Tom Froese

March’s theme is ‘FOLKLORE’ and we are thrilled to host Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, a kalaaleq (Greenlandic Inuk) performance artist, poet, actor, curator, storyteller and writer.

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Known for performing uaajeerneq, a Greenlandic mask dance, Laakkuluk performs internationally, collaborates with other artists and is a fierce advocate for Inuit artists. She is the 2021 winner of the Sobey Art Award, Canada’s most prestigious contemporary art prize. For Laakkuluk, uaajeerneq is a deeply personal and cultural challenge to find true expressions of oneself in an effort to decolonize. It is a fearsome, sexy clown act that comes from precolonial and postcolonial Greenland – her motherland. It is an idiosyncratic study of boundaries for both performers and audiences, a celebration of body and flesh, a loving and respectful exploration of humanity and ferocious call to action. It is a performance that was handed down to her from her mother and other Inuit activist artists from Greenland’s movement to self government in the 1970s. Uaajeerneq is the cornerstone of her artistic practice.

How do you define Creativity?
Creativity is the ease of accessing your artistic core to come up with expression.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?
My artistic core is fed by being on the land with my family, listening to stories, and finding pockets of humour in all aspects of life.

What’s one piece of creative advice you wish you’d known as a young person?
Don’t second guess yourself in the face of derision from racists.

Who would you most enjoy hearing speak about their relationship to creativity?
I would love to hear from Cannupa Hanska Luger.

This month we are so excited to showcase the unique sounds of Inuit style throat singers PIQSIQ!

🎵 ​With a style perpetually galvanized by darkness and haunting northern beauty, sisters, Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik and Kayley Inuksuk Mackay, come together to create Inuit style throat singing duo, PIQSIQ. Performing ancient traditional songs and eerie new compositions, they leave their listeners enthralled with the infinity of possible answers to the question “what is the meaning of life.”

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February’s theme is ‘MONUMENTAL’ so we couldn’t think of a better speaker than award-winning Canadian sculptor David Robinson, whose work is massive and meaningful in both scale and importance.

“It seems to me that my sculptures, before they are anything else, are manifestations of fitful waking dreams; narratives whole and smashed, images and ideas all distilled through the passage of time and the particular resistance of matter.”

Born in Toronto, David Robinson entered the Fine Arts stream in high school, specializing in sculpture, and later graduated from the Sculpture Program at the Ontario College of Art with honours. Robinson’s sculptures—which have been exhibited in group and solo shows nationally and internationally—incorporate a variety of materials, ranging from bronze, steel and silver to concrete, mirror and paper. While his oeuvre is the figure, Robinson often adds psychological and mythological twists to his subjects by situating them in environments that speak to the inherent tensions of human life. His work has been commissioned by Polygon Homes, the Four Seasons Hotel Resort in Whistler, and Century Group (amongst others), and can additionally be found in many private and corporate collections.

Q&A

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?

“Creativity” I take to mean the habit or practise of laying one’s time and attention upon the altar of chaos and the unknown. It is coaxing makeshift meaning from the void—the fractal from the fragment. It is striving intent, as guided by stumbling. Or so I’ve been thinking lately… I’m not averse to the idea of “obedience to the muse” either. Like a fit of sudden laughter in a dream—light tumbles in profuse and unbegotten from somewhere outside the hermetic skull. As for the career application of such circumspectral notions, all I can say is keep the door ajar and a place at the table for them.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?

Depending on which species of science-fanatic you ask, the proverbial perpetual-motion machine is either a practical-impossibility, or an endlessly alluring puzzle. The well oiled art studio is a machine of similar dichotomy: When its anachronistic gears are not grinding in entropy, its capacity for sparking and forging new form is invigorating.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

I wish I’d known that criticisms of your art are a source of heat not light; They won’t help you see much, but they should stoke your will to work.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?

Having been over-churched as a child, I have complicated feelings about morning meetings of like-minded individuals… But I think a mind like that of Carl Jung would keep such a room in rapt attention, as he travelled the myriad neural pathways in question leaving no stone unturned.

What practises, rituals, or habits contribute to your creative work?

It’s an odd one, but the strategic pursuit of unsolicited or otherwise nascent commission opportunities has proved to be a good recurring spur to creative output over the years. While preemptively solving aesthetic problems that people do not yet know they have can certainly clutter up the studio with rejected designs and maquettes, it has also lead to some of my best work.

What did you learn from your most memorable creative failure?

From in fact a great many failures along the way I have seen that art, both the enterprise and the vocation, has a gravitas that attracts countless confusing, schilling, and ulterior motives into its orbit. From within this swirling detritus I hope I have learned to return to Rilke’s simple imperative: “Discover the motive that bids you…”

What are you reading these days?

The Way of Chuang Tzu bu Thomas Merton

Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?

