In the summer of 1968, when Tamar Griggs was studying art and dance in New York City, she accepted an invitation for a short sailing holiday in the Mediterranean.  Much to her surprise, that brief respite would lead to a year at sea, complete with a shipwreck on the coast of Spain before hitchhiking across the Atlantic Ocean.

Carried by three different boats across thousands of nautical miles, she found herself hurled into trouble, doubt, beauty, laughter and conversations with the dead. As she sailed along, Tamar simultaneously made her way through a parallel inner journey, confronting darkness and secrets that had haunted her life, and challenged her relationships for years, keeping joy at bay.  

In her 80’s Tamar sat down to write the stories of her life as a gift to her daughter Maya and her family and it was this particular chapter of her navigation across the Atlantic and her own uncharted waters that rose powerfully to the surface, even against her emotional protests. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Tamar, an accomplished nature photographer through the kind introduction of a previous guest on this podcast, her friend and fellow resident on Salt Spring Island, Lolla Devindish.  We first met at her artist’s booth at the Saturday market, just before her memoir, Tamar at Sea, was published and then for the conversation you are about to hear, which we recorded a few months ago. Her book with the subtitle, Navigating Love, Loss, Secrets and Self Across the Open Sea, became the metaphoric anchor and sails for our conversation. At the time, Tamar told me that she imagined with all the energy leading up to the holidays that it might be best to share the episode in the new year and so we programmed for a January slot. 

 I received the sad and shocking news less than a week ago, that Tamar has passed away peacefully in her home on the island.  After a conversation with her beloved daughter Maya, who was certain that her Mama would have loved it to be released as planned, I have chosen to do so.  It is my hope that in doing so, her voice, stories and beautiful spirit as captured here may provide some light and comfort to those grieving and celebrating her life.

In the past month alone, and in multiple ways, I have been reminded of the fragility of life and how life as we know it can change in an instance.  Tamar reminds us of the importance of allowing life to steep like a great cup of tea and then to share that tea party through story, image and laughter, for those who come next to better understand the path laid before them.

In Memory of Tamar Griggs (1941-2024)

Putting one foot in front of another is what Marty Chan learned many years ago, when as a child of hard working immigrant parents, who prioritized chores and help at the store over homework, became anxious that he wasn’t at the same reading level as his peers, leading him to develop imaginative strategies that have come to serve him throughout his successful writing career. His books, stage plays, radio dramas, television scripts and humour articles have taken him around the world from New York to Los Angeles to Galway to Beijing and have received many awards and accolades. In 2016, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts named Marty one of the 25 most influential artists in Alberta and last year he was the recipient of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Golden Pen Award, presented to acknowledge the lifetime achievements of outstanding Alberta writers, placing him in the illustrious company of past recipients including W.O. Mitchell, Grant MacEwan, Rudy Wiebe, Robert Kroetsch, and Alice Major. 

Prior to 2020, Marty travelled extensively to deliver captivating creative writing residencies for students of all ages.  During the pandemic, he put his creative resources to work making it possible to shift to virtual workshops, and in the process ended up turning his basement into a full-on production studio as he devised innovative ways to continue to engage and inspire students of writing across the world through the computer screen.

While most of my podcast guests share their identification as artists and creators, I remain committed to including within that ensemble, conversations with people who feel the fire of creativity within themselves and encourage it’s light and warmth to be expressed on a daily basis, personally and professionally.  In curating these recorded gatherings, I hope these conversations might resonate just as powerfully for all listeners. 

Dr. Sian Williams began her professional career in the arts and somewhere along the way, made a choice to set that work down; work that had defined and fueled her, to step towards another love, of science and specifically chiropractic medicine.  In 2019, Sian fulfilled a career-long dream and opened Alinio Chiropractic & Massage in the heart of Edmonton’s Ice District. The Welsh word ‘alinio’ meaning alignment, is inspired by Sian’s South Wales roots as well as her belief in the importance of bringing all facets of a life into – ‘alinio’.

For as long as I have known Sian, I have been inspired by her way of being in the world and when I finally found the courage to trust anyone with cracking open some space in my own bone structure, I couldn’t imagine trusting anyone else. 

