Building worlds

Lisa Theriault’s dedication and commitment to the arts has been weaved throughout her entire life. She grew up in Charlottetown, PEI, with family roots in Nova Scotia, and has been exploring the world through art since childhood. She has worked at places like the Confederation Centre of the Arts and has presented her art throughout the Maritimes and in Quebec.  

“I remember drawing from my earliest memories. I’ve always loved to draw.” Recalling some early memories of her illustrations, Lisa told stories of learning to draw celebrity faces and how to copy shapes. “I would practice drawing faces for hours and hours.” 

Over time, Lisa’s art practice has shifted and grown into an exploration of relationship to place. “Drawing helps me to be present.” While her formative years in learning to draw included meticulous detail in human faces, Lisa’s contemporary art is often devoid of humans, inviting us into a world of possibilities beyond our current existence. 

Like many artists, Lisa is interested in exploring the world around her and expressing it through her creativity. “My primary focus is drawing.” With an interest in and concentration on world-building, Lisa is motivated by the process of building toward something. “I really love process and structure, and my process is a slow, detailed one.”

Lisa knew she wanted to study art from a young age, and she went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mount Allison University. During her time there, she studied and practiced everything from print making to animation. “It was really fun to explore different mediums while I was in school, and I always came back to drawing.”

When she finished her degree, she was faced with figuring out how to find work and be an artist, and to figure out whether those two were the same thing or not. Fortunately for her, she received an internship where she had the opportunity to curate for a gallery, putting her academic knowledge into action. “It was such an honour to have this curator role so early in my career.”

With her degree and a prestigious internship under her belt, Lisa moved to Montreal to work for an organization that supported artist-run centres across the country. “I learned so much through this work and I had the opportunity to attend many interesting and educational conferences and events across Canada.” Along with the artistic learning, Lisa was grateful to live in a place where she could immerse herself in the French language. “I am Acadian, but I didn’t grow up speaking French. It was nice to reconnect with the language in Montreal.”

During our conversation, Lisa lit up when she talked about the things she learned and people she met along the way. Her passion for place-based learning and integrations were evident in our conversation, as they are in her art. 

Lisa’s art practice starts with an in-depth research process, observing and learning from the world around her. “I like creating impossible worlds.” Part of Lisa’s world-building includes creating problems and possibilities through art. “Sometimes as artists, we create the problem we endeavor to solve.” This mentality serves her well in her role as Executive Director (ED) of This Town is Small. “I became the ED in 2020, at the height of the pandemic when everything was on pause.” Despite this challenging origin story, Lisa has grown the organization in many substantial ways in the four years since her arrival. 

As a fellow artist, I was especially keen to learn about the growth at This Town is Small by way of having a physical space at The Guild. “We have this beautiful collection of art books, space for artists, and of course, the gallery space.”

Working in the arts and in advocacy can feel heavy and hard, filled with gloom and doom. “I see all the challenges and I choose to think beyond them. I think big. I dream big.”

This propensity for thinking and dreaming big has served her well in her leadership role with This Town is Small. “The systems-level thinking allows us to really understand the challenges and opportunities and shows us how to do something new and interesting.” Lisa’s work and art continue to flourish under her care. 

“When it all feels like too much, I go back to what I love about art: creating impossible worlds.”