An Alberta Member Brings Spring Sunshine

Orange (Detail)
Deborah Bray

Alberta member Deborah Bray of Calgary has been featured in the March 20th e-mail newsletter produced by Janine Vangool, Designer, Editor and Publisher of UPPERCASE magazine.

Founded by Ms. Vangool in 2009, UPPERCASE is a Calgary-based company that publishes books and a magazine "for the creative and the curious", introducing readers to products and services that "spark the imagination and inspire creativity".

Ms. Vangool saw Deborah's piece in 2015 when it was still a Work In Progress, and asked Deborah to share both photos of the piece and its back-story with readers in her latest e-mail newsletter, "All About YOU: Orange".

I had the pleasure of working with both Deborah and her friend and SAQA colleague, Leslie Barnes, when we spent a day at St. Albert the Great School in Calgary as "artist visitors" with the Burgess Shale Project.  (To see what happened that day in 2014, check the SAQA WC blog post HERE.)  Deborah's background in geology fueled her passion for this exhibit; along with Alberta member and former Co-Rep, Patti Morris, she was instrumental in arranging its donation to the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation for a permanent exhibit location.

Deborah is a valiant cancer survivor, and it was during a workshop at Wellspring for cancer patients in Calgary that she was inspired to create her "Orange" piece -- a ray of sunshine and hope.

Thanks, Deborah, for your inspiration and thank you, Leslie Barnes, for sharing the UPPERCASE article with SAQA Western Canada readers.