SAKURA NO SAKU MAE NI… (Before cherry blossoms bloom…)
Guest speaker/Artist: Linda Ohama
Event planner/Collaborating artist: Yoriko Gillard
Date: Sunday, Feb. 27th 2011
Time: 2:00 – 5:00 pm
Place: Dr. Simon K. Y. Lee Global Lounge and Resource Centre, UBC
Event type: Fundraising / Linda Ohama’s film screening & Artist talk
Entrance fee: $5
PROFILE: Since the early 1970’s, Linda has worked as an exhibiting visual artist, educator, and independent filmmaker. She was born and raised in Rainier, Alberta where her parents had a family potato farm. She is a third generation Canadian of Japanese ancestry (sansei) and has always been an active member of her cultural and arts communities, both locally and internationally. Presently, she continues directing films, lecturing, and working to help build ties between Japan and Canada through special programs with young people, including building sister high school relationships and the 2009 Chibi Taiko Vancouver-Onomichi project.
Linda graduated with degrees in arts (fine arts) and education and attended University of Calgary (Alberta), Banff School of Art, Bishop’s University (Quebec), and University of British Columbia. After teaching art in both public and private schools in Quebec and Ontario for several years, she moved to the West Coast and turned her attention to her professional visual and film careers. Since then, she has had numerous exhibitions in major galleries across Canada and has produced and directed eight independent award-winning films that have received international screenings and television broadcasts and recognized with several distinguished awards.
Her community work has also included sitting on various Boards and Committees including the BC Arts Council (Victoria, B.C.), Moving Images Distribution (Vancouver) , the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund (Ottawa, Ontario), Uzume Taiko (Vancouver), National Nikkei Heritage Centre (Burnaby, B.C.) and Chibi Taiko (Vancouver). Over the years, Linda has also served on assessment juries for the Canada Council, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund, DOXA, BC Arts Council, and Heritage Canada.
Today, Linda divides her time between Vancouver, Canada and Onomichi, Japan to continue her research, films, writing, teaching and cultural works.
