By Emily Larman
A graduate of Collingwood’s class of 2003, Sara Pedlow is not your average girl. Not only does she dabble in the arts, she is now a successful lawyer. Her diverging career choices have morphed her into the fascinating person that she has become today.
After graduating from Collingwood, Sara attended McGill University, receiving her BA double majoring in both Biomedical Science and Sociology. Upon completion, she returned to Vancouver and attended UBC Law School which segued into her current career as a lawyer at a downtown Vancouver firm where she practises general litigation.
While at Collingwood, art was one of Sara’s favourite classes, and she touches on the fact that the term has now more generally become “Visual Arts.” She reminisces on the fact that art was a creative outlet from the never ending list of AP courses which she had pushed herself to take. It was a way to relieve tension and something to not take too seriously during the midst of her inevitably high-strung university preparation.
She admits that she never intended to seek any artistic pursuits after high school, but realizes that she was very immersed in the discipline while at Collingwood. She was a member of the choir, a frequent drama performer and a lover of all visual arts. She took piano lessons and even drop-in art history courses just for fun. She enjoyed doodling comics of her friends and always travelled with a small sketchbook. She would create handcrafted gifts for friends and family. On her artistic endeavors at Collingwood she states, “I am grateful that Collingwood gave me such a broad exposure to art at such an early age.”
She tells me of the most iconic piece of art she ever created while in high school and alludes to a three-foot tall papier mâché cow she created in her senior year that continues to be an inside joke for her and her friends (earning her the nickname “Cow”). This cow remained in the school’s foyer for years to come. The cow was so large that people would constantly change the outfits put upon it. “That's kind of how I picture art - fun, shared, and always evolving through someone else's interpretation,” Sara adds.
After graduating from Collingwood, Sara attended McGill University, receiving her BA double majoring in both Biomedical Science and Sociology. Upon completion, she returned to Vancouver and attended UBC Law School which segued into her current career as a lawyer at a downtown Vancouver firm where she practises general litigation.
While at Collingwood, art was one of Sara’s favourite classes, and she touches on the fact that the term has now more generally become “Visual Arts.” She reminisces on the fact that art was a creative outlet from the never ending list of AP courses which she had pushed herself to take. It was a way to relieve tension and something to not take too seriously during the midst of her inevitably high-strung university preparation.
She admits that she never intended to seek any artistic pursuits after high school, but realizes that she was very immersed in the discipline while at Collingwood. She was a member of the choir, a frequent drama performer and a lover of all visual arts. She took piano lessons and even drop-in art history courses just for fun. She enjoyed doodling comics of her friends and always travelled with a small sketchbook. She would create handcrafted gifts for friends and family. On her artistic endeavors at Collingwood she states, “I am grateful that Collingwood gave me such a broad exposure to art at such an early age.”
She tells me of the most iconic piece of art she ever created while in high school and alludes to a three-foot tall papier mâché cow she created in her senior year that continues to be an inside joke for her and her friends (earning her the nickname “Cow”). This cow remained in the school’s foyer for years to come. The cow was so large that people would constantly change the outfits put upon it. “That's kind of how I picture art - fun, shared, and always evolving through someone else's interpretation,” Sara adds.
|
|
|
After graduation and her family’s subsequent move, she was only able to take two full suitcases to college, thus leading to the purge of most of her art supplies.
“I am sad to admit that art was absent from my life for years after Collingwood. I focused on my studies and I didn't really take any time to draw or paint. On occasion, I would create something as a gift, but this was rare. It wasn't until after law school that I started to get back into drawing.” It was after getting engaged following law school that her love for art was rekindled. She met with a stationary designer that created custom drawings for invitations. “I remember looking at her beautiful stationary, and feeling a sense of joy and curiosity. Her images were so simple, so elegant, so poignant. I wondered whether I could create something similar. I found a watercolour card set at Opus and after that, I started making personalized birthday cards for friends and family. It was an enjoyable side project, and slowly got me back into the creative process.”
As a lawyer, Sara works long, taxing hours and says it is hard to justify stopping the clock and doing things with your time that aren’t billable. However, her reintroduction into art has allowed her to create a more balanced lifestyle: “Thankfully, I am at a firm that really promotes balance. I wanted to be the kind of person to set aside three hours of ‘me-time’ for drawing. I decided to take an art class at Emily Carr. My first class was an ink illustration class with Stan Hunc and I absolutely loved it. I had found my medium.” She especially enjoys how versatile and uninhibited ink is because it is both flowing and controllable at the same time. “You can paint it with a nib or a pen or a brush or a chopstick. It is a very elastic medium. Sometimes accidents happen and it is difficult to erase ink, so there's also a level of unpredictability which I find breeds further creativity.”
“I am sad to admit that art was absent from my life for years after Collingwood. I focused on my studies and I didn't really take any time to draw or paint. On occasion, I would create something as a gift, but this was rare. It wasn't until after law school that I started to get back into drawing.” It was after getting engaged following law school that her love for art was rekindled. She met with a stationary designer that created custom drawings for invitations. “I remember looking at her beautiful stationary, and feeling a sense of joy and curiosity. Her images were so simple, so elegant, so poignant. I wondered whether I could create something similar. I found a watercolour card set at Opus and after that, I started making personalized birthday cards for friends and family. It was an enjoyable side project, and slowly got me back into the creative process.”
As a lawyer, Sara works long, taxing hours and says it is hard to justify stopping the clock and doing things with your time that aren’t billable. However, her reintroduction into art has allowed her to create a more balanced lifestyle: “Thankfully, I am at a firm that really promotes balance. I wanted to be the kind of person to set aside three hours of ‘me-time’ for drawing. I decided to take an art class at Emily Carr. My first class was an ink illustration class with Stan Hunc and I absolutely loved it. I had found my medium.” She especially enjoys how versatile and uninhibited ink is because it is both flowing and controllable at the same time. “You can paint it with a nib or a pen or a brush or a chopstick. It is a very elastic medium. Sometimes accidents happen and it is difficult to erase ink, so there's also a level of unpredictability which I find breeds further creativity.”
|
|
|
Ever since completing that first class, she has completed several more, even retaking the same one as she is still able to pursue new avenues and projects. There isn’t a breadth of ink classes offered in Vancouver, but Sara still tries to find time to fit art into her busy schedule. She cites much of her inspiration as being her peers. All her hard work has appeared to have paid off, as she is a featured artist in an exhibition at the Concourse Gallery at Emily Carr called “Making Marks.” “The goal is to demonstrate the breadth and flexibility of ink as a medium. I feel so privileged to be included among such amazing artists and so fortunate that I have rediscovered my love of art. It was absent from my life for years, but now that I have found it again, I never want to let it go. I don't have any aspirations to quit my job and begin a new career as an artist. I love being a lawyer. But I do hope that I will always make time for art in the future.”
Sara has clearly found not only her true calling, but her niche in life which is unusual at still so young an age. Her commitment to her craft and to the balance she wishes to instill upon her life is inspiring and is something I feel many people can aspire to, with a newly found revelation of putting what is important first.
Sara has clearly found not only her true calling, but her niche in life which is unusual at still so young an age. Her commitment to her craft and to the balance she wishes to instill upon her life is inspiring and is something I feel many people can aspire to, with a newly found revelation of putting what is important first.
|
|
