It was far too irresponsible (according to my father) to go to art school, so instead I attended St. Mary’s University in Halifax where I obtained a BA in English Literature, and a BEd. It is also where I met the lovely woman, a fellow student, who became my wife. Following graduation and marriage in 1975, we both set off for Alberta, where we taught in small communities north of Edmonton.
My desire to go to art school had not diminished, and in 1978 we moved to Calgary where I began a degree program at the Alberta College of Art. It only lasted a year (by the time the first year ended, we were pregnant and decided to come back to Nova Scotia to have our baby at home), but it was a great experience for me, with lots of hard work but in a stimulating and creative atmosphere. It was also informative, in that I realized that art could be a legitimate calling and that I did in fact have some talent, something that was worth knowing.
(Another aside/question: How much of our path is the result of conscious decision making, and how much is fate?)
