The Breakouts are presented in partnership with Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Emiko Venlet has always been an avid collector: of antiques, of beautiful things, of images that caught her attention in magazines. That magpie nature is reflected in her still life paintings: eclectic collections of objects, texture, and shape that she configures into whimsical works of visual storytelling.

But although Venlet has always been creative, she didn’t initially pursue a career as an artist.

“I became a therapist. And I realized: ‘What the hell am I doing? I’m making other people’s dreams come true, not mine,’ ” she reflects. “I had collections of cutouts from magazines that I had stored for years and years—and looking through, I realized, ‘This is cool. I love this part of me.’”