Who am I?
Sated: to satisfy a desire or appetite to the fullest; a state of complete and thorough satisfaction.
“If more of us valued food, cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” J.R.R. Tolkien
At the start of each new school year I assign a “get to know you” project for my new Grade 8 classes. After some initial brainstorming and ideas generating about symbols and symbolism, I ask them to imagine that they have landed on an alien planet and have no language to communicate with their new alien friends but they can draw them some symbols to express who they are to this unusual being. I always play along, in part to give them some examples but also so that they get a sense of who I am as well.
First and foremost, I am an artist, a painter, more specifically. There is nothing I love more than exploring colour and space through paint on a canvas. It fills me up, it is who I am.
I am also an educator. I know that the old adage is, “those that can’t do teach” and I struggled with negotiating my profession with my personal practice for years. However, I have realized that my passion for colour, paint and creating has a direct influence on the sort of teacher that I am and to pull the best out of my students is to not only teach them but to mentor and model lifelong learning and engagement in the creative process.
I am someone who loves to move. I have always had a love of the outdoors and nature and much of my work is inspired by travels and trips to beautiful natural places where I can push the limits of what my physical body can accomplish and inspire my heart and mind by my surroundings.
I have practiced various sports through the years but the last decade of my life has been devoted to a combination of fight sport and training alternating with getting outdoors to hike, climb and adventure through North America’s natural wonders by my preferred mode of travel, the road trip. I was raised by a single parent who taught me the value of the simple things in life but also the necessity of strength and, what she liked to call, “sticktoitiveness”. The concept of “fight” is ingrained in my upbringing and is more than an athletic endeavor, it is a metaphor for living life.
What is it about?
I first began considering a blog almost 8 years ago. It began simply enough with a love of food, dining and a passion for making art and living life. At the time it felt like this would be a food blog…The idea of combining art, eating and the concept of coming away from either endeavour fully satisfied led to the play on words “the sated palette”. It was so exciting, it always is for me, a new creative project! It’s like the start of that brand new relationship, when you’re in that honeymoon phase and everything sparkles and shines. But life has a way of interceding. The technology made me so anxious, I am a self professed Luddite to the core, I seemed to always be busy at work, in my relationships and with the stuff of every day life. I also started to wonder if I really had enough to say, if I was really that invested in dining out and talking to people about restaurants and menu items…weren’t there a million people doing that already? What was I doing? What was it about?
Time passed and things changed, a lot. Some losses and some gains, and here I am, in a whole new place with a very different concept than what I originally thought this would be. The guiding principles are still about satiation and being filled up with the best flavours and textures and colours…except it has become clear and apparent that this is a metaphor for life, not simply about being satiated after a meal but after a day with friends, after a long trip where I’ve had adventures, after an amazing day at play with materials in my studio or my classroom. I want to talk about creativity, passion and living a life that leaves us feeling satisfied and satiated at the end of every day. I have devoted my life to teaching this and have tried to walk my talk as much as possible. I think I’ve done this well…
If you long to live with passion and enthusiasm and have a creative heart but can’t seem to get it on the page or the canvas or on the camera roll, follow along with me! We can get there together!
“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.” Ruth Reichl