Having conscripted my friend Joe Caveno into an unwilling mentorship thirty years ago, I have studied under him the practise of the solitary studio-artist’s work ethic under the aegis of his capacious curiosity, fellowship, artisanal skill, wit, red wine and good humour.

This month we are honoured to be joined live by beatboxing, guitar playing, bottle blowing looper, Scribbly Doodle.

🎵 Let him hijack your imagination as he cast magical sounds out of his face, weaving and looping them together while they take you away on a journey through inner space. Time will bend, minds will be opened and paradigms will shift as he guides you through his scribbly, doodley loop. Aside from being a solo artist, Scribbly Doodle is also a part of an acapella duo named Blue Mountain Beatbox, and together they recently competed at the World Beatboxing Championships in Warsaw, Poland.

A big thanks to Sarah Edmondson for her fantastic talk about her experience being in cult, and how she got her creativity back after leaving. And a big additional thank you to the presenting partner for our first talk of 2022, hcma . 🙏

There were SO MANY excellent questions asked during the Q&A portion of Friday’s talk, and we couldn’t get to them all. Sarah Edmondson offered to answer some of those missed questions on Twitter (@Vancouver_CM)

SOME OF THE QUESTIONS YOU’LL FIND IN THE TWITTER Q&A:

1. How does social media play into the “cultiverse” when anyone can be an “influencer” and create a “following”—is that culty and potentially dangerous?

2. What do you think the trend is during the pandemic. Are cult-movements gaining or losing traction because they can’t gather folks IRL?

3. Can you speak more to the importance of connecting to your “authentic self” in order to foster your creativity? Do you have any activities/routines to recommend to access that?

🐦 GO TO @Vancouver_CM TO READ SARAH’S ANSWERS

Check out the gorgeous illustrated portrait of our Jan 7th speaker Sarah Edmondson by Capilano University IDEA School of Design student Hannah Bontinen! (you can find her on Instagram @hannahbontinen.art.) 🎇

JOIN US ONLINE JAN 7th at 8:30AM PST

🙏 Our presenting partner for this event is hcma

JANUARY 2022 MUSICAL GUEST: 🎵 For our January 7th event with Sarah Edmondson, we are honoured to be joined live by beatboxing, guitar playing, bottle blowing looper, Scribbly Doodle. Let him hijack your imagination as he cast magical sounds out of his face, weaving and looping them together while they take you away on a journey through inner space. Time will bend, minds will be opened and paradigms will shift as he guides you through his scribbly, doodley loop. Aside from being a solo artist, Scribbly Doodle is also a part of an acapella duo named Blue Mountain Beatbox, and together they recently competed at the World Beatboxing Championships in Warsaw, Poland. 🎶

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**We’d previously announced Veda Hilde as our musical guest for this event, but there was a scheduling conflict. If you’ve never heard of Scribbly Doodle, we’re excited to introduce you!**

January’s theme is ‘FREE’ and we’re excited to host actor, voice artist, author, and NXIVM whistleblower Sarah Edmondson.

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Edmondson is a Canadian actress well known for roles in the CBS series Salvation, more than 12 Hallmark and Lifetime films, and popular voice-over roles in Transformers: Cybertron and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

In 2005, when NXIVM, a personal and professional development company, promised to provide the tools and insight Sarah needed to reach her potential, she was intrigued. Over her twelve-year tenure, she went from student to coach and eventually operated her own NXIVM center in Vancouver. Questions kept coming up about the organization’s rules and practices, which came to a head in 2017 when she accepted an invitation from her best friend to join DOS, a “secret sisterhood” within NXIVM. In 2019, Sarah published Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult that Bound My Life, with Kristine Gasbarre. In this tell-all memoir, she shares her story from the moment she takes her first seminar to her harrowing fight to get out of NXIVM, collaborate with the FBI, help others, and heal. Sarah’s full story as a whistleblower is featured in the CBC podcast Uncover: Escaping NXIVM (downloaded over 25 million times) and The Vow, the critically acclaimed HBO documentary series on NXIVM.

Now with the launch of her own podcast, “A Little Bit Culty,” Sarah is keeping the conversation going by exploring the fads, beliefs, and trends that blur the line between devotion and dysfunction. Co-hosted by her husband and fellow NXIVM whistleblower Anthony “Nippy” Ames, the podcast is part conversational coffee date and part deep dive on everything from Lululemon to Waco. And while there was nothing small about Sarah’s cult experience, “A Little Bit Culty” is grounded in her mission to help people understand, heal from, and avoid abusive situations one little red flag at a time.

Q&A

How do you define creativity and apply it in your life and career?

For me, creativity is my personal state of creating—producing something new from nothing, or from fragmented ideas and feelings. Currently I am most creative with our podcast, taking the nuggets of our painful journey, combining it with cathartic conversations and creating wisdom for others to ingest and subsequently heal as well.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?

