Malaspina Printmaker Society 2001 and 2024

23 years ago in May I was invited by MSP to spend a glorious month at their fabulous printmaking Studio. Between working all day, two lectures and preparing for an exhibition there at a later date, I fell in love with Vancouver. Granville Island felt like heaven on Earth. This visit changed my life.

It was one of the most creative residencies I ever did, and Vancouver made a very deep impression on me. Even though I didn’t know it then yet, I was back in Vancouver a year later and started to plan AION art gallery with my Canadian boyfriend. Not much has changed on the island since then.

First pull - Lithography 2001 — First pull – Lithography 2001

My friend Brigitte Potter-Mael and I at MPS Studio on Granville Island May 2001

Printmaker Friends at the end of my residency 2001

2024 I am back in the Studio doing Monotypes again. I am living just across of Granville Island and am walking under the Granville Island sign nearly every day onto the Island. This is home now. 23 years of ups and downs, heartbreak and burnout made me stronger. Finally I can enjoy living here once more and with my new Canadian Citizenship – October 30th, 2024 – I feel that I belong. For good!

Music clip credit: Alpha and Omega by Boards of Canada