Did you know the KHC team comprises of staff from the Art Gallery of Golden, the Civic Centre, and Kicking Horse Culture? It also includes all-star volunteers. We went to each of our team members and asked them to create a ME collage, a multi-media art piece. The collages represent different parts of them: their past, the things they care about, their role at work, and even their dreams for arts and culture in Golden. When we asked them about their collages, this is what they shared:
Charlie grew up in England and moved her family (her husband, her two daughters, and their dog) to Golden 5 years ago in 2020. She grew up riding horses in England, jumping fences (and sometimes being bucked off into them) on a horse named Sunshine. These days Charlie jumps less, but gets to live through her daughter as she starts taking riding lessons. They spend their free time as a family enjoying the lakes throughout the Columbia Valley, paddling and making art on the banks.
As a professional, Charlie has worked in digital management and has an incredible ability at being detail oriented and acting as a liaison between groups. These skills certainly come in handy with her position as the Civic Centre Manager with KHC (a community performance building owned by the Town of Golden and managed by us). Charlie juggles all of the moving parts (a circus, some might call it) that come along with making bookings, cleaning and maintaining the space, and working closely with the Town of Golden.
Her favorite part of the job is getting to work with different community organizations, who each want to host various types of community events at the Civic Centre. She enjoys helping them pull off each event successfully. It’s a niche part of community work, but oh so important!
I have a vision of an arts and culture parade with music and people and lots of color on main street. There’s banners and streamers and hand made flags. Different folks have come to share their different cultures with us and the streets are packed with people…
– Charlie’s dream.
“The top of the world to the tip of the world” was Deb’s response when asked about her past. Her lifetime of travel took her to the corners of the world, including a northern ice rise on Ward Hunt Island, Ellesmere Island and across the globe to Everest in the Himalayas. Travel is metaphor for achieving her goals, a process which, according to Deb, can be both humbling and satisfying. Her philosophy of life believes that an open mind and willingness to work hard will bring profound, and often unexpected, rewards and adventures.
Deb’s curiosity and keen heart got her into adventures right from the get go. She was her farmer Dad’s right hand man as a kid and from there her life went in all directions: an education as a medical transcriptionist, work with IBM, accounting, summers in a canoe doing data collection, recreational programming, and even 18 years in international relations with a heli-skiing operation.
She loves creativity in all of its forms, but practices her own with water color, pottery, and photography. Moving between mediums depends on the situation and resources that she has at any given point in her life. She calls this “blended worlds”, a metaphor for the knack of finding balance and letting things fluctuate throughout your lifetime. A love of horses and gardening have also blended into this balance.
Deb has been working at AGOG for 12 years. She delights in connecting with visitors from around the world and trading stories as well as working with the artists and helping to foster their creative endeavors. The non-profit structure of the KHC is something Deb is excited to share with customers. Deb’s specialty is building and enhancing the procedures and structures that are behind the scenes at AGOG, a technical expertise that can be traced back to her work as a transcriber. Ah, the serendipity of life!
Life is an adventure! Life brings adversity, which sometimes brings adventures, hardships, fun, and rewards. As long as you can bring yourself back to balance, you’re in a good spot.
– Deb’s wisdom
Tiff is another jet-setter in the AGOG team. Her past is defined by her many years spent travelling and working in international tourism; directing tours in Europe and Antarctica, making friendships around the world, and learning new languages (she’s got 4 up her sleeve!).
Worldly travel and a fine arts degree gives her a wonderful, whimsical perspective on life and she enjoys spending time in her garden and learning the delicate nuances of each plant. Fondly calling them “the original earthlings”. Design and history, writing, colour, spending time in her studio… all of these things are enjoyable for Tiff in her spare time. And her love for nuance and intricacy blend remarkably well into her role at AGOG.
What does she do here? Gosh, what doesn’t she do…There are many definitions for her role: gallery assistant, assignment finisher, project completer, bow tier, arts communicator. Tiff covers all of the little things, tying up loose ends and doing the multi-faceted tasks that it takes to run the tight ship that is AGOG. Her job is like holding a bunch of springy wires that go in all different directions. And she not only masters this, but also makes a point of spending time with everyone that comes into the store. Artists and visitors alike, she finds everyone inspiring and interesting to connect with.
