New Winter
Frost is an underrated aspect of winter.
Feeling Alive in 2025
I often debate whether I want to create resolutions because as many people feel, it can seem like it’s setting one up for failure. However, I do find I need to “name” my focus or objectives in life otherwise I find myself feeling a bit lost.
So, I’m doing it but I’m going to hard to stay away from overly quantitative goals and I also want to zero in on a few goals based simply on feeling joy:
GARDENING: A classic middle aged hobby and goal but one that I’ve ebbed and flowed on since I was in my late 20s. When I was 28, I lived in an apartment on Kingsway that had a rooftop patio. It was an old 1980s building with careless landlords who did not mind the amount of stuff we piled on the tarmats up top. I grew honeysuckle, zucchini, tomato’s and beans. The beans failed to make an appearance that year but I did quite well with the other vegetables/greenery. Later, I moved to an apt with a smaller balcony and used hanging baskets to grow flowers and herbs. It was north facing so didn’t receive as much sun as I would have liked. But I still like to think I had the most colourful balcony on an alley-facing unit in East Vancouver. These past years, I’ve had more space to work with and I’ve motivated my partner to take an interest in growing things. So in addition to researching some shrubs, we will be growing a box garden with mainly food related plants. I cannot wait. I also have bulbs that I rush-buried in late November so I’m looking forward to them making their debut in a month or two.
NON-SCREEN ACTIVITIES: Due to having a young kid during the COVID era, we have only recently emerged from our burrow and are slowly disconnecting from our movies/streaming/tablet use. I also use my tablet to draw and while i greatly enjoy it as a tool, i miss using real art supplies. I miss painting with brushes and paints and muddy water. I feel like this goal also captures a lot of things I’d like to do this year including: biking, lino-cut carving, beading, puzzles, going on hikes, tent-camping, reading, going to comedy shows, etc.
MOVE IT: I would like to achieve a daily average of 10,000 which means more gym visits, more walks, more physical movement in general.
HOSTING & BUILDING COMMUNITY: for the last few years, we’ve had one foot out of the door in regards to staying in Vancouver. But this past August we have decided we are staying put and will try and build a better social community. In my 30s, I was regularly hosting parties and gatherings. This includes karaoke nights, reality show watchings, macaroni and cheese buffet, potluck taco nights, Xmas gift exchanges, as well as countless other dinners and random get-togethers. Since we’ve moved to our current home, I haven’t really hosted get-togethers at all. I’ve been so busy with working to make extra money for childcare, in a very expensive city, and adjusting to life as a parent. But these days, I feel like I am ready to make more time for living life and putting more love and energy into friendships. I have a bit of hermit-anxiety from these last few years but I’m ready to dust it off.
Anyways, that’s pretty much what I’m going to aim for. Life starts to speed up as you get older. I am determined to slow things down as best as I can.
Reflection | Orange Shirt Day Sept 30th
The big call to action that I think Orange Shirt Day deserves is the need for non-Indigenous people to show up for events and experiences that encourage learning and connection regarding the impact of residential schools.
Before September 30th became a statutory holiday, Indigenous people and allies showed their support, compassion and grief for residential school survivors by donning an orange shirt in the workplace, in the classroom, and in various public spaces — There was a feeling of solidarity and a commitment to change shared between diverse groups of people in these regulated spaces. It was an intentional visual disruption that happened simply by folks wearing highlighter orange in the familiar spaces we inhabit.
In some ways, the stat holiday has diluted the cause. It scatters people from places where they have increased influence of change (like classrooms or workplaces with people you are peers with). It allows the Prime Minister to go on a surfing holiday in Tofino. It allows people to opt-in or opt-out depending on their interest-level. Sometimes I wonder how the stat holiday has pacified a needed tension of representation regarding residential schools but also Indigenous injustice overall.
I think it’s crucial for non-Indigenous people to reflect on their involvement, or their ambivalence, regarding Orange Shirt Day. And I think it’s okay to feel uncomfortable about your positionality about it as a non-Indigenous person. That friction is so needed, it’s what the whole day is about. Overcoming those feelings to show up in whatever way you can.
As Patrick Wolf has said, settler-colonialism is a “structure not an event”. It is not a time, date or place you can memorize in a history book. No, it is a structure that wears many faces. Learning to recognize this structure allows people to call-it out when it appears in different places or as a twisted adaptation of its original format.
