7 years ago

I had the news on and in passing I heard the name of a former classmate from the Red Deer College Fine Arts program. Of course I stopped what I was doing to see if it was the same girl I knew and what she was doing on the news. It was the girl I knew, Nicole Hoar had gone missing near Prince George while hitch hiking to see her sister.

I didn't know Nicole very well, we shared classes and spoke here and there, I admired her work and I admired her quiet maturity. While she was not a part of my immediate circle of friends, (Nicole took ceramics and painting while I focused on sculpture and printmaking) she never seemed to keep herself apart from those who were not a part of hers. One night I drove her home after a late night working in the studios.

After two years at RDC Nicole transferred to another fine arts program and that was the extent of our relationship. This is what happens in life, people pass in and out some make a big impression stay in your life for years others make a brief appearance before moving on to other experiences. Sometimes you keep in touch, sometimes you only think of them in passing.

At the time, I couldn't imagine what her family was going through. I only knew that I wanted to know what had happened to her and in the best case scenario I wanted Nicole to be OK and home soon.

Time went on and Nicole's name joined the roster of women; victims who had disappeared along what is known as the Highway of Tears here in BC. Now that I'm a mother I can fully imagine the nightmare that Nicole's family has been living. It's the worst possible thing that could happen to a family, to your child.

Nicole's name has popped up in the news again recently. This time it seems that there is a break in the case and a search has been made on an acreage close to the last place that Nicole was last seen. The results of this search are not being made public; but, I'm hoping that if nothing else there will be some closure for the Hoar family. At the very most I hope that whatever they've found will also lead to closure for the families of the other women.

For me, Nicole will always be that talented girl I went to school with, the girl with the Brown hair and blue eyes, the girl who created the amazing ceramic torso that looked like it was made of bricks, the girl who I drove home late one night when she asked, because I happened to live close by. I know that she was a million more things to those people who knew and loved her better than I did and my heart and thoughts go out to those people.

5 questions: Punk Mommy Pottery and More

This weeks feature artist is not only an exceptional artist but also a good friend in real life. Once upon a time Auvery, of PunkMommy went to the same art program as I did at Red Deer College. So I have had first hand experience of both her process and her personality and a few of her and her husband's beautiful peices in my personal collection to prove it.

As is often the case, after our program ended we went our separate ways, she married the big mountain of a farmer/sculpture/clay artist from the year ahead of ours, and together they started Reid Road Studios in Ponoka Alberta. Through the magic of social networking sites (thank you facebook) and the fabulous community that is Etsy; we've reconnected again.

On my recent trip back to Alberta I had hoped to drop in on Auvery and her family, but time constraints (trips to our home province are chock full of visiting family and more visiting family) as well as an exciting new addition to Auvery's family altered our plans. Auvery, her husband Joe and their son Koda brought home their new son Grant while we were in Alberta and I thought it would be best to take a rain check and visit on our next trip, when her now expanded family will have had a chance to bond and become settled.

While I was happy for Auvery and her growing family I was a little bummed that I didn't get a chance to see her studio first hand. I've seen photographs and their studio is stunning and makes me a little green with envy. It's a nice shade of green though; it brings out my eyes and makes my hair look shinier and it has more to do with how amazing I think their space is and the work that they do in it is .

Auvery's Etsy shop Punkmommy is full of work that really shows off the playful and experimental talent I remember seeing way back when. To keep up with what's happening at Reid Road Studios you can join the Reid Road Studios Group on facebook where Auvery and Joe often post photographs of their new work; it's worth a visit. If you are fortunate enough to be in Central Alberta, you can see her work in person in the Gallery on Main in Lacombe, plus she and her husband Joe's work can also be seen at the Alberta Craft Council Gallery in Edmonton in a show called "Hitched at the ACC" the theme is couples who work in craft together which sums up her marriage in a nice neat package.

I know you're itching to see what she had to say so here goes:

What’s the best thing about being an artist?

the best thing about being an artist is... all the extra cash it brings in..
not...it's not the money at all...it's building on a spark of skill I had naturally (a person would do much better financially with computer skills or even nun chuck skills) and sharing that...as it grows it will be great to be my own boss and work from home to be around my kids

What life or art lesson have you learned that has shaped your work?

life lesson...learning the realities of my personality through seeing myself in my work...i can only work in certain ways with certain results,trying to be someone else or please others is like swimming upstream and when i've made something honest i see myself in the work, it's not always what i want to admit, but i learn



Do you listen to music when you create? If yes, what's on your play list right now and why?

i love to work to music...i play typically ambient/chick music...i love to have it loud but not overly distracting.
i especially love-Neko Case
-Sinead O'Connor
-Neil Young
-Enigma
-Sigur Ros
-Bjork



What is your ultimate creator’s block cure?

creators block...from time to time (OK...a lot) i suffer from lack of motivation more than block really...life gets in the way of studio time...kids, laundry, time with my hubby etc. nothing fires me up like seeing other peoples craft and art in person...perusing the web is great but looking at object up close is really awesome

Which Children's book character would you be and why?

the childrens book character that came first to me was Ramona Quimby...if i remember correctly she was trying to maneuver in the strange world of adults in her own super clever way and things just didn't work out...like nobody got where she was coming from..i feel like that every day! or i would like just a couple of days as sleeping beauty