A world-wide identity crisis is on the growing list of symptoms brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. In some ways, this new norm of physical distancing has made artists out of us all. Creating symphonies with our neighbours each night, we tune our pots, pans, and voices for the 7 o’clock salute to healthcare workers. People are recreating works of art with household items. Choirs are forming with members from 27 different cities across four different countries. While it’s not on a list of essential services, art is the tool people are reaching for—both for connection and entertainment.

With that in mind, SAD reached a little farther for April’s Artist of the Month. Sipping a morning coffee in Vancouver, BC, we called Maya McKibbin, a Victoria-born illustrator spending her evening in Denmark under lockdown.

SAD: How did you end up in Denmark during this wild time?
Maya: I’ve been out here for quite a while. I studied here and got hired out of school. I was actually meant to be in Vancouver two weeks ago, but I have close friends here and my Mom lives in Europe. I didn’t want to travel while COVID-19 was ramping up, as my family up in Canada is connected to people with compromised immune systems.

What is your connection to BC?
I grew up on the Sunshine Coast in Davis Bay, and for about three years I’ve been working with a Vancouver-based studio, Spotted Fawn Productions. It’s a stop motion Indigenous studio making short films and series and illustration work too.

How does the term 'Artist' play into your identity?
I feel like I kind of cringe when I think of myself as an artist. I see the term artist as a very fluid thing, and I’m very structured in what I think of and what I do. This is very much my career, so that makes me feel like less of an artist because it’s part of my sustainability. I’ve been having these feelings a lot these days in the corona lockdown. I work and I work, and I can’t go out after, but I don’t feel like drawing more because I just did that all day. I’m finding it hard to find the creative energy to dig down and do music and writing, even though it feels like now’s the time.

When did illustration enter your life?
Illustration started from the beginning of time. Remember those plastic suitcase things with all the crayons, pencils? When I was younger, I remember setting up in a nice sunny spot in my yard, taking two chairs to make a table, and drawing there for a super, super long time. I’ve always drawn. It feels natural to have something in my hands that I'm creating something with. I'm curious about people around me, and am pretty close with some musicians. Slowly, slowly I'm getting curious about making music. I feel like I can fall into the comfort of illustration and forget there's so much other stuff. Okay this will be the time when I look into music or live action film.

Where do you go in your mind when you’re creating art? Do you feel like a different version of yourself when you’re in that mode?
I feel like when I really get into a flow, I kind of dissolve a little bit. I don’t become another thing, I just disappear. I think that there's so many different ways of drawing. When I’m illustrating a piece for a purpose, then I get into a thinky mode in my brain, like “this should be this kind of layout to portray this feeling,” and then I get really robotic in that structured artist way I was talking about. The part I love is when I dissolve into the piece of paper.

What projects are you the most proud of?
The ones that aren’t finished yet. In terms of personal stuff, I have a lot of excitement for stuff I haven’t made yet.

What’s your favourite part of your job?
I like the freedom I have in it. But you can look at it both ways: I’m also not that free because I have to match the clients wants. I have the power to make something, to express what's exactly in mine. I’ll have a picture in my head and then bam, bam, bam—this is what I see. That’s really fun, to create at least an image, and with film you can share so much more. I really, really like collaborating with people from different types of backgrounds—like sound musicians, or comics for story boarding.

What’s your least favourite part of the job?
Connecting to things on a personal level and then attacking it can be hard. What you’re putting down on paper or putting down on screen is an extension of you, a portrayal. When you get strong, intense emotions in a negative way it can be a good learning experience...it’s just not fun to feel it.

What’s the first work of art you can remember creating?
When I was a kid, I would staple together printer paper into books. One was so, so huge I had to stitch together. I drew 365 dragons for every day of the year. I’d ask kids at school “What’s your birthday?” And then say, “This is your dragon!”

How much do you feel like your art is influenced by where you grew up?
Definitely influenced from growing up on the West Coast. I almost romanticize it a bit too much sometimes. It’s really a theme I play with myself. The project I’m working on right now is almost completely about being a kid on the West Coast. I think it also plays a lot into identity. I love treating personal projects like self-therapy, in a way. And I have a lot of questions about identity as a queer person and as an Indigenous person who grew up on the West Coast in a territory I’m not from. I was born in Victoria, Vancouver Island. It’s always something on my mind, so I’m playing with that—my childhood and how I felt.

What keeps you connected with the West Coast while living abroad?
I’ve always really been an internet kid. Really, a lot of my teen years were online. Most of my connections with other artists are forged online through Twitter and Instagram. As someone who hasn’t physically been in Vancouver, Canada for a while in a working way, I really look to connect with Indigenous, queer, and 2-spirited artists. Spotted Fawn is run by Indigenous artists. It’s a safe space and inspires to be, and there’s a lot of Indigenous artists out there being great.

What’s your favourite artistic medium?
Tablet, computer, photoshop—You can achieve so many different effects with just those tools. Especially in “corona times,” I can’t afford to have a work space or move stuff around. But this way, I just carry around my work with me all the time from sofa to sofa.

Do you have a message for artists in these “corona times?”
I would say just take it day by day. Try to find a little schedule for yourself and take it easy. We need to look after our bodies—especially as a digital artist, I’ve had issues with my arms from working and drawing. If you’re stuck inside, it’s nice to find a space inside your body. There’s an exercise I’m doing with a friend where you just play a song and lay down on the floor and just get to your feet. Who knew I could do some of those things until I rolled around on the floor like an idiot? There’s no pressure, just space to explore within yourself during these times. Whether physically, or mental gymnastics. Sometimes I stare at a wall for an hour thinking I don’t even know what? That’s okay too.

You can view Maya’s art through her website or Instagram @mkchibs

SAD Online

MEET APRIL ARTIST OF THE MONTH: MAYA MCKIBBIN