which brings an added layer to these ideas: the history embedded in each surface becomes part of the conversation.

There’s something powerful about giving discarded materials new life. It speaks to cycles of renewal, sustainability, and the possibility of change—both personally and collectively. Abstract expression allows me to stay open, intuitive, and responsive to the materials, which often guide the direction of the work.

3. How Does The Idea Of Community Relate To Your Practice?
Community plays a subtle but essential role in my work. I often source materials from my local surroundings—cardboard, discarded books, and old playing cards—which ties my practice directly to place. There’s a quiet collaboration in that process: the existing marks, histories, or wear on these surfaces become part of the final piece. It’s a way of acknowledging what already exists and building upon it rather than starting from scratch.

I also think of community in terms of shared experience. Much of my work reflects emotional states or transitions that many people go through—grief, renewal, healing. By showing that complexity through abstraction, I hope to create space for viewers to see their own stories reflected and feel less alone in them. Whether it’s in a gallery, an online space, or a conversation sparked by a painting, those points of connection are what make the work feel complete.

4. What Is Your Dream Project?
My dream project would be to create a large-scale, immersive installation using entirely reclaimed materials—cardboard, book pages, playing cards, fabric, found wood—layered and suspended to form a walk-through environment. It would be both sculptural and painterly, inviting viewers to physically move through abstraction, memory, and transformation.

I imagine it as a kind of quiet cathedral made of discarded things—a space that honours impermanence and invites reflection. Ideally, it would also include a community element, where others could contribute found materials or mark a surface themselves, so the work evolves and accumulates meaning over time. It’s about creating something beautiful and resonant from what’s been overlooked or forgotten.

5. What’s The Best Piece Of Advice You’ve Been Given As An Artist?
The best advice I’ve received is that self-doubt is part of the creative process—you don’t need to eliminate it, but you do need to move through it. There’s often a point in a painting where it feels like everything’s falling apart. What once looked promising can suddenly seem lost or overworked. But if you stay with it—if you have the patience and the will to keep going—something new usually emerges, often stronger and more surprising than what you imagined at the start.

That advice has helped me trust the process, even when it gets uncomfortable. It’s become a kind of guidepost, reminding me that doubt isn’t a signal to stop—it’s a sign that I’m in the middle of something meaningful.

6. Name Three Artists Who’ve Inspired You.
I’m inspired by artists who take risks with material and meaning. One is Anselm Kiefer, whose use of raw, often decaying materials carries a deep emotional and historical weight—there’s a sense of destruction and renewal in his work that resonates with me. Another is Agnes Martin, whose quiet, meditative abstraction reminds me of the power in restraint and repetition. Her work shows how something seemingly minimal can hold so much feeling.

A third is El Anatsui, who transforms discarded materials—like bottle caps and scrap metal—into monumental, flowing forms. His work speaks to transformation, memory, and the beauty of what’s been overlooked. That idea runs deep in my own practice: the belief that something forgotten or broken can still become something powerful.

As an intuitive painter, I’ve also been deeply affected by the work of Hilma af Klint. Her spiritual approach to abstraction, long ahead of its time, speaks to the unseen forces behind art-making. Her trust in internal vision over external validation is something I continue to learn from.

1.    Tell us a bit about yourself, what is your background and how did you begin your professional practice?  
Art has always been a part of my life. As a child, I was constantly drawing, coloring, and crafting.  My parents always made sure to have lots of paper because I was prone to drawing on walls.  My love of art continued through my life and only really halted after the birth of my daughter.  Life got busy and so I stepped away from art for about a decade.  About five years ago, I felt inspired to pick up my brush again while browsing in a local art store. The salesperson talked me into trying watercolors for the first time.  I had so much fun!  I started taking online classes, and following You Tube tutorials. Within a year I submitted work for an artist call and happily found a series I was working on accepted for a local show at the Port Moody Art Gallery.  I started selling pieces and was commissioned to do some landscapes (for some very lovely people) of local scenes.  I think that’s when I really fell in love with landscape painting.  I was successfully juried into the Federation of Canadian Artists in 2022 and in the last year switched exclusively to acrylic painting.  Since then, I have had a few pieces, including three pieces from this series, juried into exhibitions with the Federation.  

