Tag Archives: Ann Mortifee

Arts

Ann Mortifee: A South African Pilgrimage

  Ann Mortifee was born in Zululand. While she’s been in Canada most of her life, the first 10 years were spent on a sugarcane farm where she was surrounded by the Zulu and Xhosa peoples.

“My grandfather had been in Africa during the Boer War. He had stayed on and had become a farmer.  It was in KwaZulu, then called Zululand and I felt I owed a debt on behalf of our family,” she explained.  

“Apartheid was a terrible thing. In fact that’s why my father left South Africa.” 

The family moved to Vancouver, but Ann still felt connected to the land of her birth. 

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Arts

Kim Paulley (part 2): George Sirk, Cortes Island and the rebirth of her career

Part 2 of a 2 part interview, click here for part 1. 

Her singing career appeared to be a thing of the past, when Kim Paulley came to Cortes Island in 1992. The release of ‘Straight From The Heart’ had been promising, but she turned to Classical music. While there had been ‘fantastic’ moments between 1985-90, there was also the toil of auditions (and sometimes not getting the part). Her career was on hold when a friend  recommended the retreats at Hollyhock, where George Sirk was a naturalist guide.

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Arts

Looking at Art in a group show

It is usual to look at one artist’s work hanging in a gallery. It may be more complicated to look at 20 artists displaying more than 30 pieces on the walls in almost every media used to create art.

Here are some ways I enjoy looking at art in a group show.

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Arts

Ann Mortifee part 2: A 3 year pilgrimage & return

Ann Mortifee seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough few artists even dream of, when she left the music industry in 1975. EMI Records had just produced her second album and set up a world tour. 

Yet Ann’s inner voice clearly stated, “if you go down this path, you will not fulfill your destiny.”

She resisted at first, but finally told her music director, “I’m leaving music, and I’m going on a pilgrimage.”

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Arts

Ann Mortifee: ‘Dreaming I am Ann’

Ann Mortifee is probably the most famous musician on Cortes Island, which is more of a compliment than it sounds like because there are a lot of talented musicians on Cortes. However from the start of our interview, it was apparent this story was about a lot more than singing. I had this bizarre feeling to lead with the question, ‘When did you start becoming Ann Mortifee?’ 

Her answer came out of the memories of a 4-years-old girl.

AM:  “It happened maybe a hundred times in my childhood. I had the same dream. I’d be standing somewhere looking into a bedroom and there’d be someone lying in the bed. I’d go, ‘Oh no, I’m starting to dream of her again.’ Then I would get this anxious feeling, ‘I’m going to get stuck there in the dream and I’m going to believe it’s real.’ This dream gets more and more upsetting to me. I can feel myself starting to fall asleep and that I’m in a dream.” 

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