Artist Residency at Anvil Centre in New Westminster

Last week I started a month long residency at the Anvil Centre. This is brand new facility on Columbia Street in New Westminster. I used to work right around the corner at Purpose Society running parenting groups, and I also worked in New West as the Literacy Outreach Coordinator for the community. Being back there feels very comfortable and familiar to me.

My residency got off to a slow start. I was supposed to start last Wednesday, but I had had a very heavy workshop schedule and I just did not want to leave the house, or even open my mouth that morning. By mid afternoon, I decided that I would go and check out the space without planning on doing any work. When I arrived at the Anvil Centre, no one there even knew I was coming. They managed to find someone to give me a key to my office space - it's a bit like a windowless cupboard really, but I'll mainly use it as a private and locked storage space - something that I didn't have at the residency that I did last year at Leigh Square in Port Coquitlam.

 Fortunately, I don't have to work in the office. That would have been a deal breaker for me. I cannot create in a space without natural light. There are some very nice bright studios with large windows right across the hall from my office that I can use whenever I'm there.