#Yearof50. Entry 16: OCAD Bound

In summer 2011, our friend and former colleague Jan Sage reached out to Mark to let me know that an opportunity with OCAD University was available in Development & Alumni Relations. It had been a very tough year, as I had been laid off from Queen’s in 2010, and then my dad died on February 26, 2011.

After multiple interviews, an offer was made and we found ourselves looking for an apartment in Toronto. After saying tearful goodbyes to our chosen family in Kingston, we started a new chapter in downtown Toronto.

Thankfully, our dear friends Patrick McNeill and Ray McVong had decamped from Kingston to Toronto the year before. They added to the welcome wagon and supportive net of longtime Toronto friends Dana, Toni Marvin & Dave, and Lisa Collins. And me, being the ridiculously faithful Queen’s alumnus, reached out to the then president of Queen's Toronto Alumni, Elaine Wu, to volunteer with the branch and a new friend was in our lives.

What an adventure was laid in front of me, and what beautiful humans would I meet, including Rivi Frankle, Rose Anne McCants, Katherine Needham, Megan A. Skyvington, Elle Zed, Gillian Flanagan, Adria Miller, Karen Henry, Julie Staffieri, Emilia Ziemba, Suharu Ogawa, Shannon Robertson, Melanie McEwen, Karen Henry, Anda Kubis, Jana Macalik, Julie Thompson, Diana Bahr, Maggie Broda, Trieloff Virginia, Ozzie Ciliberti , Natalie Pavlenko, Lisa Frost, Lisa Deanne Smith, Francisco Alvarez, Kelly Faller, Isobel Medel, Lisa Wright-Henry, Larissa Kostoff & Julian Goss , Ange-line Tetrault, and so many more.

During my 6 years at OCAD, Mark (a very proud OCAD alumnus) and I were delighted to purchase work from students and alumni from the Illustration and Drawing & Painting programs to fill our walls with pieces that inspire and engage us to this day.

I cherish the people that we brought into our department, most whom have gone on to flourish in their endeavours in new adventures. I hold each of them close to my heart, and I hope they know how much they mean to me. All of us were a gang that believe that art and design matter: that creativity and imagination are the key to unlocking the heart of the human condition. You know who you are I love you always.