Artist's Statement:
"The way you do one thing is the way you do everything”...
Creating deeper awareness is what motivates me and is the thread that weaves through my artwork, activism, feminism, organic farming, writing, founding community groups, volunteering and living as lightly, as sustainably, and as "self-reliantly" as I can on our mother earth.
While that is all positive and heart-warming, beneath or behind my motivation there are wounds that are included in my foundation as a person. As a result, I have an intense, driving need for fairness and justice. Safety is a close third for me... but then, if we actually had fairness and justice, then we would already be safe.
Fundamentally, we live in a culture of make believe. We live in a world run by corporate greed and profit. Where will it end: slave labour, clear-cutting, ocean-dragging, palm oil plantations, monoculture plantations, burning the amazon to grow soy to feed livestock? We treat our earth like a vending machine, extracting faster than she can produce, and poisoning her with toxins faster than she can cleanse herself.
We teach our children it is not okay to hit or “bully” others. But for adults -- it seems to be a free for all. "Do as I say, not as I do". The local newspaper’s social media posts are alight with racial slurs, not-so-veiled threats, ‘argumentum’ fallacies by folks who are too lazy to think. Someone actually posted a meme on the newspaper’s social media page that “All Lives Splatter”... representing and perpetuating a current sentiment of running over indigenous protestors. (20 years ago it was, “Run Hippie, Run!”). Yes, people still think like this. And it’s not 1960. And they have children. This is where we live. These are our families, our friends and our neighbours. These are MY family, friends and neighbours.
To overcome the overwhelming sense of cognitive dissonance I feel... to work towards varying degrees of healing and integration, I choose to do what I can in order to move forward in creating a better world.
Therefore...
I am a truth-teller, I am a feminist, I am a woman, I am an activist, I am a farmer, I am a friend and I am family. And I have chosen to dedicate many waking hours to sharing my time, in a myriad of ways, to create a better world of deeper awareness and understanding, with the hope of it resulting in a more fair and equitable society.
Each of my paintings is a process of inquiry, utilizing methods of Intentional Creativity, with the hope and aim to bring awareness, understanding and clarity. I see my personal process as a microcosm that can be extrapolated to the world around me. I believe the difficulties we face personally are a direct reflection of a numbed and disconnected culture.
In short, I see my job as an artist, to:
Nature in all her splendor has always been an inspiration to me... both in my personal life and in my artwork. I grew up on the Koksilah River in the beautiful mountains of Cowichan Station on Vancouver Island.
I remember as a child, hiking through the hills with the family spaniel, climbing trees, lying on my back in the grass, gazing out over the mossy cliffs to the trees and farms below. Sometimes I’d take a sketch pad and pencils... sometimes a journal... but mostly, I would simply sit quietly in the warmth of the sun and just feel that incredible sense of one-ness... of “belonging”.
Although I am primarily self-taught, my education includes courses in both fine arts and graphic arts with a diploma in Graphic Arts from Vancouver Island University. My artwork focuses on our inner strength through tapping into the universal life force, as well as understanding and respecting our connection with the earth. It is my hope that my artwork will inspire you to lie on the earth and feel that same sense of belonging... to listen to your own inner wisdom and allow it to guide you on your path.
"The way you do one thing is the way you do everything”...
Creating deeper awareness is what motivates me and is the thread that weaves through my artwork, activism, feminism, organic farming, writing, founding community groups, volunteering and living as lightly, as sustainably, and as "self-reliantly" as I can on our mother earth.
While that is all positive and heart-warming, beneath or behind my motivation there are wounds that are included in my foundation as a person. As a result, I have an intense, driving need for fairness and justice. Safety is a close third for me... but then, if we actually had fairness and justice, then we would already be safe.
Fundamentally, we live in a culture of make believe. We live in a world run by corporate greed and profit. Where will it end: slave labour, clear-cutting, ocean-dragging, palm oil plantations, monoculture plantations, burning the amazon to grow soy to feed livestock? We treat our earth like a vending machine, extracting faster than she can produce, and poisoning her with toxins faster than she can cleanse herself.
We teach our children it is not okay to hit or “bully” others. But for adults -- it seems to be a free for all. "Do as I say, not as I do". The local newspaper’s social media posts are alight with racial slurs, not-so-veiled threats, ‘argumentum’ fallacies by folks who are too lazy to think. Someone actually posted a meme on the newspaper’s social media page that “All Lives Splatter”... representing and perpetuating a current sentiment of running over indigenous protestors. (20 years ago it was, “Run Hippie, Run!”). Yes, people still think like this. And it’s not 1960. And they have children. This is where we live. These are our families, our friends and our neighbours. These are MY family, friends and neighbours.