In the case of his first formal play, Rocko and Nakota: Tales From the Land, theatre artist Josh Languedoc has come to realize that while the play was first produced in 2018 professionally, he had been carrying in pieces for many years, being unpacked and revealed gradually along the way. Josh, a proud member of the Saugeen First Nation, now lives as a guest in Treaty 6 Territory as an Anishinaabe playwright, producer, storyteller, and teacher.  His most recent production, Civil Blood: A Treaty Story, an immersive contemporary tale inspired by the signing of Treaty 6, the love story of Romeo and Juliet, and the lessons learned about what it means to be treaty people. This intriguing production, co-written by Josh and Neil Kuefler and produced by Thou Art Here and Common Ground Arts onsite at Fort Edmonton this past summer, invited audiences to consider present truth by meditating on our collective past.  At the time of our conversation, Josh had also just begun work as an Associate Producer at the National Arts Centre of a project titled #ReconcileThis, one of many topics we had a chance to dive into.

The role of mentor suits Jenna Rodgers’ love of partnership whether she’s sitting alongside a playwright in the supportive role of dramaturg, as the leader of an artistic ensemble somewhere in the midst of bringing a story to the stage or in the past few years as a mother of two, learning how to best respond to the wild wonder of early childhood; an improvisation unto itself.  While her professional path following her double Science and Arts major led her to a life in the theatre, Jenna remains committed to a practice that embodies the inquisitive curiosity of a creative laboratory. 

A graduate of the National Theatre School’s Artistic Leadership Residency, the Banff Centre’s Cultural Leadership Program and a member of the artEquity National Facilitator Training cohort, Jenna also holds an MA in International Performance Research from the universities of Amsterdam and Tampere. Highly committed to shifting the landscape of opportunities in the theatre, Jenna remains an active and passionate advocate for equity in the arts. Most recently Jenna was appointed the Artistic Director of Edmonton’s Concrete Theatre and as she enters into the next scene of her creative narrative, she finds herself in the familiar space of preparation. 

For the past decade, Toronto-based singer songwriter, Jordan Hart has been engaged in an adventure in letting go; no small task for someone who admittedly holds tightly to the controls every time he enters the studio.  His tendency to lean towards the idea of perfection, has been anchored in a desire to connect deeply with his listeners. Lately, Jordan has begun to dance more freely with the idea that in letting go, he is able to experience a kind of freedom to be even more fully connected, trusting that every listener, of recordings and performances, is going to define perfect by their own standards and that the music will resonate as it is able given each new moment. 

The transformative work of the Writer’s Collective of Canada is anchored in the core belief in the power of seeing, hearing and inviting ourselves to know one another better. Shelley Lepp joined the WCC as a volunteer facilitator in 2018, then Co-Executive Director in 2019, and early in 2024 stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer.

Shelley holds a Master’s Degree in Adult Education and Community Development from OISE, University of Toronto. Her academic research has focused on the practice and pedagogy of expressive writing as a non-clinical mental health intervention. She is a passionate writer, mental-health advocate, and community builder.

Shelley and the work of WCC, through free writing workshops, accessible to all is deeply rooted in the belief that ‘creative expression nourishes the physical and mental health of individuals and creates more resilient communities.  It sparks activism and action, bridges and builds connection, fosters dialogue, helps us make sense of the world and fulfils our innate need to feel seen and heard.” She remains endlessly curious about the power of story to build connection with self and others.  

New Season Launches Oct 11

Shannon Litzenberger is keenly committed to the exploration and rehearsal of new ways in doing and being in the practice of art and living. As a dancer and performance maker, her work explores our relationship to land, the politics of belonging, and the forgotten wisdom of the body. She collaborates frequently with the wind in the leaves collective and has been an invited resident artist with major arts organizations nationwide. As a skilled freelance strategist, leadership developer, and embodiment facilitator, she works with organizations in the arts, academia, and the corporate sector.

Sparked by her own experiences and observations of Canada’s cultural reality during and emerging out of the pandemic, Shannon wrote a powerful essay titled, State of Emergence: Why we need artists right now.  Anchored in systems and policies shaping society, she asks the question: What would it mean to ambitiously mobilize artists to do their most essential work well and fully, with the aim of catalyzing transformative change?  She goes on to ask, Could the chaotic domain of the artist’s creative process be the fertile ground from which a healthier and more sustainable, just, and caring society emerges?

Stephen Nachmanovitch, an accomplished and classically trained violinist, has for years been espousing the life affirming power of stepping away from the notes on the sheet to explore the freedom of playing between, within and around the notes, of music, art and life as one beautiful composition. He performs and teaches internationally at the intersections of multimedia, performing arts, ecology and philosophy.  He is the author of Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art (1990) and The Art of Is: Improvising as a Way of Life (2019); both of which make the compelling argument “that artistic power is available to anyone at any moment. It is not a psychological tool or an artistic one...it is a way of being.”

For more information on Stephen and his work, visit www.freeplay.com