Susan Tooke at Long Branch Studios

I have been here at Banff for about 10 days.  Veronique MacKenzie and Lukas Pearse are here working with me.  It has been wonderful working with these two dedicated artists.  We seem to be overcoming obstacles and getting on with the project which is starting to come together.  I have been going back decades to my days at the New School in New York, where I was immersed in animation of the stop motion sort, plus painting under the camera.  In the photo you see some of my figures which I am working with... miniature Vs have a life all their own.

It is indeed wonderful to be here.  Today, along with my studio work, I attended the open studio event for resident visual artists.  I had lunch with MoJo Anderson, I went to a fabulous concert by a string quintet and several other musicians... I am beginning to understand what Banff is.  It is a place where artists from all over the globe come together to exchange ideas. Fabulous...

My first full day here at Banff.  Today is a holiday here...something called Family Day.  Much of the facility was closed, so I happily went out for a longer than expected hike, first into the town proper, then up a mountainside on a trail spotted with elk droppings.  Obviously well-used by these animals.  I kept one eye on the trail and with the other I kept a lookout for any critters.  Ravens were flying about and the occasional snowflake fluttered down through the still air.  I came to a fabulous look-off into the valley below and up the side of Lookout Mountain.  Returning to the Centre, my route took me past the practice studios for the musicians...small huts, really, and you could faintly hear their music through the sound-proof walls.  From another direction the sound of an aria in a pure soprano voice.  An amazing place.

After an early rise, a long flight and a long drive, I am at the Banff Centre.  I will be working for the next two weeks on Motion Activated, a multi-disciplinary art piece with Veronique MacKenzie and Lukas Pearse. I am diving  back into animation, a practice I was studying 33 years ago, before I became a painter.  Here is a view from my window...

Looking out into the back yard of bare branches and crusted snow, it is hard to believe the transformation that spring brings to our garden.  Seeing Richard's photo, I can smell the fresh scents of the flowers and feel the soft breezes of the gentler season to come.

Just got back from a wonderful few days in Sydney for the occasion of the opening of Up Home at the Centre for Craft and Design.  I spent several days working with the sixth grade students at Harbourside Elementary.  They did a wonderful job writing and illustrating special memories.  Their work is on display along with the original illustrations and text from Up Home by Shauntay Grant, published by Nimbus.  Her Honour, the Honourable Mayann E. Francis, ONS, DHumL, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia opened the show with a moving speech.  The exhibition was made possible through partnerships with the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Tourism, Culture and Heritage, Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs, African Nova Scotia Service Provider Network and the Cape Breton Victoria Regional School Board.  Thank you all and thank you, Kris Webster and Carol Beaton.