To overcome the overwhelming sense of cognitive dissonance I feel... to work towards varying degrees of healing and integration, I choose to do what I can in order to move forward in creating a better world.
Therefore...
I am a truth-teller, I am a feminist, I am a woman, I am an activist, I am a farmer, I am a friend and I am family. And I have chosen to dedicate many waking hours to sharing my time, in a myriad of ways, to create a better world of deeper awareness and understanding, with the hope of it resulting in a more fair and equitable society.
Each of my paintings is a process of inquiry, utilizing methods of Intentional Creativity, with the hope and aim to bring awareness, understanding and clarity. I see my personal process as a microcosm that can be extrapolated to the world around me. I believe the difficulties we face personally are a direct reflection of a numbed and disconnected culture.
In short, I see my job as an artist, to:
- have honest conversations, even when they are uncomfortable
- To raise my own self-awareness
- Which in turn, encourages girls and women to reconnect with themselves and what is important… remembering who they are
- And from that place of authenticity, we are lifted. And when we lift women, everyone benefits
Nature in all her splendor has always been an inspiration to me... both in my personal life and in my artwork. I grew up on the Koksilah River in the beautiful mountains of Cowichan Station on Vancouver Island.
I remember as a child, hiking through the hills with the family spaniel, climbing trees, lying on my back in the grass, gazing out over the mossy cliffs to the trees and farms below. Sometimes I’d take a sketch pad and pencils... sometimes a journal... but mostly, I would simply sit quietly in the warmth of the sun and just feel that incredible sense of one-ness... of “belonging”.
Although I am primarily self-taught, my education includes courses in both fine arts and graphic arts with a diploma in Graphic Arts from Vancouver Island University. My artwork focuses on our inner strength through tapping into the universal life force, as well as understanding and respecting our connection with the earth. It is my hope that my artwork will inspire you to lie on the earth and feel that same sense of belonging... to listen to your own inner wisdom and allow it to guide you on your path.
Bio:
• President of the Errington Farmers' Market
• Founder of Nanaimo WomanShare, a women's time barter group with over 50 members
• Published Synergy Magazine for 10 years, a magazine dedicated to living mindfully and sustainably
• Coordinator for three annual tradeshows: "Green Solutions"
• She and partner, Dirk Becker, recognized in 2009 as Nanaimo’s Top 20 Most Powerful People (surely they mean “influential”?)
• Co-host of “Heart and Mind: Tools for Change” radio talk show
• She and Dirk farm organic vegetables, growing 16,000 pounds of veggies on just 1 acre of their farm
• They spearheaded the Bowen Road Farmers’ Market, of which Nicole served as Vice President for 6 years
• In 2010, Nicole performed "Under the Burqua" in Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues" at Vancouver Island University
• In 2007, Nicole was a guest speaker to journalism students at Vancouver Island University
• In 2006, Nicole was a guest presenter for Women’s Enterprise Society of BC, a workshop for women entrepreneurs titled, “Focused Marketing: Targeted Effort, Tangible Results”
• Past President of Nanaimo Women’s Resources Society which operates a Women’s Centre in Nanaimo
• Past President of Nanaimo Women’s Business Network
• Past Board member of the Coombs Farmers' Institute
• Worked as the Community Relations Officer of Mid Island Co-op for 4 years, doing Public Relations, Communications, advertising and event planning
• Graphic designer for 20 years
• President of the Errington Farmers' Market
• Founder of Nanaimo WomanShare, a women's time barter group with over 50 members
• Published Synergy Magazine for 10 years, a magazine dedicated to living mindfully and sustainably
• Coordinator for three annual tradeshows: "Green Solutions"
• She and partner, Dirk Becker, recognized in 2009 as Nanaimo’s Top 20 Most Powerful People (surely they mean “influential”?)
• Co-host of “Heart and Mind: Tools for Change” radio talk show
• She and Dirk farm organic vegetables, growing 16,000 pounds of veggies on just 1 acre of their farm
• They spearheaded the Bowen Road Farmers’ Market, of which Nicole served as Vice President for 6 years
• In 2010, Nicole performed "Under the Burqua" in Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues" at Vancouver Island University
• In 2007, Nicole was a guest speaker to journalism students at Vancouver Island University
• In 2006, Nicole was a guest presenter for Women’s Enterprise Society of BC, a workshop for women entrepreneurs titled, “Focused Marketing: Targeted Effort, Tangible Results”
• Past President of Nanaimo Women’s Resources Society which operates a Women’s Centre in Nanaimo
• Past President of Nanaimo Women’s Business Network
• Past Board member of the Coombs Farmers' Institute
• Worked as the Community Relations Officer of Mid Island Co-op for 4 years, doing Public Relations, Communications, advertising and event planning
• Graphic designer for 20 years