Artists Collaborating on PORTALS
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Erica Otto
Erica is a director of the Verge Art Collaborative, and project lead for PORTALS. She is a somatic therapist, energy healer, mother, dancer, choreographer, and writer. She is deeply passionate about creating art for healing and collective wellbeing. Building relationships and affecting cultural change is her driving force.
PORTALS emerged as a process born of collaboration and inspiration, and a passion for the creative process.
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Ashley Dodd
Ashley is one of the Verge Art Collaborative directors. She is a ceramic artist, painter, illustrator and graphic designer. Her deepest work and artistic joy explores creation though ritual, movement, nature, colour, sound and self inquiry. Her ceramic work can be found under the name Vessels of Earth and Stars.
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Adriana Sabrina
Adriana is one of the Verge Art Collaborative directors.
Adriana Sabrina is an intuitive artist who explores the feeling of presence. Through her connection to mysticism and psychic ability, she channels her art to make the invisible visible, transforming what could be into matter. Her work delves into heart coherence and energetic frequencies, using color and meaning-making as mediums. Influenced by symbolism, nature, and a deep curiosity for understanding unseen realms, Adriana’s art invites viewers into an exploration of subtle realms of being.
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Carmen Chornell
Carmen is one of the Verge Art Collaborative directors. She is a lover of embodied practices. She finds immense joy through dancing, doing yoga, riding her bike, or cruising on her surfboard or snowboard. She also loves and respects the practices of meditation, breath work, and immersing oneself in nature. Authentic human connection is one of her deepest values. Working as a family doctor and yoga teacher in Squamish, she enjoys interweaving these lines of work to help others feel more healthy, vibrant, and connected to inner peace.
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Helen Beynon
Helen is one of the Verge Art Collaborative directors.
Helen is a somatic therapist and poet. Her writing explores a variety of forms using memory, archetypes, emotive and sensory moments, and almost always a little alliteration. She seeks out the edges of language, of how we use words to shape, understand and share our human experiences.
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Amir Fishman
Amir Fishman is a Videographer and Visual Storyteller. He picked up his first DSLR while living in Japan in his early 20's, when the only way to capture the moment was to point and shoot. No fancy gear or high-tech gadgets, just instinct. Since then, he's been hooked on telling stories through the lens, capturing the moments of his adventures and nature-based travel.
Amir decided to hone his skills while creating a variety of videos for his outdoor adventure company. He worked on everything from instructional how-to's, to powerful re-telling of clients' experiences on his trip, and even comedic shorts meant to drive home a point while keeping smiles on the viewers faces.Through these projects, he developed his skills in capturing stories and also in the world of editing. His goal is always to tell authentic stories that make people feel something.
When he’s not behind the camera, Amir can be found adventuring through the outdoors, climbing, hiking, or riding his bike through the stunning landscapes of Squamish, BC. It’s that connection to nature and the unexpected beauty of the world around him that keeps him inspired, and fuels the passion he brings to his videography.
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Brian Aikens
Brian Aikens is a Squamish based photographer. He has been creating photographic imagery since the 1970’s when film cameras were the way. He moved to Squamish from Vancouver in 1992 to start a family and build his career as an electronic engineering technologist and entrepreneur. In the early 2010’s, Brian bought a new Nikon DSLR. Most lunch breaks became practice sessions where he could be found in the estuary, catching images of birds flying.
Being out in this area of biological diversity meant that opportunity to capture images of many birds and different mammals arose. Wildlife photography became a major focus. Creating annual calendars with his wife Jill has been a great way to get these images out to many more people, as well as helping support the local Squamish Environmental Society with part proceeds from sales.
In addition to wildlife photography, Brian enjoys creating images that capture movement, including performance art and sports photography. He also loves to dabble in landscape and macro images.
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Brian Marchant
Brian Marchant is a husband, father, musician, live sound and recording engineer, arts and event organizer and avid volunteer of the arts.
Brian began his musical journey as a teen playing in locally formed rock groups and playing most weekends in the local bars and clubs. At the age of 20 he formed a band with Juno award winning children and family artist, Norman Foote. It was during this period that Brian’s interest in sound and audio engineering began to emerge.
In 1997, Brian’s community connection to the local arts movement began when he joined the Howe Sound Performing Arts Association. During his early years with the HSPAA he, along with director Colleen Koop, started the youth driven, adjudicated ‘Howe Sound Music Festival’, now called the ‘Squamish Community Music Festival’. Brian is still active with the organization to this day helping to plan and produce live concerts and to support local youth in their artistic endevours.
Brian also chaired the 17 day long, “Wild at Art” community arts festival, leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics, beginning in 2005. In the fall of 2005, Brian was named, ‘Citizen of the Year’ by the Squamish Chamber of Commerce for his volunteer efforts with the arts as well as for his work with youth sports teams and other volunteer efforts.
Brian is still a veracious volunteer in 2024. He most recently could be seen every Thursday evening this past summer at Amped in the Park either doing sound for performers or training others to manage stages, run sound, etc. He also was part of the volunteer team to lead the design and installation of the Brackendale Art Gallery’s new sound system. He has also assisted local groups and venues to realize the technical aspects of their planned events. The Squamish Public Library (events), Sea to Sky Dance Collective, Squamish Arts, Tricksters Hideout, Downtown Squamish BIA are among the groups that Brian regularly volunteers with.
