About
Welcome to my website
I grew up in Vancouver's skid row, a neighbourhood that was diversely populated by Chinese Canadians, Italians, Japanese Canadians, Black Canadians, poor single whites and very few First Nations families.
I attended both Lord Strathcona Elementary and Seymour School from kindergarden through to grade 6 when we started bouncing from neighbourhood to neighbourhood to even out of BC for a bit.
I left home at the age of 15 and supported myself working in cleaning jobs either in hotels or office buildings. I became a single parent at the age of 20 and it was a big struggle as I had no support from anywhere. I was raised in a home that was damaged by the Indian Residential School system where my Mom spent 12 years interned from the age of 6 until 18 when she aged out of that system.
I had 12 siblings, some of whom where grown up and living in Manitoba. The rest of us grew up in Vancouver's east end.
I entered Langara Fine Arts program in 1992, then transfered into ECIAD for their 4 year program and obtained my BFA degree, then landed in Regina for my MFA degree. It wasn't exactly where I wanted to get my training from, but I had no choice due to funding restrictions.
I am a self-employed artist.
It definitely is an interesting path.