This is not a bio, although it’s a story of sorts, not so much a timeline of my life as a woven matrix of memory making meaning, ‘seeing into’ the web –

I was born and raised in northern Saskatchewan, where  the prairies and the boreal forest meet. A prairie girl haunted by the light and infinite sense of space peculiar to that landscape.
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Born cross eyed, I saw two, sometimes four of everything – glasses at age 4 helped somewhat with the disorientation. I remember wondering as a child if other people saw what I saw – and if not what did they see? How was it different? When I was 6 this was corrected surgically – from that time on everything changed. I stopped wondering about what others saw – at the same time as continuing to see things differently, to have access to that channel.

Fine arts
University in the late ’70’s was an exciting time, there was so much going on. I was inspired to explore the arts and all the possibilities that it offered for creative pursuits. Among the many invited artists/speakers I was fortunate enough to be introduced to, Christo left a huge impression, as did Buckminster Fuller. Closer to home, Ron Spickett * became my life long teacher /mentor. I would say that he had the greatest influence / impact on my work as well as my life. The atmosphere at the time was one of possibility, that anything and everything was doable – then the ’80’s happened and the ’90’s followed and all that changed.

I wouldn’t say that I chose to be an artist, it was more like it chose me – it was akin to answering a calling rather than choosing a career. That said, there is nothing about my art ‘career’ that has been linear or fits into categories or boxes. As an artist you could say that I never really emerged, its been more like I’ve evolved over time not over night.

Okori
In the buddhist tradition a dharma name is given to a student by their teacher. It is designed to help connect the student with their inner, true nature, awakening their divine blueprint, a reminder of their spiritual commitment.

My buddhist teacher Gyozo*  gave me the dharma name Okori –
okori おこり   (n) source; origin; cause; beginning; genesis

It was to be a constant reminder that I am the creator, the architect of my life – every breath, every thought, a brushstroke on the canvas that is my life – rendering the invisible visible – sometimes in incomprehensible ways

I had a great deal of resistance to this name, it was not a name that resonated with me. It felt more like an assignment than a designation or reminder of my commitment to live a life aligned to source – to creativity.

Only Gyozo and my dharma brothers and sisters call me Okori, and although I acknowledged the name, I found it difficult to embody it, to own it.

However as my skin and bones experience the passage through time, my life, the experience of it – has grown deeper, richer, more mysterious – and now without being able to adequately describe why, I feel as though the Okori vibe / energy, has moved in and taken up residence – a new level of understanding – a new operating system has been downloaded –

Finally, feeling not the weight of the name as much as the honour of it, ready to explore that alignment – to understand the creative process on a new level, a deeper knowing of my part in all of it.

Finally, seeing what Gyō-Zō would say over and over again –
that I am the form that the formless chose, the character in the book that my soul wrote for me, playing out my role in a story that has already been written –
the source of my life on levels beyond mysterious – okori

Louise Pagé
Okori
2021