In the fall of 2023 I was stuck in a rut of my own creation and, seeing no way out, told the universe that I gave up. Well, railed and cried might be a better description. Sure I still went to my job and cleaned the house and carried on. But essentially my life seemed pointless. I would be remiss if I didn’t add that I have a great husband and a loving marriage but when a person continually slices their life into a deep rut it can be hard to leap out of it.

Fast forward through more change in my work environment and more change in my work environment, some bad reactions and errors on my part, and even more change in my work environment and I saw an ad for an artist in residency program at Saskatoon Makerspace and applied.

Luckily for me I was selected to take part, received permission to do so from the manager of the day, and began my 6 month residency at the end of March, 2024.

Here was an opportunity to finish the Imagination Generator Project I’d started some ten years earlier and do something that I wanted to do, for me, and not have to take care of anyone else’s stuff in the process.

Here’s my artist statement for the project:

I am a mixed media/theatre artist and primarily create sculptures using (mostly) found and upcycled objects.

Born with a vibrant imagination and genuine curiosity, I have always liked to make things and puzzle out how to put things together to create something new. Art stimulates my mind and my feelings and helps my soul feel connected to something greater than myself. When I am creating I am not so much “me” as a creator but “me” as a vessel working to bring something to life “through me”. This is indeed the goal of many theatre artists – to get out of the way and work together to let the life of the play, or story, come through to the audience.

I want to bring together all my past artistic practices to realize the completion of a storytelling machine – an Imagination Generator. A work that combines my interest in learning new things with my experience in theatre, visual art, and connecting with people. The Imagination Generator is a part-way completed, somewhat complex fantasy/science fiction-inspired theatrical prop with a steampunk aesthetic. Connected to a 2’4”x 5’3” platform, it is made using basic theatre stagecraft techniques. It is brought to life when the viewer chooses three areas/items on the generator and I, as the Inventor/Captain/Guide, weave together a story/reading on the spot based on the selections. This is a further exploration of the small performances/readings I gave at the Saskatoon Fringe Festival in the late 90’s (I sold hand-painted rocks and offered a story/reading to the buyer based on the colours and lines in the rock they chose).

The Imagination Generator aka The Dominic (Discoveries of Meaning in Individual Cases) is so named for my story-writing son who asked me: “why do you need to create an Imagination Generator when you have me?”

The residency was a gift that saved my spirit and turned my life around.

Here are some pics: