A talented artist has come to Estevan as part of her PhD studies in electronic arts.
Maria Michails has spent most of her life in Eastern Canada, but she is currently in the midst of working on her PhD at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) near Albany, N.Y.
She has been spending a lot of her time in the Albany area, but she also decided to study in Estevan because she had a professor at RPI who was researching in the Estevan area, in conjunction with another professor at the University of Regina.
The RPI professor’s project didn’t pan out, but as Michails did further research into the Estevan area, she gained an interest in the region.
“I decided that I’m in the program now, so I’m going to continue the project,” said Michails. “I thought it would be really great, because I’m Canadian and I’d like a Canadian perspective.”
She has already started a program at the Estevan Public Library, in which she is working with local youths on a project that incorporates science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics to create an exhibit that will be at the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum in 2019.
And she has also started an initiative for the Souris Valley Museum on the oral histories of Estevan. Seniors will get together on Mondays to discuss the history of the community.
(For more on these two programs, please see this week’s edition of Southeast Lifestyles).
But there isn’t a particular organization that has brought her to Estevan to work as an artist-in-residence.
She was in Estevan for the first time last year to meet with people and get a sense of the community. Then she came back in June to line up her projects.
Michails returned to Estevan last week. The city has made a good first impression, outside of the smoke that filled the area during her second day in the city due to the forest fires elsewhere in Western Canada.
“The people are super friendly here,” said Michails. “And they’re open and wanting to do stuff. I haven’t met a lot of people. My orbit right now is the library and the two museums.”
Michails will be in Estevan until the end of October or early November. Then she will be back in the city in the spring for follow-up projects, either with the same people or new community members.
“And then I’ll come back the following year to put the show on (at the EAGM),” said Michails. “So I estimate it will be six months over time.”
But it will be the works created in the community this year and next spring that will ultimately determine how much time she needs to spend in the community.