Orange Shirt Day isn’t simply an acknowledgment of residential schools as a historical passage of time. It directly relates to current issues such as the ongoing impacts on Indigenous child welfare in foster care systems; the ongoing violence and murders of MMIWG2S+; grief and trauma recovery; incarcerated survivors who require multi-faceted support; and, the need for harm reduction services and health care models for people coping with addictions. There is a need to recognize how residential schools is a formula that is being re-used and adapted to continue the harm and elimination of Indigenous people.
If settler-colonialism is a structure and not an event, then the question that I ask my non-Indigenous friends is: Are you living peacefully in that “house” today? Are you content under the roof of this structure?
Or are you part of the effort to deconstruct that house to build something else? Do you take the time to acknowledge that not everyone lives safely under that roof? And if so, what do you plan to do about it?
My deepest love for all of the lost children. For all survivors. Especially my mother, aunties, and uncles.
August 2024 | Time Flies
It’s been a long time since I last posted an update!
This summer has been a whirlwind. I’ve had a great time playing rec fastball with the East Van Crows which is a team in Mabel League. I dusted off my cleats and cleaned the cobwebs off my glove and spent most weekends playing outfield, second base and pretending to bunt in order to get on base. I even landed myself in a hotbox between second and third during finals (don’t worry, y’all, the ump called me safe).
My family was also up in Tletinqox territory attending a culture camp in July. It was a really nice time visiting family and checking out the medicine garden that my cousin Trevor has been working on. I hope to get back home again soon. Additionally, there’s been a landslide that’s deeply impacted the river and the salmon returning so please send good thoughts to our salmon kin who are desperately trying to reach home to spawn.
I’m starting a new project with Groundwood Books! They are a joy to work with and I’m excited about where the illustrations are headed.
I’m starting a project with Orca Books, a book that I signed a contract for back in 2024. The author is just so incredible and it’s been so nice to connect via Instagram. We are both elated for how this project is going to shape up and I’m going to get to depict some coastal scenes which I’m really excited about.
I’m signing another contract with Orca Books for a project I won’t say too much about…although it’s an author who created a baby board book a few years back and I have lovingly read this story to my kiddo since she was born. So I’m excited about that project as well.
Chirp Magazine has invited me on for a few spot illustrations in their upcoming magazines which will be published in October, November and December.
Finally, I’m still working on a comic project for a grant that I received from First Peoples’ Culture Council. It’s a labour of love and I’m so excited to see how this story will be presented in pictures.
That’s all for now, take care!
Archives | illustrations from 2008
I came across these drawings that I made 16 years ago! Thought I’d share them here. The last image was published in One Cool Word magazine, a local magazine in Vancouver that no longer exists.
Interviews | Artist Q&A’s
Thank you so much to Vancouver Magazine and to My Entertainment World for these recent interviews!
Vancouver Magazine: Karlene Harvey Celebrates Indigenous Joy in Their Brightly Illustrated Children’s Books
My Entertainment World: Spotlight Series: Karlene Harvey
It was really wonderful to talk about my artistic process and to share what my goals/intentions are with illustrating stories.
(Image: From Kaiah’s Garden)
New Book | Kaiah’s Garden
Exciting news! Kaiah’s Garden is officially released by Scholastic this month! I put so much love and care into this beautiful story about honouring the memory of our family members through beadwork and growth. I cannot wait for people to see it! Click here to learn more.
Update | graphic novel project
I am so pleased to be a recipient of a grant that will allow me to work on a graphic novel project based on Tsilhqot’in identity, family healing, and basket weaving.
Short Description:
The objective of my project is to produce a graphic novel based on a story of a Tsilhqot'in youth learning their ties to culture and language. The exploration of their identity allows them to understand that who they are is tethered to their family and their ancestors, they are woven into the fabric of the Tsilhqot'in community and therefore, their existence is empowered and made stronger by the connections they maintain with family, kin and fellow community members.
I wanted to share some recent research and reading that I’ve been doing for my project.
Overview:
I’ve selected a few articles that allow me to refresh my knowledge on comic basics. Years ago, I was well read on theoretical works relating to comics but it’s been a while and I felt it was needed to read up on some aspects of creating a compelling comic narrative. I also looked into some works relating to autobiography, because even though the work that I produce will be fictional, there will be elements of my life (or my family’s lives) woven into the narrative. A lot of works relating to BIPOC creators of comics or autobiographical stories discuss the nature of trauma appearing in their narratives and I am reading about it to be self aware of current themes that exist. But I also want to strategically ensure my story focuses on joy and resurgence because sometimes I think Indigenous trauma is a highly consumed (preferred?) narrative by non-Indigenous readers and audiences which is super problematic. When reviewing my original research scan, I specifically sought out articles that talked about joy and resurgence. These works are new to me (and extend beyond works written by Lisa Betasamoke Simpson, Sarah Hunt, and Eve Tuck which I read frequently during my Master’s) so I’m really excited to get into that.
