There are many extraordinary things about living on Gabriola Island, affectionately known as the Isle of the Arts.
For me, this place truly feels like home. I moved here during the pandemic, seeking a landscape where nature, community, and creativity could coexist in a meaningful way. Gabriola offered exactly that—beautiful beaches for hiking, the ocean always nearby, and an incredibly vibrant community of artists.
Sometimes, though, the island offers even more than you could think to ask for.
Kasahara Gabriola Trust Artist Residency
A few years ago, I learned about the Kasahara Gabriola Trust Artist Residency, hosted by the Gabriola Arts Council. The program welcomes artists from around the world to live and work on Gabriola Island, sharing their creative practices and ideas with the community while developing their own work in a quiet and inspiring setting. You can learn more about the residency at the Gabriola Arts Council.
Last year, I had the honour of joining the residency committee as a volunteer. What struck me most was the extraordinary generosity behind the program. Many members of the committee offer their time simply because they believe in the importance of supporting artists and cultural exchange.
Artists are welcomed with a small gathering when they arrive, and during their stay they share their work with the community through workshops, talks, and an exhibition at the Gabriola Arts & Heritage Centre.
The Legacy Behind the Residency
The residency exists because of the remarkable vision of Toshiko Kasahara.
More than fifty years ago, Toshiko came to Gabriola Island almost by accident. She later built a beautiful oceanfront home here at the age of eighty. She loved the island deeply—the ocean, the people, and especially the arts.
Her spirit was adventurous and bold. She loved music, conversation, and connection. The home she built now serves as the Kasahara House, where visiting artists stay during their residency.
Today, her gift continues to bring creative voices from around the world to Gabriola, enriching the island’s artistic community.
Current Artist in Residence: Micah Goldstein
Visiting from Montreal, Micah W. Goldstein is the current artist in residence.
Micah’s interdisciplinary practice explores the intersection of printmaking, animation, memory, and place. Her work often focuses on intimate, reflective moments—hands interacting with objects, feet touching the ground, or the quiet awareness of moving through a space.
By placing the viewer very close to the subject, she transforms even small objects into entire worlds.
Her artistic process is deeply tactile and meditative. Micah experiments with ways of recreating digital effects through entirely analogue techniques—using tracing paper, lightboxes, layered transparencies, and shadow shapes to mimic movements such as pans or crossfades.
These ritualistic methods emphasize the act of making. Through layering, repetition, and careful attention to process, she builds dense visual environments that invite viewers to slow down and experience a moment of presence — what she describes as the feeling of being “here”.
Micah also recently shared the creative process behind one of her short films during an artist talk on Gabriola Island. The film has so far been shown in Ontario and Montreal through a student festival, and she continues submitting it to festivals internationally.
Her ability to explain both the conceptual and technical aspects of her work was incredibly illuminating—particularly for those of us without a background in film or animation.
Workshop with the Gabriola Community