“In my dream, Golden is funky and known for its music and visual art. It’s a home for the arts! There’s plenty of community support and community involvement.”
– Tiff’s vision
Aaron grew up travelling around BC to visit his Dad, who lived a self-sufficient nomadic life. From him, Aaron learned how to fix things, build things, and create what they needed where they were. These skills and practical thinking have stuck with him all his life and have a huge influence on his lifestyle and his work.
By definition, Aaron is a theatre technician and he also has his electrical ticket. He’s been working in the performance industry since high school and also does a lot of work in the trades. When he came to Golden, he was surprised at the demand for his expertise in the arts and culture scene and he’s been involved with KHC for the last 6 years.
KHC is Aaron’s opportunity to get artsy with his numerous practical skills. As a theatre technician, Aaron’s role is to build the framework of a performance: carpentry, electrical, and rigging. He takes care of everything you don’t see when you sit down to watch a live performance, but all of the things that have to happen for the show to go on. In his words, these elements are “the bones of the experience”.
For Aaron, a job well done means that all of those technical elements have gone down without a bang. His structures work quietly and perfectly and the audience is focused solely on the artist. The reward is when the audience is completely engrossed in the production and there’s a big applause at the end, and the artists walk away feeling fulfilled.
“MORE space for theatre. There can never be enough! I imagine a theatre of magnificence, that is accessible to all with elaborate dressing rooms and seating for hundreds.”
– Aaron’s dream
Kathy grew up with artistic influence from within her family. Her mother used to make lovely quilts and her father was an illustrator and commercial artist. Art has long been a thread in her life and she’s always valued being surrounded by it, and this is one of her biggest enjoyments working at the Art Gallery of Golden.
A self-proclaimed wild child, Kathy’s professional experience is a rollercoaster. She worked with Harley Davidson as a clothing buyer for a dozen years or so, and then started her own Zumba program here in Golden. After 5 years of that, she moved on to figure skating, re-learning her childhood skills and developing her own coaching program. She’s entrepreneur meets daredevil meets wonder woman, brave enough to learn new skills and then turn right around and coach someone else.
What else does Kathy love? Dogs, fitness, and hiking. Eclectic communities – likes the ones she found at Harley Davidson and at AGOG. People coming together from all walks of life for the love of something that they can share. The Art Gallery is a hub for people like this, with interesting stories and perspectives and ambitions. And Kathy loves talking to them all. Behind the scenes, she’s a self titled Inventory Queen. So not only does she manage the front counter when she’s on shift, but she also has a special skill at managing inventory as it’s brought in by the various artists (AGOG features over 100 artists from the Columbia Valley). She loves seeing what comes in, counting it, pricing it, and then putting it out on display.
She values authenticity in art and music. Seeing it created rather than produced at a mass scale, and also art being available to the public to interact with. Art spaces like these are important to Kathy, who believes in the long-lasting impacts that art and music have had for humans.
“Who doesn’t like being surrounded by beautiful things?”
– Kathy’s reason
Noticing a travel theme with the KHC staff? Tammy is no different. The place that stole Tammy’s heart is Switzerland, where she worked many summers and also learned to paraglide. This time was a big part of Tammy’s nomadic lifestyle, working in different places around the world and moving along when the season changed. This pattern was so much a part of her life that now, 20 years later, she’s still adjusting to staying year round in the same place.
From a small town in Northern BC (about as north as you can get), Tammy moved to Golden as a child with her family and then spent many years coming and going before finally settling down here. Her professional background is as varied as her geographical one, from accounting to baking to massage therapy and healthcare assistance. Tammy spent many years in care work before becoming the curator at AGOG.
One thing that has always stayed steady for Tammy is her love of the mountains. No matter where she lived, there were mountains. The smaller the valley and more vertical the peaks the better. Mountains are Tammy’s heart and home, and so is her garden. You’ll find her there on her days off.
As curator for AGOG, Tammy’s role is to assemble and arrange displays and feature exhibits that come into the Gallery. She manages the installations for exhibits, which is a unique avenue for her creativity. Artists will bring the pieces of their exhibit to the Gallery and then Tammy’s job is to install it in the space. Often the result is very different from what the artist may have had in mind in the first place, but that’s one of the special twists that you’ll find in an art gallery. It’s tedious work to install an exhibit, but Tammy is quick and has been setting them up for years. The technicalities of the space (where anchors are in the walls, how placement works, flow of the pieces) she all picked up on the job.
