Studio H Canada International Artist Residencies

Studio H Canada International Artist Residency grew from our life here in Metchosin, my own practice as an artist, and a simple invitation I put on my website more than a decade ago. I wanted to share my studio with other artists and see what might happen.

Someone answered.

Our Story

In 2015, I received an email from an artist named Miyoko Caubet. Miyoko was living in Paris at the time and had found the invitation on my artist website. She wanted to know whether I was serious.

I remember turning to Michael and saying, “She is calling me out — am I serious?”

We talked about it. Michael was completely supportive. Neither of us knew where it might lead, but we decided to find out.

Miyoko and I began meeting by Skype. Eventually, I invited her to come to Metchosin.

And she did.

Miyoko — The Foundational Artist

Miyoko arrived in 2016 and became Studio H’s first artist in residence. At the time, there was no residency program as we know it today. She stayed with us for about five months, initially living in what had been our daughter Haley’s bedroom — a space that has since evolved into the Studio Suite.

Miyoko and I discovered that we had a lot in common. We had both worked in television and media, and shared interests in photography, nature, dance, gardens and food. We worked together, explored the area, cooked and ate together, and began imagining what Studio H might become.

She also helped me build the early Studio H website. It was Miyoko who suggested WordPress — the platform I still use today.

What began in Metchosin became a lasting friendship and creative relationship. Miyoko continued to work with us after moving into Victoria, has participated in Studio H projects including Celebrating Artists, and we have stayed connected across the years. In 2024, Michael and I visited Miyoko in Provence.

Since Miyoko’s arrival in 2016, Studio H has continued to grow. By the end of 2026, I will have hosted 60 artists from Canada and around the world.

Humble Beginnings 

The studio had very humble beginnings, but it had good bones as a workshop. Michael did all the work on the rustic pine ceilings, drywall and the studio’s blue roof, bringing both function and distinctive character to the space. Over the years, we have renovated and reorganized it, added equipment and work areas, and continued adapting it to support different kinds of practices.

The accommodations evolved too. The room where Miyoko first stayed eventually became the Studio Suite, with its own bathroom, lounge and direct access outdoors. The View Suite developed separately, giving us a way to host two artists while still providing each with private living space.

Our Life Here

Studio H is part of our home and our life. I founded the residency as an extension of my own life as an artist, and Michael has been part of it from the moment we decided to say yes to Miyoko.

Over time, Michael’s role has grown along with the residency. His background in social work and education informs what he brings to the residency, along with the practical knowledge that comes from living here: the gardens, composting and recycling, outdoor cooking, maintaining a rural property and the thousand small things that make a place work. Michael has become an important part of how we welcome artists and how we put Living Lightly on the Land and Living Together into practice.

Living in “Away”

Sometimes we joke that we are the ones who live “away.” It’s the kind of place people travel across Canada or around the world to find. We love this place, and over time we realized that one of the things we could do with it was share it.

The environment at Studio H is more than the landscape. It includes the people, conversations, tools, shared meals, encounters and unexpected possibilities that become part of a residency. That understanding gave me a simple way of describing what Studio H offers as an equation: I = T(S) + E
Inspiration = Time × Space + Environment

It Takes a Community

Although Studio H began with my invitation, it has never developed in isolation. Our family, the artists who have stayed here, friends and colleagues have all contributed in numerous ways.

Our daughters, Adryan and Haley, are part of that continuing creative life. Adryan and I collaborate on Encrypted Identities Decoded Histories, and she has also helped me develop the Studio H website. Haley and I have developed Soapistry together, which now has a working studio of its own here, and we continue to collaborate on new projects, including PeeKaBoo.

Artists have also left their mark. They have introduced us to new ideas, materials and ways of working; shared their knowledge; made connections with one another and with people in the community; and sometimes continued those relationships long after their residency ended.

That evolution has helped shape the kind of residency Studio H is today. Artists have privacy and independence, but they aren’t isolated from us or from one another. We share the property, gardens, forest, studio and parts of everyday life. Sometimes that means a conversation over coffee, a meal or pizza from the outdoor oven. Sometimes it means helping solve a practical problem, sharing knowledge or introducing an artist to someone in the community. And sometimes it means simply giving each other space.

That balance gives artists time and space for their own practice within an environment where relationships and unexpected exchanges are possible.

Studio H Today

Studio H is also connected to a much larger arts community. Over the years, friends, artists, colleagues and organizations including Xchanges, the Victoria Arts Council, ArtPod, MACCA and Res Artis — along with memberships in CARFAC BC, Arts BC, the Surface Design Association, Pollinator and the Alliance for Arts + Culture — have provided connection, knowledge, resources, encouragement and opportunities to learn. I am grateful for those relationships and for the generosity that exists within the arts community.

For me, that is part of being artist-run. It doesn’t mean doing everything alone. It means remaining connected to other artists and arts communities, continuing to learn, and bringing what we learn back into how Studio H develops.

Ten years after Miyoko arrived, Studio H remains artist-led and artist-centred. That first invitation has become a residency where artists can bring their own intentions and have time and space to research, create, experiment and collaborate.

We continue to learn too. Every residency teaches us something about this place, about hosting artists from every stage of life and cultural background and about the conditions that allow people with very different practices and experiences to live and create alongside one another.

Studio H will continue to evolve, just as it has from the beginning. What I hope remains constant is quite simple: a place where artists have the time, space and environment to explore what matters to them.