For comics, I do have a lot of existing books that I will reference but I thought I would add a few more recent ones. I read Ducks by Kate Beaton in November and it reminded me of my love for web comics in the late 2000s. There was a number of artists/writers who were able to convey complex themes through simple drawings and whatnot. Due to the time constraint of this project, I imagine I will approach this project in a similar way. I don’t think this diminishes that final work, instead it offers an approachability to the subject matter. It will also help me from becoming too much of a perfectionist which has caused me to not begin graphic novel projects in the past because they feel too overwhelming.
I’m already very excited about this project and I’m feeling really motivated for the story writing phase of this project. I’ll post another update in the Spring!
Theoretical Works:
Baetens, J., & Frey, H. (2014). Understanding Panel and Page Layouts. The Graphic Novel: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (103-133).
Baetens, J., & Frey, H. (2014). The Graphic Novel as a Specific Form of Storytelling. The Graphic Novel: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (162-187).
Boon, S. (2023). The Routledge introduction to auto/biography in Canada. Routledge.
Knowles, S. (n.d.). The Postcolonial Graphic Novel and Trauma: From Maus to Malta. In A. Ward (Ed.), Postcolonial Traumas : Memory, Narrative, Resistance (2015, pp. 83–96).
Marshall, Emily Zobel. Harlem Tricksters: Cheating the Cycle of Trauma in the Fiction of Ralph Ellison and Nella Larsen. In A. Ward (Ed.), Postcolonial Traumas : Memory, Narrative, Resistance (pp. 83–96).
Reder, D. (2022). Autobiography as Indigenous intellectual tradition: Cree and Métis âcimisowina. Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
To Read:
Callison, C., Rifkind, C., Sinclair, N. J., Ballantyne, S., Odjick, J., Daigneault, T., & Mazowita, A. (2019). Introduction: 'indigenous comics and graphic novels: An annotated bibliography'. Jeunesse, Young People, Texts, Cultures, 11(1), 139-155
Emberley, Julia V. Part 1: ‘A Witnessing Love’: Testimony in Indigenous Storytelling. The Testimonial Uncanny : Indigenous Storytelling, Knowledge, and Reparative Practices, State University of New York Press, 2014.
Hatfield, C. (2005). A Broader Canvas: Gilbert Hernandez’s Heartbreak Soup. Alternative comics : an emerging literature. University Press of Mississippi.
Hatfield, C. (2005). “I Made That Whole Thing Up!” The problem of authenticity in Autobiographical Comics. Alternative comics : an emerging literature. University Press of Mississippi.
Henzi, S. (2016). “A necessary antidote”: Graphic novels, comics, and indigenous writing. Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, 43(1), 23-38.
McCall, S. (2022). Teaching indigenous graphic novels: English / indigenous studies 360. Studies in American Indian Literatures, 34(1), 92-111.
Romero-Jódar, A. (2017). The Trauma Graphic Novel. Routledge.
Sidogi, P. (2021). Multi-histories: Creative and narrative plurality in graphic novels exploring indigenous histories. Junctures : The Journal for Thematic Dialogue, (22), 69-79. https://doi.org/10.34074/junc.22069
Graphic Novels:
Akiwenzie-Damm, K., Assu, S., Mitchell, B., Qitsualik-Tinsley, R., Qitsualik-Tinsley, S., Robertson, D. A., Sinclair, N. J., Van, C. R., & Vermette, K. (2019). This place : 150 years retold. Portage & Main Press.
Beaton, K. (2022). Ducks : Two years in the oil sands. Drawn & Quarterly.
Spillett-Sumner, T., Donovan, N., & ProQuest (Firm). (2018). Surviving the city. HighWater Press.
Tamaki, Mariko and Jillian (2023). Roaming. Drawn & Quarterly.
The following image is from Kate Beaton’s Ducks.
Article: Indigenous artist teams with Orange Shirt Day founder for new children’s book
Illustrator Karlene Harvey and author and founder of Orange Shirt Society Phyllis Webstad both have voices you could imagine quietly reading a child a bedtime story.
Harvey has a sweet, kind voice over the phone, while Webstad’s soft-spoken manner sounds wise and gentle.
It seems appropriate they both sound so well-suited to reading children’s stories, because the two women worked together to create a new children’s book titled Every Child Matters.
