art teacher, but when that fell through, I was asked to consider the Station Arts Centre instead.” For a kid who grew up loving nothing more than drawing and painting, finding out her hometown had a facility dedicated to art was life changing. “I was always a bit of different growing up,” she says. “I was one of those kids who was never really into academics or sports.” Truth be told, the only class Tabitha really enjoyed at school was art. “Let’s just say I never had an issue turning in my art homework,” she says with a sheepish grin. As a co-op student at the Station, Tabitha’s eyes were opened to a whole world of creative pursuits—from pottery to painting, and everything in between. She began to see the potential of art as a career, and not just a hobby. As graduation approached, her guidance counsellor, Scott Gooding, encouraged her to follow her heart. “He said if art was what I was passionate about, then I should pursue it so I took his advice and applied to the Fine Arts diploma program at Fanshawe College,” she says. Over the next three years, Tabitha explored a variety of different mediums and disciplines including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and printmaking. “At one point my professor asked me if I’d ever considered oil painting,” she recalls. “He explained how the luminosity of oil paint was different than
acrylic, and how it allowed for more contrast between dark and light.” Tabitha agreed to give it a try. As promised, the new medium stretched her artistic horizons. “When I was finished my program at Fanshawe, I decided to apply to the bachelor of fine arts degree program at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (now NSCAD University),
where I majored in painting and minored in art history,” she says. At NSCAD, she began exploring ways to put more illumination in her pieces, including thinning the paint with linseed oil to make the layers of colour more prominent. The joy Tabitha felt while she was painting was palpable. “It’s like putting my soul on a canvas,” she confesses.
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