Year in review: Creative inspiration

I’m always on the lookout for creative inspiration. Here are 6 artists and writers who introduced me to new materials and techniques in 2025, shifted my way of looking at the world, brought me to tears, caused me to laugh, and led me down rabbit holes full of wonder and beauty.

Image of pigeons flying at night, as part of artist Duke Riley's project Fly By Night — Artist: Duke Riley *Fly By Night*

Artist Nicholas Wilton’s teachings on colour and creating differences in paintings has changed how I look at my art and make decisions while creating. His approach is simple and straightforward to learn, but profound and often counter-intuitive in practice.
Rebecca Chapman is an artist from Vancouver. In early October, I saw her solo show, Mortal Magic, at the Campbell River Art Gallery (image below). The exhibition is designed to feel like you’re walking into an illustrated storybook, complete with large painted book panels that open to reveal scrolls featuring installments of the story, and lushly painted illustrations to take in as you walk around the room.
On the same trip to Vancouver Island, I took in a retrospective of George Littlechild’s work at the Comox Valley Art Gallery. I was deeply moved by his large-scale drawings of children who died at a residential school in Maskwacis, AB (image below). The exhibition, HERE I AM – CAN YOU SEE ME? | ÔTA NIYA Ê-AYÂYÂN — KA-KÎ-WÂPAMIN?, is on tour from the Art Gallery of Alberta.
In September, The Jealous Curator featured the marine-themed sculptures of artist Duke Riley (above). Completely enamoured, I started exploring his website and fell in love with Fly By Night, a large-scale community-engaged project he spearheaded in London featuring trained pigeons equipped with LED lights, flying in formation through the night sky (below).
I rediscovered the work of writer Meg Wolitzer, best known for the movie adaptation of her book The Wife, starring Glenn Close. I fell deeply into her novel, The Interestings. A group of teenagers meet at a summer arts camp in New York state in the 1970s, and the book follows their intersecting lives through the ups and downs of the decades that follow. Full of insight and empathy, as well as unexpected twists and turns.
Parnassus Books, located in Nashville, is owned by writer Ann Patchett(my favourites: The Dutch House and Commonwealth). She and her staff have a fantastic Instagram account where they showcase the diverse range of new books released each week (on Tuesdays) and recommend older books that are worth (re)discovering (on Fridays). They often bring in guest writers to recommend books too. Many of my favourite reads this year have been Parnassus recommendations!