UBC Arts: Staff Feature
New Book | Maggie Lou, Firefox
I was so delighted to receive a shipment of Maggie Lou, Firefox! This wonderful story is about a tenacious, persistent and rebellious young kid named Maggie Lou. I absolutely love this character and it was such a pleasure to bring her spirit to life. Find this youth reader at your local bookstore or library!
Special thanks to Groundwood books for inviting me to be a part of it.
New Book | Every Child Matters
Hi folks! Every Child Matters is a book that I illustrated and it’s available for purchase! Check out your local publisher to order a copy or buy it directly from the Medicine Wheel Publishing website.
August: Family Times
During the last week of July, we hit the road to visit family! We loaded up our tiny hatchback and headed to the interior. It was a blur of a week but it was so great to see Izzy visit with her cousins. Until next time…
Summer 2023: Mosswood Meltdown
At the end of June, I flew to Oakland, California for the Mosswood Meltdown music festival hosted by John Waters. It was a whirlwind trip and the first time that I’ve flown out of the country in years! I met up with my friend Heather and her coworkers at Vancouver’s Happy Cat store.
This festival had the band Le Tigre headlining, a band that I absolutely loved as as a teenager. The lineup included Bratmobile (reunion show!) and Gravy Train!!! Plus a number of other bands that I wasn’t totally familiar with. It felt like a blast from the past, listening to songs that I used to play in my car while driving around as a teenager.
The festival was outdoors and was a lot bigger than I thought it would be! There were two stages, one main stage and a smaller one nearby that had a concrete amphitheater set up, which helped ensure that everyone standing in the crowd had a great vantage point. The first thing I noticed when arriving at the festival was how everyone was dressed incredibly fashionable. It made my heart sing! Fluorescent yellow hair, Bettie Paige bangs and angular bob cuts; doc marten boots, pastel sneakers, platform sandals; pencil skirts paired with band tees, wild, patterned dresses, glittery and iridescent accessories; bright red lipstick, winged eyeliner, gemstones dotting foreheads and cheeks, bright eyeshadow; tattooed legs and arms, pierced lips and noses. I wanted to take photos of everyone that I saw to use as references for my drawings!
I also saw so many people dressed the way that I used to as a 20-year old. There was a particular riot grrrl style that I loved which paired 1950s-60s silhouettes with a punk aesthetic. Ringer tees with pearl buttoned cardigans adorned with one inch buttons that hinted at indie bands or subculture slogans. Fishnets under shorts or miniskirts, mod A-line dresses and bee hive hair-dos. Red lipstick that screamed a signal for feminist rhetoric. I became so nostalgic while walking through the crowd.
The festival happened over two days total and it was bright and sunny and hot for the entire weekend. We found shady spots throughout the day and were happy to nurse a beer while watching the stage from afar. In my 20s, I would have been bruising my knees and shins from standing against the gate that held the crowd back from the stage.
By the end of the festival, I was spent and it felt good to go home. But I definitely will consider coming back to this festival in the future, maybe not next year but soon. And I will absolutely be there if Beth Ditto decides to perform there with the Gossip.
May Flowers: VANCAF
Earlier this Sunday, I spoke on an artists’ panel at VANCAF! It’s been a year since I contributed work to Salmon Run and Cole Pauls facilitated a chat with a number of us. It was such a pleasure to see some of the other artists again and to be able to chat with some folks that really loved the anthology.
I really love how Cole decided to print it as a newspaper. And that it was free. It makes the distribution of it feel so wonderful and joyful and exciting. It reminds me of how print media used to be circulated in the 90s and 2000s.
I had a few people ask me about my work and it is so rare where I get to meet people. One was a younger kid with her parents and that felt truly special to me. I let them know to check my website for updates on my upcoming publications and if they happen to read this post, please know y’all made my day. Sechanalyagh (thank you).
I’m also deeply appreciative of my friend Maritza coming to the talk and asking such a great question to all of the artists. She is an incredible 3-D sculpture artist and she talks a lot about Indigenous artistry in her field. I think it’s an important conversation and it’s such a pleasure to take time to examine the intersections of Indigenous artists working in similar but very unique creative environments.
Anyways, I’m very thankful for where my illustration career has taken me. I’ve been working quite hard to break into children’s book publishing and I believe that I’ve been quite successful with getting my name out there. And I also believe it’s the right time in my life to be able to take on this work. I have been reflecting a lot on how life takes you certain places, it’s partially based on your work ethic but at a certain point it’s also based on reputation and the good energy you put into the world.
Just a wonderful reminder to always work on your creative passions. Keep trying harder, don’t give up, just make things you love and keep at it even when it gets hard. The practice of creative expression isn’t always easy but if you keep at it, you see growth.
Keep gardening and growing, friends.