2.    What subject matter do you work with and why?  
I love painting anything to do with Nature.  I definitely feel most confident and happy when painting landscapes.  I try to figure out the mood or feeling I want to convey and then paint with that in mind.  Landscape painting is more than capturing a scene—it’s about expressing the emotion and atmosphere of a place.  

3.    How does the idea of community relate to your practice?  
Landscape painting often provokes a shared memory of a place and community. The places I have painted in Poco are, to me, iconic, and reminiscent of special moments.  I feel like each scene I paint is a memory, not exclusive to me, but one that others have experienced too.  I guess I feel like this shared appreciation instills a sense of community and reinforces the importance of the land we live on.

4.    What is your dream project?  
To be honest, I don’t just have one project I’d love to paint, I do have a few in mind.  I have been playing with this idea of doing portraits, but I have not completely thought it through yet.  I was so excited for this series, Postcards from Port Coquitlam, that I felt very inspired and focused.  The portrait idea is still formulating, but I’ll say this, it is not going to be conventional people-styled portraits. 

5.    What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as an artist?  
The two best pieces of advice I have been given as an artist came from two online art teachers.  One idea was that every artist really needs to log their ‘brush miles’. (Angela Fehr – Watercolor Instructor & painter).  Starting from scratch after a long hiatus from painting meant I felt a little overwhelmed by all the things I didn’t know, so I focused on smaller tasks and kept practicing.  I once painted 100 roses just to get my muscle memory down.  The second piece of advice is one that I keep trying to remember --“You don’t have to paint everything—people’s eyes will fill it in.” (Jane Slivka – Acrylic Painting instructor).  I have been trying to work on creating more loose landscapes and that means staying away from too much detail. 

6.    Name three artists who’ve inspired you. 
I am inspired by many artists, especially now that the online artist community has grown exponentially due to social media.  I think the one that is truest to my style and art process is Jane Slivka in Florida.  It is my goal to one day fly down to Florida, visit her gallery and take a painting class with her.    I have also always been inspired by the bold colors of Matisse and the impressionistic soft palette of Monet.

1.    Tell us a bit about yourself, what is your background and how did you begin your professional practice? 
One could call me an accidental artist. I work in another profession and started taking art classes later in life to carve out some time for myself and try something creative. As I explored more, I've started building a series with a subject matter that connects with my life.

2.    What subject matter do you work with and why? 
My work is abstract, and I invite viewers to engage with it in their own way—whatever feelings, stories, or meanings come up for them. For me, my art reflects my personal healing journey, as well as the reality of parenting a child who experiences the world with high energy and a constantly shifting focus.

3.    How does the idea of community relate to your practice? 
While my work is personal, the themes of emotional resilience and mental well-being are universal. Through abstract art, I hope to create a space where viewers can reflect on their own experiences. In this way, my practice becomes a quiet form of connection — making the invisible more visible, and reminding us that we’re not alone in what we carry.

4.    What is your dream project? 
My dream project isn’t one big event but rather having regular quiet time to make art over the long term. I’d love to let the work grow slowly and naturally, creating series that reflect inspirations in life as they come.

5.    What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given as an artist? 
I haven’t had a formal mentor, but art courses have offered valuable guidance. One simple rule that’s stuck with me is: ‘Try — it might work out.’ It helps me keep moving, even if I feel unsure.

6.    Name three artists who’ve inspired you.
I’m inspired by many kinds of art and children’s creations are my favorite. There’s something honest and unfiltered in them that really connects with me. I also find meaning in the work of people who are still learning, and in unexpected moments – like objects left out on the street. Everyday creativity moves me just as much as what’s in museums.