Liminality is a quality of being in between two places or stages, on the verge of transitioning to something new. Liminal spaces are the uncertain transitions between where you’ve been and where you’re going physically, emotionally, metaphorically. To be in a liminal space means to be on the precipice of something new but not quite there yet.”
Join us for the opening of Danette’s first gallery show in Wells on Thursday April 10th at 6:00 PM!
IMA’s Gallery programming is supported by the Province of BC. Liminal is presented in Partnership with the Wells-Barkerville Community Forest - We thank them for their support!
So much of life is spent in a state of being in between.
I’ve always been fascinated by transitions – transitions in light, mood, space, weather, seasons, life stages.
I work and live in, and between, two deeply interconnected towns: Barkerville and Wells. Both my towns are largely anchored in the business of history, of honouring and maintaining and examining a specific moment in time. Yet, both are in a constant state of upheaval and often exist in an extended state of liminality - of being unsure of, excited for, and uneasy about, what comes next.
Wells is currently in the liminal moment before large, gold centred industry fully moves in; and Barkerville is in a liminal time of transition from a colonial monument to a site that reflects the greater experience of every person and place that was affected by the sudden and dramatic onset of a gold rush in the early 1860s. Both towns now constantly feel the threat and/or promise of change from commercial enterprise, wildfires, floods and societal shifts.
As I move through and between Barkerville and Wells I tend to linger in the liminal spaces. I notice the thresholds, the underbrush, the courtyards, the expanses of land and water and sky, and tiny pockets of nature. I am compelled by the parts that aren’t the focal points, but rather the things and spaces that surround them.
I take comfort in knowing that change is part of life. Even as we who live in the communities of Wells and Barkerville feel unease about our future, as we cling to the familiar, we understand that we exist in a dynamic landscape. We always have. We always will.
For the past 25 years, in both my visual art and theatre practice, I have been creating art that reflects the idea of liminal time and space, of capturing little fleeting moments in the “in betweens” of these places I call home.
Liminal: the spaces in between is a collection of pieces I have been making for the past 25 years. I have included work I made in the early 2000s when I was nearing the end of my first tenure in Barkerville and Wells, as well as more recent pieces I’ve made since I moved back to Wells in 2009, and pieces I made very recently, specifically for this show.
About the Artist
Danette is a Wells based visual artist, playwright, writer, actor and director. She first came to this area in 1993 when she was hired to play the role of Miss Florence Wilson in Barkerville as an historic street interpreter. For several season she split her time between Wells / Barkerville and Vancouver, but in 2001 she relocated from Vancouver to become a full-time Wells resident.
She left the Cariboo in 2004 to pursue other opportunities, which included completing her MA in Applied Theatre/Museum Theatre at the University of Victoria. Danette returned to Wells in 2009 with her six-month-old twin daughters and has been a full-time resident ever since. She has been a street interpreter in Barkerville for 22 seasons and part of the Theatre Royal cast for ten years. Since 2020 she has been an Artistic producer for Barkerville and the writer and director of the Theatre Royal show.
In 2023 Danette travelled to Spain to present a paper about Florence Wilson at the Women Staging and Restaging the Nineteenth Century Conference at the University of Valencia, and she is currently writing a book about museum theatre and its role in the decolonization of colonial era heritage museums. She has recently had the honour of exploring and claiming her Indigenous (Squamish) ancestry with her mentors and friends, Cheryl Chapman and Mike Retasket.
Danette is thrilled to be part of Island Mountain Arts’ 2025 season and is so excited to have this opportunity to present her first solo art show in a gallery that has been part of her life for 32 years. She is also grateful to live and work and to present this show on the unceded territory of the Lhtako Dene Nation, generously shared with Xatśūll First Nations.
“Many years ago, as a very young woman, I had to make a difficult decision between pursuing formal education in theatre or visual art. I ultimately chose theatre as my career, but over the decades I have continued to paint and draw. But, only a little bit, when I found the time. When I was approaching my fiftieth birthday I knew I wanted to dedicate so much more time to painting, to finally get back to this aspect of my life I’d neglected for far too long. I dug out my old brushes, turned half of my theatre studio in a painting studio, and bought a lot of new tubes of acrylic paint. I am now almost nine years into my rediscovery of visual art, and my work has appeared in several shows. I try to include painting time with all my other artistic pursuits and professional and personal obligations, which can be a challenge. I find so much pleasure in moving paint around on canvas.
My subject matter tends to be quite personal. I draw inspiration from the things that happen in my daily life, those moments when an unexpected flash of beauty presents itself in an otherwise normal day. In both my writing and my visual art I am deeply inspired and influenced by Wells and by Barkerville. It is a pleasure and a privilege to work and live in this endlessly inspiring place.”