Hello Arts Lovers!

This month I had the chance to catch up with writer, visual artist and educator Renée Harper. Renée is an integral part of the regional literary community and I was delighted to learn more about her reasons for living and creating in Nelson. You can check out more of her work at www.reneeharperart.com.

What’s your background/training/story?

I started as an artist and writer in the late 1990s at Kootenay School of the Arts. I’d been doing the lost soul Gen X thing and floating from town to town, working entry-level jobs and trying to figure out where I belonged, when a friend pushed me to apply to art school.

Despite being a high school dropout, I’d been writing and making art pretty prolifically and was able to put together a portfolio that miraculously got me accepted into the school. From my life-altering experience at KSA, studying under greats like Almeda Glenn Miller (creative writing), Courtney Anderson (mixed media) and John Cooper (painting), I fell in love with intensive learning. After KSA and some more travel, I wound up studying creative writing at Okanagan College, then moved across the country to finish my BA in literature at the University of Toronto. I spent 10 years there, completing an MA in literature and a PhD in Canadian Literature. My path was not linear by any means, but it did take me back to the Kootenays – a place that has always felt most like home.

Why did you end up in Nelson?

My husband and I are both from B.C., and living in Toronto was wearing on us. We were finding the grind of raising our young son in the city a struggle, and my husband was at a career crossroads, so on a whim I applied for a teaching position at Selkirk College. Returning to where I had first studied art and writing to teach had been a dream of mine, but one I didn’t think would happen. When I was offered a teaching position, I was thrilled and scared. It was a big move and a significant change, but I’m glad we did it.

What keeps you here?

Not to be too clichéd here, but what keeps me wanting to stay in the region is community. From my first days at the college, I was welcomed with warmth and collegial generosity. In town, I quickly met fellow writers and artists who were sincerely interested in lifting each other up in ways you don’t often see in competitive arts spaces like those in Toronto. The genuine love and celebration of the arts you can witness daily in these valleys inspired me to return to my practice with more force.

I now joke that I’m making too much art in too many mediums. This past weekend, I picked away at the third draft of a novel I’m writing, took an amazing still-life painting class with Amelia Ford at the Nelson Museum, and worked on my fibre arts chops with a knitting class at Berkana Wool. The opportunities to create in community are really endless here, and I never take for granted how lucky we are.

Any hot tips for people who want to live rurally but be a professional artist?

I think having a willingness to engage in the online spaces where other creatives share their work opens you up to opportunities outside of our amazing communities. I often advise my creative writing students who are just getting started publishing their work to engage with the wider literary community through the plethora of literary magazines that have been running for decades across the country, like Room Magazine, Event or Geist, to name a few. These magazines often publish emerging writers alongside more established authors and usually have a robust online presence.

Also, I’d encourage people to use the opportunities that abound regionally to charge their creative batteries. The world is hard, but writing and painting (or whatever gets you creating) with other members of your community is profoundly restorative.

And finally, any information about upcoming projects?

One of the great joys of my life is supporting emerging writers and artists, so I’ll use this space to shout the Black Bear Review, which I co-facilitate with the brilliant Leesa Dean. The Black Bear Review is a student-run magazine collaboration between the Digital Arts and Creative Writing programs at Selkirk College. We publish a beautiful magazine each spring that celebrates local art and writing. On April 9th, the Nelson Museum will be hosting the launch of our ninth issue, and I hope to see you all there.

I’m also working on regional tour dates for my poetry collection, Boundary Territory, which was launched in the fall, so stay tuned for that.

Sydney Black is executive director of the Nelson and District Arts Council. Blank Canvas appears monthly.