Presented as a art talk for Culture Days Manitoba, October 2025, posted January 26, 2026. When we discuss the value of Art, we aren’t referring to the financial aspect; we are contributing to the arts and cultural environment of our community, enriching the lives of others, providing a solid creative education, and fostering a cultural hub of experience. Price is a factor to be considered between the buyer and the artist, but this is not the true value of art. Let's talk the

As I left on the last day of my final show at cre8ery, I snapped this photo, incredibly proud of myself. Dear friends, fans, and followers, My last exhibition, "Beyond the Green, Building Perspectives & Layered Emotions," was absolutely incredible in terms of feeling loved and supported as I closed out the chapter of being a gallery owner after 23 years, 18.5 as cre8ery. Some of you cried and others shared their favourite moments at my gallery with me. I felt your emotions

As I walked to the mailbox to send out a batch of envelops to select recipients, a wave of sadness flooded over me. Why so sad? Over the last 21 years I've branded myself as an artist who sent out invitations to every single contact I had an address for. I wanted to make sure everyone was invited. It wasn't to cultivate buyers, it was to make everyone feel invited, valued in my life and career, and special. Inclusivity has always been something I've aimed for as a goal bec

June was a month of experimentation and reworking pieces both pre-pandemic and within our lockdown/ isolation time period which is ongoing for who knows how long? I can’t imagine my life without producing or sharing my art especially at this time as at this time as the virus is affecting everyone’s mental health. Always a strong person prior to this, there were days where I feel unwell due to three auto immune illnesses, thus making me less strong and more vulnerable. Lately

Creating in a Socially Distanced World… On April 11, I began writing a blog post on “how to survive a pandemic as an artist/professional art business” and immediately deleted it as it was stress causing as I faced my biggest fear. Also the pandemic had nearly hit its peak within Manitoba with cases skyrocketing. My professional art business was closed with no idea of re-open. I thought others may feel the same as I do and so I began to think about how I could help others

Over the past 18 years I’ve been working as an arts professional. I’ve met hundreds of artists with exhibition fears. Personally, I have always put on a brave face for my art career. I’ve jumped into situations with both feet and I’ve stood tall and proud. I don’t know why but I have immense strength when it comes to approaching galleries and trying to sell my work. At first I didn’t know how so I learned through trial and error and now I teach about my learnings. One of my

This blog will be in diary format as this is a personal post and less business related—but it is in a way. You will see. It will be straight from my thoughts and perhaps not organized into a well thought out piece of writing. I’m just going to lay out a whole lot about me in a few ‘pages’. Maybe this is unprofessional to post on my website but its happening! When I was young, living in a small town, I felt very alone and I kept journals about being a teenager. Stories of yo

Mixed Media on Yupo Paper, Mounted On Panel Board, 11″ x 14″ $200 Available at Gallery Lacosse, 169 Lilac Street, Winnipeg, MB

Almost a year ago I began writing this blog post and then I stopped because my gallery day job became overwhelming for nine months and I never returned to finish. Ironically, at that time, my gallery exhibition was my priority over this post! I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic, its never left my mind. I write this as both a gallery owner and as an artist. I see being an art gallery owner more challenging as the years go by as people turn to not only online sales but

Each day is a new day. Each day there is a list of responsibilities that need care, some include self care or care for others as well as the regular day to day work life. With 365 days in a year this can be a lot of days and a lot of responsibilities as well as both good days and bad days to pull through. Working as a completely self employed person, you are taking risks every day. What I have learned from this is that some risks are really not worth taking on for any reaso

Pre-Christmas is always hard for artists who are painters, illustrators, mixed media artists, it seems. Fine Craft shows dominate the world of art in Winnipeg from the end of September to the end of December. How do I know this? I work in an art gallery full time and people are, at this time, looking for ceramics, fibre works, glass works, and jewelry or they are shopping for gifts in the malls, they aren’t buying 2D wall art. Its a challenge to compete in the gift – buyin

I’m often asked, “what does an artist consultant do?” Its fairly straight forward, ‘what do I not do’ seems to be a shorter list, however, I’ll try my best to explain in as few words as possible and tell you why I have gone this route. Many years ago when I was beginning my arts career I was unsure of my ‘next move’ as an artist. As a recent graduate and no supportive programs out there to my knowledge, I was left in the dark and it was a difficult guessing game. I soon rea

As an “Arts Professional”, I find myself bouncing from one task to the next without stopping to really focus on what I want in my life. This weekend I decided to take my Sunday & Monday to do what I wanted which includes writing this blog posting. A little honesty below… I work full time for my business cre8ery gallery and studio as the Executive Director. The stress can sometimes be overwhelming. Lately the work needs to be completed more than once with reminders, deadlin

I enjoy working on both sides of the coin, as the gallery and as the artist. When I started as an artist I didn’t understand this concept until I started my own art gallery business. If you don’t know about the gallery – artist relationship, then please read on! Keep in mind here that I am not a writer so please don’t critique the spelling or the grammar! This is an important topic that I believe artists need to know, if they don’t know it already. I speak about this in m

Art: Bold. Rich. Vibrant. Saturated. Colourful. Personality: INFJ. Quiet. Sensible. Responsible. Organized. Slight slob (studio mess is important to the process). Dress: Casual. Black. Grey. Olive Green. Navy Blue. Occasional Bold Colour to Mix’er up! When you peel away the layers of an artist and see why they do what they do, you begin to see why one creates the way they create. I am not a strong writer, I don’t pretend to be, I write these blog entries right from my head a

In grade 11 and 12, i was mentored by a rural Manitoba artist, Stephen Jackson through a high school credit program established by The Golden Prairie Arts Council at Carman Collegiate Institute. In 1995-1997, Stephen helped me realize that art was something I should pursue in my life and he convinced me to apply for a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He helped me strengthen my portfolio application. I lacked the art education, the confidence, and the ability to see myself as an artis

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘what is in a name’ in terms of business names and naming artwork (below). In my last blog post I wrote about cre8ery and mentioned that I would explain the name in my next post. People always ask me about this name, why we named it with the number 8, why we didn’t choose a simpler name like a ‘regular’ word. These were some of the guidelines we used to come up with ‘the name’. If it is more complex people will remember the name. Busines

As I continue to write about my journey as an artist, gallery owner, art consultant and art instructor, I am recognizing how far I have become as a person and as a professional. I never knew what I wanted to do in my life until I stumbled on ‘what made sense’ each step a long the way. I am not a writer by any means but I felt that it was time to tell my story, to help people understand why I do what I do. This might be full of grammar, spelling and punctuation errors, I’m

My last blog post was about my start as an artist, my roots of how I decided to enroll in fine arts. This is the next part of my journey. As someone who is an artist, an art consultant, and a mentor, I believe it is important to tell my story as every artist starts in a different way with different road blocks. Art was always in my blood, I was always ‘creating’ something. What to do with this degree was the next step into the unknown. I wasn’t accepted into a Masters of

I feel its important to start with my roots when writing this blog. Every artist has a different story as to why they became an artist or how they became an artist. Given that writing is not my strength-I will try my best here to keep you engaged in my content as I tell my story. In 1991, my piano teacher quit on me. Offended? no! Funny? yes and relieved! Day after day was I instructed to ‘practice’. I would thump around on the piano with no rhythm or desire to ‘make musi