Brian operates a locally based, professional recording studio, “manic media recording” where he collaborates with local musicians to develop their recording careers. He is also a well-known fixture among the local musician/music venue circles as a professional live sound technician. He has mixed everyone from local emerging bands to Juno award winning touring artists. When not behind the mixing desk, Brian can be seen on stage as the bass player for the locally beloved, Bluesberry Jam Showband or Little City Big Sound.
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Ciarra Saylor
Ciarra is a professional multidisciplinary artist and creative leader.
Her art work is intuitively inspired by nature, spirit & Universal energies. She brings these themes to life through acrylic, watercolour and pencil from small all the way to huge Murals.
With a degree in Communication & Visual Design from Emily Carr, and her current movement into Art Medicine she is building a beautiful body of creatively divine art.
Ciarra has extensive experience in both the Design & Art worlds. She has worked with corporations and individuals to bring their ideas to life for over 20 years. She is B.C. born, raised & grateful to reside in beautiful Squamish, B.C. with her 2 children and their dog Fern.
She makes art, and guides others to share her love, light & joy with the world.
instagram: ciarrasaylor
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Elia Mrak
Elia uses the power of the healing arts - Somatics, Qigong, Dance, Bodywork, and Fitness - to support people and strengthen communities worldwide.
He is a trauma-informed educator and approaches his work through a nervous-system and systems-centered lens. This means that he creates safety and containment by attuning to each unique individual while also supporting them to show up with more capacity in the larger systems they are in - friends, family, community, and society.
Elia works with adults, kids, elders, in chairs, out of chairs, with words, without words, in different cultures, and with all different kinds of abilities.
He teaches clients, facilitates workshops, and guides retreats. He designs community healthcare programs, facilitates online nervous-system education, and teaches other somatic professionals. He also performs, choreographs, and produces art.
Elia has dedicated his life to working with the body. It is his gift, and he is honored to share it with you.
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Heidi Nielsen
Heidi's path of service is to hold space for others with an open heart, supporting their journey of self-discovery and transformation.
"Having to dig deep to find the nuggets of wisdom within my wounds, and cycling through the Medicine Wheel many times, I uncovered my ability to hold space in the place of the medial. Navigating earth and sky, supporting others to deepen their awareness of self to bring balance.
'My name Amaru, gifted to me by a most beloved teacher and friend, has supported me in my work as an Aromatherapist, Herbalist, and Priestess to rise and step forward to share my gifts.'
In service to community for over a decade, Heidi has facilitated circles and workshops, blessing ways and celebration of life ceremonies. Fuelled by a passion to live in a world free from oppression and patriarchal attitudes, Heidi shares her voice in a number of ways as a front line support worker at the Howe Sound Women's Centre and at fire ceremonies and healing circles.
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Michael Hewitt
Michael is a multi-disciplinary, theatre designer with a focus on Lighting and Sound, as well as a music composer. Originally from beautiful Squamish, British Columbia; Michael has worked through the province and beyond. His award-winning designs have been used with companies such as: Arts Club Theatre Company, Bard on the Beach, Chemainus Theatre Festival, Firehall Arts Centre, Pacific Theatre, Rosebud Theatre and more. Michael has also mentored students at Capilano University as well as Douglas College.
Michael is a full member of the Associated Designers of Canada / IATSE Local 659 and also has worked as in a Technical Director capacity for several professional companies and festivals.
Michael is a “hard-of-hearing” designer who despite his disability has created award winning compositions and sound designs. He leverages his disability and turns it into meaningful motivation to create artistically complex scores that evoke a wide range of emotions for theatre and film productions.
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Natacha Trottier
For as long as Natacha can remember, art has always been a part of her. Whether it’s painting on canvas or bringing an idea to life through body painting, creating has been her passion. There’s something truly magical about painting on people—it's an intricate collaboration where everything must come together perfectly. The model becomes the living embodiment of the art, while the decor, lighting, and photographer’s eye bring the vision to life. Each piece is a fleeting masterpiece, existing for only a few hours, never to be exactly recreated.
In addition to body painting, she provides makeup and hair services for all types of events. With over 18 years of experience, she's honed her craft, graduating from Blanche Macdonald's prestigious programs and later teaching there before fully committing to her business in the Sea to Sky Corridor. Her journey expanded during the pandemic, when she became a wedding officiant.
What drives her is the desire to make people feel confident and beautiful. Whether she's crafting a bridal look, officiating a heartfelt ceremony, or creating an artistic vision through boudoir shoots, headshots, or body painting, her goal is always the same: to deliver something extraordinary. She is dedicated to ensuring that every experience is as memorable as it is stunning, bringing your vision to life in a way that feels truly one-of-a-kind.
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Robyn Monk
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Sea to Sky Dance Collective
The Sea to Sky Dance Collective is a non-profit group of experienced adult contemporary dancers who have come together to learn and grow from each other, with the ultimate goal of giving back to our community through dance.
They believe that dance transcends boundaries, and they embrace all genders and identities. Whether you’re a seasoned dancer or just starting out, come express yourself and connect with a vibrant community.