Hello and welcome to 2021 ... which might look a lot like 2020, at first glance. Yes folks, we are in lockdown again, and we can only hope this helps us keep each other safe and our hospitals and health-care workers able to manage.
Lockdown the second time around, especially in dreary January, could be a bit of a drag, but, never fear, there are some bright moments in arts and culture to look forward to, even in this dark time in the year…and history.
A reader reached out to me to let me know some good arts news about a former Orillian, Tina Wallace, who was born and raised in Orillia and went to Twin Lakes Secondary School.
Art and music were staples in the Wallace household, with dad’s interest in music and mom’s in pastels. Tina delved into art in high school, in an after-school art club run by Ms. Shaw and with the encouragement of her Grade 9 art teacher, Ian McEwen, who, Tina says, “really encourages his students to explore art passionately and unapologetically.”
However, it wasn’t until Wallace was in university that she heard of animation as a way to create art and make a living. Wallace went on to obtain her bachelor of arts at the University of Ottawa and a degree in animation from Algonquin College.
These days, she is working as a storyboard revisionist in the cartoons industry. What does that mean? Wallace says, “basically I draw comic strips for TV.”
So, what’s the good arts news about Wallace? Let’s hear it from her:
“I've been living in Ottawa since 2009. I suppose working backwards, my husband is a music venue owner (LIVE! on Elgin in Ottawa) and big fan of the Collective Arts brand of beer.
"Our contact who makes our deliveries was chatting me up one day after my husband mentioned I was an artist, and he encouraged me to apply to Collective Arts' Artist-Submissions program for a chance for my work to be featured on their beer cans.
“You can select up to three works of art per 'season' of submissions (not sure what the timeline is but they do calls for art on their socials every now and again), and I applied over eight different times," Wallace explained.
"I would say I was more annoying than lucky in that regard. I know it's a rotating wheel of judges who select the artwork, so every season I picked what I thought were my three best images, and for a good three to four years I've been applying," she said.
“It's really exciting to have been selected because I really didn't think anything was going to come of it, especially getting rejection upon rejection.”
You can see Tina’s selected work here.
