community-engaged artworks
memory box
great lakes mural project
I worked with women affected by gender-based violence to create this mosaic mural for Bluewater Health, Sarnia. 2025
great lakes mural project
great lakes mural project
I worked with students and seniors to create 5 murals about the Great Lakes for Vision Nursing Home, Sarnia. 2024
we all have a story
picnic table for mitton village
I worked with women affected by gender-based violence to create this large outdoor mural for Women's Interval Home, Sarnia. 2023
picnic table for mitton village
picnic table for mitton village
.jpeg/:/rs=w:388,h:194,cg:true,m/cr=w:388,h:194)
I worked with students and seniors to design and paint this picnic table for the Mitton Village Parkette Project, sponsored by The City of Sarnia and its partners, Diversity Ed. Safer Spaces Canada and the Mitton Village Community Development Advisory Committee. 2022
walk a mile
Collaborative and performative artwork that highlighted the role that language plays in perpetuating violence and unhealthy power imbalances in domestic and workplace relationships. With Jennifer Vansteenkiste, 2021
we live here: wellington flats
I worked with students and seniors to create a mural about the story of one city block for Wellington Flats, Sarnia. 2020-2021
scs outdoor mural
ash tree memorial gathering
scs outdoor mural
.jpeg/:/rs=w:388,h:194,cg:true,m/cr=w:388,h:194)
I worked with students in grades 7 and 8 to help them to design and paint an outdoor mural for Sarnia Christian School. 2018
driftwood mural
ash tree memorial gathering
scs outdoor mural
This mural was made by students in grades 6 & 7 under my guidance. Driftwood was collected at a local beach. 2017
ash tree memorial gathering
ash tree memorial gathering
On a very cold and blustery April 29, 2017, I invited artists, poets, and musicians from Lambton County and from Aamjiwnaang to gather together for a community memorial service as part of Signposts and Traces, my project to bid farewell to the ash trees of Canatara Park. 2017
beginnings
beginnings
I worked with students in grades 7 & 8 to create an installation using natural materials donated to the school and plastics gathered from local beaches as part of their environmental science studies. 2016
Great Lakes Murals
Murals in Collaboration with Students and Seniors
Vision Nursing Home, Sarnia, commissioned me to make six murals for their nursing home. The theme was the Great Lakes because the nursing home’s wings are named after the lakes. For the commission, I worked with a group of students, and seniors. Together, we made five small murals to signify the five wings, and we made one large central mural about the Great Lakes.
For the project, I worked with over 60 students in grades six, seven, and eight to create the smaller murals. They researched the Great Lakes and wrote letters to tourism offices in many cities that border the lakes. Using their original artworks, a lot of paint, and the materials that these tourism offices sent to them, the students collaborated with me to create the murals on panels. Students researched the history of the lakes, the flora and fauna, stories of shipwrecks, etc. Each Mural contained a painting of the lake and a collage made from the materials the students had gathered. The students had also made models of Great Lakes fish from clay and “slides” of drawings they made of locations around the lakes. These were also included in the artworks. The finished murals contained text as instructed by the nursing home.
The large mural was made in collaboration with seniors who live in the same complex as the nursing home, but in the affordable-housing building. They also used the materials sent by the tourism offices and incorporated some of the work that the students had done for the other murals. The large mural is an anchor piece in the nursing home and is filled with points of interest and captivating visual stories that residents enjoy looking at.
Great lakes mural project with students and seniors
we all have a story: mosaic/mural
"Broken lives reassembled: New mural a reminder of the power of healing" by Cathy Dobson
Picnic table for Mitton village parkette
we live here: wellington flats—a community project
The Proposal
I was commissioned by Vision Nursing Home, Sarnia, to provide a mural for the inside of their affordable housing complex: Wellington Flats. I brought the request to the grade 7/8 class at Sarnia Christian School and we discussed how this commission might be the basis for a year-long class learning project. Students will design the mural, will determine which materials are best suited to the project and will become proficient in their use. Students will understand the context (historical, sociological, geological, and biological) of the land owned by Vision 74. Students will become familiar with and will write the stories of the people who currently live in Wellington Flats. Students will create the mural incorporating all of the above.
This year-long project will help students to develop skills in the language arts, visual arts, historical research and geological study. In addition, they will develop collaborative skills, communication skills, curiosity, critical thinking, and creative thinking.
