The Scarecrow installed with a selection of my favourite (‘folk’) art from the vault, MacKenzie Gallery, Regina, SK, fall 2017

Badass before the haircut. Part of a hand-puppet installation for Smile at the Bottom of the Ladder at Galerie 3

The mime’s hat. Porcelain carnations and wax leaves (to be cast in bronze)

Baptiste in process, from Children of Paradise

Chaplin’s eyes in the final scene of City Lights

Loving these custom nails by Pinky’s on my terra cotta and black stoneware hands

The U’mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay, BC. Built in 1980 to house repatriated potlatch masks and regalia originally outlawed, then stolen, by the Canadian Government during the 1885-1951 potlatch ban. One of the most important and extraordinary museums in this country.

A masterful Kwakwaka’wakw burial pole in the community of ‘Yalis (Alert Bay, B.C)

Kabuki and puppet series in progress, with an Art Shed view stretching to the beach

Majolica portrait of Tokyo Kabuki-za actor Nakamura Senjaku 3rd

Judy, Witch and Badass. Ceramic puppet heads, awaiting the details

Roy Small steadily fixes the machine, with a strange new drawing looming. Sointula, Malcolm island, B.C

Master puppeteer Roy Small holds forth on Punch and Judy. Roy offered sage advice, incredible anecdotes, rich knowledge and super technical sewing assistance during my residency at the Sointula Art Shed in September 2017.

Made the Sackville Tribute-Post, August 6th, 2017. That’s artist Rita McKough getting her likeness done.

Sappyfest 12, No Secrets. August 2017, live portraits by Casper and the Masked Mechanic (Graeme Patterson). Sackville, New Brunswick

Me, Dr. Michelle Jack and Joseph M. Sanchez, at the end of our mural, workshop and time together in Wells. Michelle Jack painted the Coho salmon with detailed care. The green eagle represents the connection between forest and fauna in a totally integrated ecosystem. The mural was gifted to Kanahus Manuel, the Secwepemc Nation and the Tiny House Warriors in their fight to stop the Kinder Morgan Pipeline from threatening their land- and the essential salmon.

Joseph works on some serene blues for a collective mural I project designed for the Arts Wells BC workshop. Earlier in June I had met Kanahus Manuel, Secwepemc and Ktunaxa activist, birth keeper, and warrior at the Idle No More round table in Toronto. I asked Kanahus if artists might contribute a banner to their fight against the Kinder Morgan pipeline, and if so- what kind of image would be most useful? She replied “paint what it looked like before (colonial settler) contact”.

Really liked this anonymous Mentor’s Room poster for our (usually the kindergarten classroom) studio

Joseph and I celebrate the exhibition of art created during our workshop in Wells, BC. Charlie Walker’s drawings in the background

Joseph M Sanchez, Sante Fe artist and member of the original “Indian Group of Seven” and I co-mentor a workshop at Arts Well, BC in July 2017. Nice poster for our artist talks.

Smadar, Lido Pimienta, Brandon Valdivia, Simone Schmidt, Jeff Bierk and I join Idle No More’s Canada 150 protest at Spadina House in Toronto. Here we share some educational information with the crowd lined up to eat free hot dogs courtesy of Carolyn Bennett.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Lido Pimienta and I working on murals for Idle No More’s Canada 150 protest

Exploring Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo, May 2017. Exhibition of 16th-century ink paintings by Kaiho Yusho at the Kyoto National Museum brought me to tears.

Attended a May 2017 performance at the Kabukiza theatre in Tokyo. Art-life changing.