April: When it pours
There was the time I was walking down 1st ave between Commercial Drive and Clark street and the leaves were falling. They gleamed like tattered gold foil against the blue grey sky. It was mid October.
1st ave is a commuter street. A passage from the highway to downtown. It is noisy and busy and all of the cars drive too fast.
My friend used to live in a walk up apartment that faced 1st ave. Rooms joined in a circle. Living room to bedroom to kitchen. I went over to feed her cat once and we sat on her couch and watched a movie. It was raining that day and the movie was sad. The continuous hum of traffic permeated every quiet scene, every pause and glance.
When I first met my partner, we once heard a dog barking but it sounded like a chicken. I made fake posters that asked “Has Anyone Seen Dog-Chicken?”. There were pull-tabs on the bottom of the poster that would normally share a phone number or email. Instead, you could pull a small drawing of dog-chicken. I remember taping a poster along the bike path that crossed 1st ave. Out of all of the posters I created, this one was the most popular. All of the tabs were gone within two days.
Once we went to a Halloween house party along 1st ave, it was at someone’s house we didn’t know. Everyone in the backyard was quietly sipped beer, a vampire talked to a hamburgler who was looking at their phone. A couple of power rangers smoked cigarettes near the alley. We walked up the wooden stairwell to the third floor and started dancing in an empty living room. The room slowly filled with people until there was almost no where to stand. My partner boosted me on to the mantle of the fireplace and I held the ceiling for balance, laughing hysterically. I was a ghost in a bedsheet. I wasn’t wearing socks.
On that day in mid-October, I remember thinking how beautiful those leaves were. It was the kind of moment that they try to recreate in movies, that animators spend hundreds of hours trying to capture. A photo couldn’t replicate the wind that looped its way around every limb and branch.
My friend moved out of the city and the apartment she lived in burned down a handful of months later. The lot sat empty for a while but it eventually sold. It will be a duplex in a year from now.
My bike is creaky and needs some oil. Dust has gathered on its seat. Cobwebs stretch between each spoke.
I don’t hear about Halloween house parties anymore. The last one I went to was years ago and everyone was high on coke. I retreated to the kitchen and had a funny conversation with someone who talked too fast.
Everything changes and that’s fine. But sometimes I’m on the look out for those beautiful little moments. The ones I can accidentally drive by while tuning out to a podcast. The scenes I miss while scrolling on my phone during transit. The leaves falling like golden confetti while I stay inside all day instead.
Poem | Yeqox
When you were born,
we wondered if you would become
a swimmer,
a runner,
a dancer,
or something else entirely.
Someone who could skate
across frozen rivers and lakes,
Someone who could dipnet the stars
with the ancestors,
Someone who could sing their songs…
And call back their great grandparents’ memories like a sunrise.
Someone who’s words and stories
could talk to spirits.
When you were born, we got stronger,
We laughed harder and poured our tears and sweat back into the earth.
We heard the river call your name
We felt the fire crackle in delight
I saw my grandpa’s ghost and he said to you, welcome back.
(A poem that I wrote a few months ago.)
September update: Ought ‘em
I’m excited to share that “Drum from the Heart” is one of the top 15 best-selling books in British Columbia! Our book landed at #12. I was chatting with the author Ren and we are both so elated and thankful for all of the support for this publication. As I’ve said in the past, it was an absolute pleasure illustrating this story because it’s filled with love and has such a powerful message for Indigenous youth. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, check out your local bookstore or you can order it from Indigo Chapters. If you’re located in Vancouver, the toy store named Dilly Dally and Irondog Books have several copies available! I always recommend supporting local retailers when you can. :)
Here’s the link to the article.
This September has been incredibly busy for me and my family. I am currently working on another publication with Medicine Wheel Education, I look forward to sharing more details when I can! Also, I’m working on a picture book with Kids Can Press which is very exciting! The team has been incredible to work with so far and I cannot wait to get to the painting stage of this project because these images are going to be brimming with colour!
Also, I recently produced an image for Sweet Potato magazine. Check out the article here.
I’m riding the cool breeze of September aided by that back-to-school momentum to help fuel the inspiration for my recent projects. I’m also looking forward to spending more time cooking this Fall, we typically try not to use the stove or oven in the summer because it heated up our space so much. And it was a really hot summer! So now that the weather is cooling off, I’ve started making a few batches of soup and roasting root vegetables. This is my favourite time of year and I am really looking forward to October.
Take care and keep well. And buy a squash this week, cuz why not?
My thesis
My thesis on Eden Robinson’s Trickster Trilogy has been officially published! You can find it here.
