For nearly three decades, Margaret Day has helped make The Point a place where artists, ideas, and community come together. As a founding supporter of artist-led initiatives on Salt Spring Island, a longtime host of exhibitions, and the driving force behind the SSNAP residency program, she has welcomed generations of artists into her home and creative community. In this conversation, Margaret reflects on the early days of SSNAP, the lasting value of artist residencies, and the relationships that have made the experience so meaningful.

  1. What first drew me to SSNAP?
    To be honest I had my doubts re: ART as a competitive sport! I was drawn in by friendship and respect for three key players Ron Crawford, Stefanie Denz and Joan McConnell. Stefanie and Ron have always supported all I have done here at The Point and still do. Joan’s enthusiasm for art AND artists is a huge loss to our community.
  2. What has my experience at The Point meant to me personally?
    My husband Martyn named the property which describes it geographically but also metaphorically. When we bought the property off Rosie Behnke in 1997 we already knew that we wanted to carry on the tradition started in 1991 by the nine of us who made up the collective artist group known as Vortex and continue to use the barn as a gallery showing art that didn’t fit the criteria of the commercial galleries in Ganges. As a family we have all enjoyed the company and the conversations that that decision brought us. What I hadn’t anticipated was the extraordinarily rich diversity of the art and artists that we have welcomed here. I have especially enjoyed the ideas. I would like to think there is a thread of creativity that links everyone who has worked and exhibited here, islanders and visitors alike. What I totally hadn’t anticipated, and has been a source of great pleasure, is the number of artists who have stayed in touch and returned to visit. I don’t do social media so this has meant efforts on their part that I never expected.
  3. Lasting Impressions of SSNAP.
    That first year is still my favourite. The fun of it, the skin of our teeth of it, the pleasure , as always of working with juror Ian Thomas. The early morning mad surveys of images made with Ron Crawford and David Borrowman as we tried to stay ahead of the jury and spot work that didn’t meet measurements and criteria. The curators’ panel, created because we had too many experts willing to jury, and at the end of it all a winning piece by Corrie Peters that we could all feel proud of.
  4. SSNAP Winner Exhibitions.
    For me personally the pleasure came with getting to know Corrie Peters and Judy Anderson, connections I continue to treasure. In terms of the island, and the artist, it was really important for us to see, and for them to exhibit, a larger body of work. This gave us the opportunity to see how the prize winning piece fitted into their practice…and also how their work had evolved since winning SSNAP. In each case the jury of that year came to see the exhibit, which I would like to think added to SSNAP’s credibility and was an opportunity for the artists.
  5. The importabce of SSNAP was its instigation by artists.
    The decisions made then by artists for artists are its strength, in particular that the work be anonymous in its initial jurying, dependant on the image alone. SSNAP deserves respect for NOT being funded by a large corporate body but by individual donations, supported by the volunteer efforts of most of the artists on the island and a very loyal community. This sort of organisation nurtures creativity and the artists themselves in a way that no Sobey’s or RBC ever can.
  6. The most rewarding aspect of SSNAP for me was that it made us come up with an artist residency program.
    The meetings of the Arts Council committee that ran that program, held at Joan McConnell’s home, was one of the most pleasurable groups of people I have worked with in 50 years of involvement with the arts in Canada. It was a great shame and shortsighted when the Arts Council decided it could no longer afford to run the program. The SSNAP residency continues as a last vestige of this program. It should be noted that the main support for the artist and for myself during any residency has come from the ex-members of that Arts Council committee.
  7. I continue to enjoy SSNAP.
    The Parallel show was a great innovation. I haven’t changed my mind about all art competions but I have changed my mind about this one. I hope very much that it continues to prosper and that island artists continue to be involved in its logistics, its mounting, its publicity and above all in its decision making. Anywhere in Canada art making can become isolated and incestuous. It is incredibly important if art on Salt Spring s to be nurtured and grow for there to be the opportunity to measure what has been made here with work from elsewhere. The energy from that buzz of conversations which oscillate around SSNAP and its residency cannot be underestimated.