Truthfully, I think best and most creatively with the help of “adult gummies”, a small does of THC, or micro-dosing mushrooms. I am able to de-stress, feel less anxious and access new ideas.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

You are never wrong when you are being creative. And for me as an actor, I wish I had started producing earlier. To have my career more in my control. The tip would be to start now and make your own shit. Don’t wait for your agent!

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?

Julia Cameron, Glennon Doyle, Bari Weiss, Margaret Singer, Anne Frank, JFK.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

Lived in Israel for 10 months and lived on a Kibbutz.

What are you reading these days?

Cult content only. LOL. (Prep for the podcast!)

What fact about you would surprise people?

Nothing, I think I am pretty much “out there”.

How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?

My life is a fascinating combo of acting in Hallmark movies, parenting two wild boys and producing a podcast that helps people avoid, wake up from, and heal from cultic abuse.

What keeps you awake at night?

My To do list.

What are you proudest of in your life?

Helping to put Keith Raniere behind bars for120 years and freeing and saving so many people as a result!

If you could interview anyone living or dead, but not a celebrity, who would it be and why?

My grandma, Bubbi Juliette. I never met her and have so many questions for her! She was a revolutionary—politically and in the childcare world—starting the first daycare in Regina. My other family members say I am a lot like her and I want to know why:) I want to understand my lineage!

If you could do anything now, what would you do?

Do a period piece film about a cult where I am also a consultant on the film.

Where was the last place you travelled?

Salt Lake City to speak to 1500 ex and questioning Mormons about cultic abuse and high demand groups!

What music are you listening to these days?

Raffi and Justin Bieber since my kids get to play DJ. If I have time to myself, I am listening to cult content!

What was the best surprise you’ve experienced so far in life?

The joy of parenting!

Where is your favourite place to escape?

Hornby Island.

What was the best advice you were ever given?

Start using eye cream at a young age :joy::joy: Seriously though, when I first left NXIVM and I was at the height of the trauma/PTSD someone told me that it would get better and there was light at the end of the tunnel. Healing takes time… and he was right.

What books made a difference in your life and why?

The artist’s way by Julia Cameron. She has written a fabulous workbook for expanding my creativity—a template for permission to think outside the box and a resource to tap into the creative flow when stuck.

What practises, rituals, or habits contribute to your creative work?

As mentioned above, small doses of THC and mushrooms, walks in the woods, playing with my kids.

When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck?

See above. And journaling.

If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them?

Meditate, scrapbook my kids’ lives, and call friends.

Check out the gorgeous illustrated portrait of Friday’s speaker Jennifer Abbott by Capilano University IDEA School of Design 2nd year student Alison Koo! (you can find her at @koolibara on Instagram)

Got your free ticket yet? (at Vancouver, British Columbia)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CW9RL9gvKqc/?utm_medium=tumblr

What does a filmmaker see that we can’t? How do they use creativity and storytelling to reveal the invisible?

Join us on Dec 3rd to meet award-winning filmmaker Jennifer Abbott and find out!

(See profile for link to FREE registration)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWq86X9BkLk/?utm_medium=tumblr

December’s theme ‘invisible’ and we’re excited to showcase the award-winning film director, writer, editor, producer, & sound designer Jennifer Abbott.

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Jennifer Abbott is a Sundance and Genie award-winning filmmaker dedicated to filmmaking as art, philosophy and activism. She is best known as the Co-Director and Editor of THE CORPORATION (https://thecorporation.com ), still the top grossing and most awarded documentary in Canadian history and credited as one of the top ten films to inspire Occupy Wall Street.

In 2020, Abbott released two feature documentaries: THE NEW CORPORATION; THE UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY SEQUEL (co-director and supervising editor, https://thenewcorporation.movie) and THE MAGNITUDE OF ALL THINGS (writer, director, editor, sound design and co-producer https://www.themagnitudeofallthings.com). THE MAGNITUDE OF ALL THINGS explores ecological grief and how we face and accept the reality of climate catastrophe while solidifying our determination to engage in the only thing we can now do – resist. It’s been received with critical acclaim and over 10 awards from South Korea, Italy, France, California, Canada & the USA. While her primary interests lie in writing and directing films about the most urgent social, political and environmental issues of the day, Abbott almost always edits and sound designs her own films. She lives on Canada’s West Coast with her twin teenage daughters and son.

🎵 We’re excited to also feature the inimitable and idiosyncratic poet and musician CR Avery who will start the event with a live performance that is sure to wake you up. 🎶

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CMVan is excited to host the adaptive boxer Leo Sammarelli at this Friday’s event.

What is “adaptive boxing” you ask? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gm4ocgnHL8
https://www.instagram.com/p/CV06pQchfq3/?utm_medium=tumblr