The mural at Wellington Flats will be 9’(h)X11’(w).
Signifying the past, present and future of the city block on which the building stands, this mural has deep roots in ‘place’. Students will use found objects, images, and original art to fill seven layers and three rings that represent the physical and storied landscape of the block as it touches the past and moves into the future.
The Design
The layers will be similar to a mosaic of small tiles and objects. Each layer will have a colour designation. Even though each layer will have a lot going on in it, the overall effect will be one of unity—of layers that are primarily colour-consistent.
The layers are as follows:
Soil: Students participated in a dig on the property and were able to come into contact with all of the soil layers from topsoil to glacial till. Some soil was extracted and used to make thin soil “tiles” which will become part of the mural. “Artifacts” including strings of beads and replica artifacts will be included to represent the long Indigenous history of the land.
Water: This property is part of the St. Clair River watershed. A river called the “Mission River” used to run through the property but was filled in during the 19th century. To represent the water, students will be using coloured glass.
Flora and Fauna: This layer will showcase the natural flora and fauna of the block. Students have been collecting images, recipes and medicinal uses of many of the plants. Some of the students who have excellent drawing skills have been making drawings that can be incorporated into the mural. Other students have been studying the animals that once lived there. Images of these animals will also be included.
History: Students have studied the history of the block and will highlight stories of its past from its long history as part of Aamjiwnaang through the early days of The Rapids and Port Sarnia to its present, in which it is largely occupied by Vision 74 and its many buildings. This layer will include maps, photos and documents that have been transferred to acrylic.
People: This layer will contain the stories of the people who currently live at Wellington Flats. These are the first residents to live there. Students will be meeting them and interviewing them. Their stories will be written down and woven into this layer. Residents may wish to donate small objects to the project. Some of these will be incorporated into the mural.
Objects: This layer will contain objects that represent life on the block, both past and present. Students have collected game pieces and other objects that represent the history of this place. Some objects were collected from the site when the first of Vision’s buildings was constructed. Replicas of some of these objects, photos and/or real objects will be incorporated into the piece. These objects include war medals and pocket watches.
Sky: The sky’s purpose is to round out the layers so that it moves from earth to sky. The students would like to see the sky read left to right, from night to day.
Circles: The circle elements, inspired by the three metal bands on an old barrel will signify the past, the present, and the future. Students wish to highlight elements of each within the circles. As we move from the past to the future, the design will become more abstract.
Method:
This mural will be constructed on 24 X 24” panels and then attached to a frame that will be attached to the wall. Guide holes will be pre-drilled so that the students can avoid the places where screws will be used to attach the panels to the wall. Final touches will be done in situ. Adhesives, paints and methods of installation will have been tested for use in mosaics of this type. Students will use only non-toxic materials. If more toxic materials are needed, these will be applied by the artist. Students will pre-arrange where the objects will be adhered.
SCS Outdoor Mural
Student-Engaged Artwork
For this project, I worked with a class of grade 7 & 8 students to design and create a mural on the south side of their school. Students voted on their design proposals and chose a design about the four seasons. Together, they painted the wall. I am pleased to report that 8 years later, the mural is still in great shape despite having balls kicked against it daily.
.jpeg/:/rs=w:400,cg:true,m)
milagro prayer shawl
About the Artwork
In the spring of 2012, I began to work on an outdoor installation. Our grapevine, which had enfolded our deck for twenty years, had suffered a great shock due to a very early bout of warm weather, followed by a heavy frost. All of the growth that had begun this year, had died. Despite all of the tests we did to determine if the vine had any life in it, we could find none. Spring had come to the rest of my yard, but the vine remained dry and brown. I was inspired to make an artwork out of the vine. For this artwork, I invited people I knew to make or to find a small object that they would associate with a prayer (milagro) and then hang it on the vine.
The goal was to cover the vine with visual representations of an entire, diverse community of prayers. Objects came from all over Sarnia, where I live, from London, where the artwork now resides, and from as far away as South Africa!
In July of that year, the vine sprouted back to life. This natural act became symbolic of healing and the vine became a living metaphor.
After a year and a half, I brought the installation indoors and fashioned it into a prayer shawl, inspired by the shawls that some church groups make in prayer for those who are in need.
