Artists

Sharon is a performing artist and current Co-artistic Director of Mortal Coil Performance Society, a Vancouver based theatre company whose work ranges from site-specific outdoor theatre and spectacle, to smaller touring shows for audiences of all ages, to community-engaged art projects with a focus on stilt walking, puppetry and mask performance.

Sharon was one of the Lead Artists for the Arts, Health and Seniors Project at Strathcona Community Centre starting in 2006. Working in close collaboration with other artists and community workers, she led a dedicated group of Chinese elders through the creative process of devising new, original puppet-theatre shows performed by the seniors annually as part of the project’s year-end showcase and exhibition.

Most recently Sharon has worked on a collaborative Arts & Health team with the Elders of Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

Leah Abramson is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and instructor from Vancouver, B.C. After touring internationally with indie rock and folk bands, as well as her previous project, The Abramson Singers, Leah is now releasing her fourth original album of songs.

Along with her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (focus on lyrics) at the University of British Columbia, Leah has studied classical music at Capilano University and traditional Appalachian balladry and singing with Alice Gerrard and Ginny Hawker.

Leah Abramson has taught songwriting courses and workshops in the Creative Writing Program at the University of British Columbia, The Vancouver East Cultural Centre (The Cultch), The Carnegie Centre, and Girls Rock Camp Vancouver.

Leah’s current project, Songs For a Lost Pod, is a collaboration with Pacific Northwest orcas that turns whale vocalizations into beats, and scientific research on marine mammals into lyrical fodder.

Keely O’Brien is an interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, BC, on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Her art practice incorporates intricately handmade objects with immersive, innovative theatre creation. Devoted to a thoroughly handmade, DIY process, Keely’s work includes puppetry in miniature and enormous scales, immersive installations, imaginative ephemera, and interactive experiences. As a community engaged arts educator Keely creates and facilitates participatory and collaborative artwork with community members and organizations. Deeply site-responsive and engaged with questions of place, home, and belonging, Keely’s work aims to celebrate the potential for creativity and community in the place and people around her. Keely is Co-Artistic Director of experimental theatre company Popcorn Galaxies [popcorngalaxies.ca]. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Simon Fraser University.

Jim is an East Vancouver-based storyteller, songwriter, and performer. Jim has written, produced, and performed in a number of solo storytelling shows that have been part of festivals such as the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival, Heart of the City Festival, and Fringe Festivals across Canada. As a musician, Jim has performed at the Vancouver Farmers’ Market, Granville Island and a variety of venues around Vancouver. As a storyteller, Jim’s mission is to tell his own story and to support others to gain the skills to find and tell their own stories. He fulfills this mission by performing, teaching and researching storytelling. His approach is to work to create a safe and inclusive environment that welcomes all contributions. Workshop content is based on an iterative approach that works to identify and address the needs of workshop participants.

Salisha Old Bull was born in Eastern Montana and raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Western Montana. Her mother is Salish and father is Crow so she has a well-rounded bundle of Indigenous teachings from the Montana area. She is married to Shandin Pete and has 5 children. She was an aspiring artist as a child but chose to follow a different career path. She kept art in the background of her life and expressed most of her creativity through beadwork. She was taught to bead by her maternal grandmother, Rachel Arlee Bowers when she was a very young child and considers her earliest memories of beading at about her second grade in elementary school. In addition, painting, photography, and drawing are other favorite mediums. She gains inspiration from traditional ecological knowledge from both Salish and Crow tribes and uses this imagery within her artwork. These aspects of cultural knowledge are the attributes that empower Indigenous people.