We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Geraldine Ysselstein. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Geraldine below.

Alright, Geraldine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

It has been almost two years since I began my artistic career and I wish I had started earlier! While I have always been involved in the arts, it is only now in my early 40s that I feel brave enough to explore, express, and share my emerging artistic practice. I think that I always knew that someday I would begin exploring an artistic career, but I have hesitated for a long time. Questions kept bubbling up for me like what kind of artist do I want to be, what medium do I want to use, what ideas do I want to share, where can I have space to create, how can I afford to be an artist, can I be a self-taught artist, how do I have time to be an artist and a mom, do I need to get a degree, does the world need another artist, and how can I be aware and respectful of the materials I use and its impact on the land, sky, and water?

I’m not sure that I understood I was starting an artistic career almost two years ago. At first, I began with writing my memoir including my relationship to water which felt very grounding for me. Then I applied and was accepted into the 2023 Santa Rosa Arts and Healing (https://www.santarosaarts.com) Agua Viva water residency in Christina Lake, BC. We were invited to bring a piece of art during the residency for an exhibit at the Grand Forks Art Gallery and I decided to do a weaving of water and share a poem about my grandparents immigrating from the Netherlands to Canada. It was the first time I had ever done a weaving, but I knew I wanted to keep doing it. Over the 2023-2024 year, I have also been part of the TD Incubator at Arts Commons (https://www.artscommons.ca/learn-and-engage/connects/td-incubator), the RBC emerging visual artists program at Arts Commons (https://www.artscommons.ca/learn-and-engage/connects/rbc-emerging-artist-program), and the Contextural Self-Directed Summer Residency Program (https://contextural.ca/residency/) in Calgary, AB. It is through these residencies and programs, that I have found communities of artists who have been very nurturing and encouraging as I develop my own artistic practice.

Perhaps I wasn’t meant to start my artistic practice until now, but I’m curious if I had started earlier if I would feel more confident in the alignment between my skills and my voice. I feel like I have so much I want to express through my artistic practice, but I’m just at the very beginning in developing my artistic skills and techniques. I wonder too if I had started my artistic practice earlier if that would have relieved some angst about not feeling understood. As an artist, I can use a creative medium to express a new idea that is difficult to express with words, I can bring an uncomfortable conversation forward with generosity and humility, I can communicate from multiple perspectives, I can use my senses to explore what I am feeling, and I can hold tension between multiple truths. Having an artistic practice feels like a bridge to what is possible.

Geraldine , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Geraldine Ysselstein (she/her) and I am an artist, facilitator, collaborator, and consultant living in Alberta, Canada. I was born in the Netherlands, which is in the lowlands of Europe and in the early years of my life, I lived in Bangladesh. When I was almost 5 years old, I officially moved to Canada and grew up near the Speed River in Guelph, Ontario. Guelph is situated on the ancestral homelands of the Anishinaabek Peoples, specifically the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Currently, I live in Mohkinstsis which is the Blackfoot name for Calgary where the Bow River meets the Elbow River in Treaty 7 Territory. The Treaty 7 Territory is the traditional land of the Niitsitapi from the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Îyârhe Nakoda, the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and it is home to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta Districts 5 and 6 and all those who identify as immigrants, newcomers, settlers, and guests to this land.

I grew up in a very creative family with my mom being a full-time visual artist and my dad composing music on the side. As a family, we planned and hosted classical, folk, and jazz concerts and an art gallery in our one-room schoolhouse in Ontario for 11 years. It was a unique upbringing, but rather than become an artist, my interest was piqued in supporting the careers of other artists. This would eventually lead me to pursue education and work as an arts manager/educator. Over the last 17 years, I have worked at a number of different arts organizations in Alberta and Ontario including the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Wilder & Davis Luthiers, Big Boreal Adventure, Willow Springs Creative Centre, Calgary Civic Symphony, and the Rozsa Foundation.

Having parents as artists and then working as an arts manager, I began to realize in 2022 that I have spent my entire life supporting, celebrating, championing, encouraging, connecting, and translating the work of artists into the community. While I love doing that work and will continue to do it, I also felt exhausted advocating for artists in structures and systems that don’t necessarily align or support their work. I decided that I needed to take a break and interestingly turned to art to process big thoughts, emotions, and ideas. At first, I started to explore writing, then tapestry weaving, and more recently soundscaping to find and express my voice. As a self-taught artist, I am using art as a way to uncover the fabric of structures and systems and what that means for me, I am using art as a way to reconnect with the natural world, and I am using art as a way to slow down in the very hyper and disconnected world we live in. Having an artistic practice also supports me in my facilitation, collaboration, and consulting work where my purpose is to encourage systems change through cultivating collective care, curiosity, and creativity.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Having an artistic practice allows me to pause, to ask unconventional questions, to imagine, to experiment, to express myself in different mediums, to connect with others, and to find clarity and joy in life. As an artist, I have the opportunity to learn about different artistic processes, techniques, and tools and then use this knowledge and experience to share a question, thought, or an idea through different senses. This both challenges and excites me.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I believe that society can best support artists, creatives, and a thriving creative ecosystem by taking an interest, showing up, engaging in dialogue, and investing in artists and creatives. In a world that feels both beautiful and harsh, artists have a lot to share about different ways of being, connecting, and sharing. I believe that by imagining with artists, we can acknowledge and transform ourselves. Additionally, my hope as an artist is to invite everyone to engage in their own unique artistic and creative practices so that they can connect more deeply with themselves and the world around them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.riverstonecreating.ca
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riverstonecreating/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geraldineysselstein/

Image Credits

1. Samuel Obadero of Motif Photography
2. Cheryl Foggo
3. Aaron Woolner