“Spaces! Bigger spaces! More shows and more artwork displays. If we build it, the artists will come.”
– Tammy’s dream
Mike is our all star volunteer. He’s been volunteering his time, knowledge, and service to KHC for over 15 years. What a guy!
When asked about his past he fondly recalls a dog of his named Frisky that he had when he was growing up in Nanaimo, who Mike claims adopted him rather than the other way around. As a young man he went from Nanaimo to Langley, to Princeton, to Salmon Arm, and finally to Golden, travelling mostly through employment.
Mike worked something like a thousand jobs in his lifetime (his words, not ours!), from cabinet making, to photography shops, to electronics technology, saw mills, and even the railroad, with a general emphasis on technological knowledge.
Mike is devoted to his spirituality and loves the divine. He follows the Baháʼí Faith, a religion founded in the 19th century that emphasizes the unity of humanity. “If religion was an app, Baháʼí Faith is the latest version,” says Mike. He also loves music and plays in many bands locally. With KHC, Mike donates his time and his knowledge of the technical side of things, he’s part of the lighting team that sets up at Summer Kicks and also during our performance series in the winter, Live Kicks.
“Service. Serve the community in whatever capacity you can”
Mike’s belief
Fran’s past influences come from the strong matriarchs in her life – human and animal alike. They taught her to believe in her instincts, follow her gut, and find balance between softness, compassion, and strength. Qualities that drive her ambitions and dreams in everyday life.
She grew up in Edmonton and moved to Golden 4 years ago. Her professional background is in writing, communications, and marketing, but she also has a long history in labor and farm work. Now, her foot is in the door of the creative industry and she’s finding big strides.
During her free time, she likes to walk around in the woods. Lackadaisical and moving slowly, listening to the birds, picking berries, and figuring out which way the wind is blowing – the little things out there are what matters to her. She loves to learn and she loves finding the stories in the people and places around her. Like a creative mad-woman, she’s always coming up with new ideas and making them happen.
She defines her role at KHC in a few ways: detail orientator, vibe cultivator, program coordinator. She’s the hands on, boots on the ground, getting it done kind of woman. Thinking ahead and covering all the bases so that our programs can run without a hitch. And doing all the little things well so that people are comfortable and excited to be there.
“Story, celebration, and soul are my favorite parts of the job. It’s frightening and exhilarating at the same time because there are no limits to our work.”
– Fran’s creativity
Logan grew up in Canmore Alberta, as an athlete until a serious injury and a happenstance experience of finding a guitar in a dumpster, changed their trajectory in life. Suddenly, she was in multiple bands and was on the road performing across the country and internationally. But, more than that, she was exposed to and inspired by the incredible artistic community that exists in BC.
Driven by a love of people, systems, and history, Logan studied anthropology at UBC and went on to create arts and culture programming in remote communities, seniors’ centers, and cities. She has led public art projects, managed arts facilities, and developed programs for all ages, always with a focus on building connection through creativity.
Logan grew up coming to the Columbia valley and was able to move to Golden permanently to step into the role of Executive and Artistic Director for KHC. Her home in Parson overlooks the Columbia Wetlands and she spends her free time visiting her mom, exploring the valley and the forests, and making art.
Working closely with a dedicated volunteer Board of Directors, Logan guides the organization’s artistic programming and strategic direction while ensuring its long-term sustainability. On any given day, you might find them curating live music seasons, developing new youth and community arts programs, navigating funding and policy work, or sitting down with artists and business leaders to strengthen the local creative economy.
When she was asked about her favorite part of this job, Logan described a mushroom-like tree. Its flexible branches were the work KHC does everyday, but the trunk was the community. The leaves and spores of the tree represent all of the far reaching impacts that art can have, and her excitement for the future. She believes in the power of arts and culture in creating a healthy and vibrant community.
“Creativity, no matter what age you’re at, is a very important part of people’s life. It creates connection and well being. It stimulates your brain in creative and challenging ways. There is no limit to creativity.”
– Logan’s philosophy
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