by Lisa Hamilton
It is fitting that two artists whose work features the seasonal shifting of nature’s elemental beauty wrapped up the creative season at McLoughlin Gardens, tucking in the studio residency program for the winter.
Ester Strijbos is a ceramicist originally from the Netherlands. Janny Thompson is a mixed-media printmaker. The two artists landed in Victoria via Cortes Island, with Janny herself a fourth-generation Cortes Islander. Together, the two artists collaborate and spark innovation from one another: a natural motif in Janny’s monoprint may move Esther to include the design in her ceramics and vice versa. They intentionally include one another’s creative vision and explore how this vision shapes their unique expression. The wild landscape significantly influences both artists’ work, so it is no wonder McLoughlin Gardens served as their muse during their stay there.
Ester and Janny’s residency was the last one until 2025, and the timing could not have been more perfect. They arrived just as the full Hunter’s moon began waning, yet still rising gloriously from beyond the Salish Sea and coastal mountain ranges—the McLoughlin cottage’s eastern view. The artists’ thematic collaborative project for a show in the new year happens to be the moon and her tides. During their residency, Ester sketched, painted, and wrote in her mixed-media art journal, collecting the ideas soon to be pressed into clay. Janny worked on elegant, framed collages of lunar crescents and tidal charts.
“Our focus is moon and tides, and we could not have been luckier in arriving at this beautiful spot when the moon comes up over the mountain and beams light over the water at night, spilling moonlight into the windows. The gardens and the wildlife are so amazing, the cottage feels so welcoming and is gorgeous with all the sunlight coming in from every window at a different time of the day,” says Ester.
An artist’s workspace, with a view of the shore and the sea
Ester and Janny expressed gratitude for the opportunity to be afforded the gift of time and creative collaboration at McLoughlin Gardens. I was grateful to be so warmly welcomed into their creative space and witness the magic of their beautiful, artistic partnership.
“It takes a lot of time to develop collaborative work, and it is an amazing experience to be here together. We work for a few hours on our own and then get together and talk about what we are working on. Then, we inspire each other to take some of those ideas and incorporate them into our own work. We have been able to do a lot of that this week and we could not have done this at home or separately.”
I lingered at the water’s edge before I left. Ester and Janny were also on the beach, gazing out to sea.
“I’m so glad you had a chance to see the sea lion!” Ester called to me, waving. Thank you, Ester and Janny, for letting me peek behind the curtain on your creative processes after a reverential autumn walk around McLoughlin Gardens.