This project was an exploration in documentative comics and shifting perspectives. In this project I had the students create three panel comic strips telling a story from their own lives, I then had them tell the same story from the perspective of whoever or whatever they were interacting with in the scene. I encouraged the students to see the same story from a different perspective and use empathy and thought when planning out the second perspective. They were also encouraged to personify and be imaginative in their storytelling.

Through this project we were able to explore how other people or even animals might feel about how we interact with them, we were also highlighting the importance of focusing on the small moments in your life, and noticing the little things surrounding you.

At the beginning, I wanted to share with the students my love for scavenging and unorthodox tools while also introducing them to useful drawing tips and strategies. In the month and a half of the residency, I gave them different prompts and tools each session, ranging from “I don’t know” and watercolours to stories about loss and ink. Students were encouraged to make as many drawings as they wanted, and not to be afraid to experiment and get a little messy. I carefully collected all the drawings every week, and for the final day, strung them all together into a giant web-maze.

Each string varied in length; some had three drawings strung up together, while other had twelve or more in a row. The different drawings from each week were mixed up and scattered amongst each other. We tied the strings up in an empty classroom: first from wall to table, then wall to window; we tied string to string, connecting high to low and ultimately creating a winding, twisting path from the hundreds of drawings.

Students meandered through the twists and turns, and could see tangibly the connections between their drawings, stories, memories, and ideas.

“Storying Waterways” focused on languaging collective and individual experiences of water bodies ranging from rivers, lakes, creeks, streams, and beyond at the Wək̓wan̓əs tə syaqwəm Elementary School. The 5-week residency offered students of three different divisions the chance to collectively explore several art inquiries: What stories strengthen the self and world relationship? How are histories and futures of waterways embodied? What are our gifts of water? What journeys and memories are associated with waterways?

This project invited three classes of students in grades 4,5 and 7 to consider the local trees and their environment as part of our community of relationships and care, and our connection to place. It unfolded through careful observation and various material explorations that enabled students to create a personal language through hand stitching and fabric. Our intention was to witness and be present; to practice slow stitching as meditation; and to consider how we make and feel a sense of belonging.

In creating the cloth, every student contributed a teabag or some coffee grounds from their home help stain the cloth, imbuing it with history. The random marks from the dying process created abstract atmospheric markings, that encouraged students to embrace imperfection and allow the marks to become a starting point from which to be creative. In this way we honoured the life experience of the trees, standing where they are planted, standing resilient and generous despite the unpredictability of weather or happenstance. We brought them our gratitude and companionship. This process connected students to their inner world; Students shared how the experience made them feel calm, happy, collected, peaceful, and how they wanted to spend more time with their tree or with their sewing.

Over the five sessions, we made connections between the studio and the park. For our final installation, we brought our gathering cloth and reflection circle and tea party to the trees, creating community in the sharing of our wordless stitched poems to the trees we had taken time to be with and witness weeks before. We were telling our stories of those trees and their "neighbourhood" back to the trees as a sign of respect and relationship. Students read poems they had written and these words along with our silent stitched stories were taken up by the wind and gifted to the trees in ways we hoped they would understand. In our final sharing circle, answering a question about, what, of all the things they learned during our time together, they would like to remember, one student said, "I feel good here. And now I understand that I am connected to all things."

The intent behind this residency was to build upon Christine Mackenzie’s “Little Warrior” residency; to uplift and build the confidence of each student so that they may share their own story with a sense of pride. “My Story is Important to this Place” encourages students to think openly about who they are, their story, and what’s important to them in relation to their school and broader community, through moving images and sounds.

Throughout the weeks, students participated in various creative and community building activities as a means to strengthen their sense of belonging in their school. They created collective storyboards, drew personal slates, participated in a video scavenger hunt around the classroom and the outdoors. Students had the freedom to film various spaces, objects and whatever else they felt was important around their school, which culminated in a final collective screening of all their work.