Posted on November 13, 2009 | 2 Comments
I used to talk alot about myself on this blog. Then…I got busy. Busy with life…with work. It was like therapy…like my journal…writing on here. Then people actually started reading my blog and I got to wondering if they really wanted to hear what I had to say. Especially if what I had to say was maybe not all that uplifting or fun or happy. Well, today, I need to write and so you all can read it or skip it, but I’m going to write it for me.
I grew up performing in a Children’s Theatre company(St. Albert Children’s Theatre)…bet a lot of you didn’t know that. We did musicals under the gifted director, Maralyn Ryan. I had a dream. I wanted to be a broadway actress…yes, it was a crazy dream. And, it was not to be for any number of reasons–not the least of which being that I didn’t have the necessary hunger or drive that is needed to reach that level of success. You need either that or a great deal of luck. I did however make a lot of lifetime friends and form many of my values and beliefs while in the company of these people. After high school, I made the easy transition to life in the Theatre Arts program at GMCC with Maralyn’s then husband, Tim.
Anyone who has had the privelage of attending that program knows that it is not a school, it is a family. Last week, that family lost its patriarch, Tim Ryan. My heart breaks at the thought of him not being there even though I had not seen him for almost 5 years. He was a wonderful teacher who inspired greatness not through tyranny, but through a great amount of respect and love. You became the artist you could be because you wanted him to be proud of you. That is always the best kind of teacher. AND, he laughed with you, at you, and sometimes at nothing at all…a big booming laugh that just made you laugh as well(and if you know me at all you will know that I LOVE TO LAUGH).
I may no longer act(sometimes I sing, but you will have to buy me a pretty present to get me to do it–ha!), but I learned the lesson of storytelling from Tim. And, I have taken that with me in to my work as a photographer. My understanding of truth and beauty comes from those days on the stage and my ability to get it from my clients is a direct result of having watched him get it from all of his students. I also learned a much bigger lesson–a life lesson. I learned that you can be an artist and not need something to fall back on 
Watching him and all my other instructors there was so inspiring because I learned that artists don’t let life happen to them–they make it happen.
Today I wish I was in Edmonton celebrating his life with all of his other former students. Young and old…ones who have only begun to appreciate the gifts he gave them and ones who have long ago realized that they’ll never know them all. If you are a Canadian who has seen a play, then you have been touched by his work. The community of artists around the world has lost a great asset. To everyone who knew him, my thoughts and hugs to you today…to his family, Kate, Bridget, Laurie, Maralyn and all…thank you for giving him to us so freely.
A beautiful tribute – he would be proud.
I am so sorry for you loss, he sounds like an amazing man. {Hugs}