ABOUT ME
“Emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.”
- Nick Obolensky
Hello! Hi! Welcome. My name is Danielle Derrick, and I am the human being behind Emergent Studios. I am a scientist by trade and a creative at heart. My passion lies somewhere between the diffuse cloud-like layers of understanding the inner workings of the ecosystems that surround us and the gravity by which a paintbrush and pen can capture the hypnotic stories of our world.
I grew up mesmerized and wide-eyed under a canopy of maple trees, falling in love with the feeling of sand between my toes, morning dew glistening off campsite tents, and creating magical fictitious worlds within the trees, rivers and species residing amongst my backyard forest. Nature has and always will ground me. It brings me back home and reminds me how to breathe. Somewhere along the way, art became a form of the self expression I felt in nature. A platitude of effervescent colours, mediums and characters. A place of escape and growth. My place to slow down. During my pursuit of a science degree, I briefly lost touch with that creative part of me while I explored and opened my mind to the vastness of how the world functions, on both macro and micro levels.
Fast forward to the plight of pandemic solitude. Hidden amongst the reticent days, I found my way back to the artist laying dormant inside. I was soon reminded why I used to escape to the vastness of blank pages and the gossamery weight of a paintbrush. Here is where I re-discovered my creative soul and where the emanation of Emergent Studios began.
So come. Join me, stay awhile. And if anything, I hope you leave feeling refreshed, and perhaps, inspired to create, in whatever way creativity looks like to you.
BEHIND EMERGENT STUDIOS
It took me a long time to land upon a name that I felt accurately captured who I am, what I want to represent and how I want my business to grow. It wasn’t until I was reading a short story from the book All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson that I felt truly inspired. The excerpt is called What is Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown. I have to admit, it was her poetic prose that first drew me in to the words inked on the delicate pieces of paper, but it was her story that guided me to the name Emergent Studios. Adrienne talks about emergence as an ever evolving state of being, always changing, always adapting and always influencing. Emergence exists everywhere, in nature, at home, and in our own communities. You see, “Emergence is beyond what the sum of its parts could even imagine…/A group of caterpillars or nymphs might not see flight in their future, but it’s inevitable…/Dandelions don’t know whether they are a weed or brilliance. But each seed can create a field of dandelions. We are invited to be that prolific.../Emergence is a system that makes use of everything in the interactive process.” We are invited to be that prolific… whew, what a phrase. Abundance appears only when we allow ourselves to be fully seen and expressed through our creative selves even though the future is unknown. That’s a powerful call forward. “We are constantly impacting and changing our civilizations - each other, ourselves, intimates, strangers. And we are working to transform a world that is, by its very nature, in a constant state of change…/Many of us have been socialized to understand that constant growth, violent competition, and critical mass are the ways to create change. But emergence shows us that adaptation and evolution depend more upon critical, deep, and authentic connections, a thread that can be tugged for support and resilience… And we know how to connect - we long for it.” That last sentence alone embodied the vision I had been trying to conceptualize for my business up until this point, and that is where the beginning of Emergent Studios was born. Emergent Studios is a place of connection, whether that is between people, science, or the unspoken word through art. It is a place that requires me to continually ask, how can I create something that will allow for connection, for a deeper understanding of the world in which we live in, and for the opportunity to evolve and grow as a person, a business and a community? Questions I ask myself every time I put pen to paper. Questions I hope I continue to ask as Emergent Studios grows over the coming days, weeks and years. Welcome. I am happy you are here.
WHERE I WORK
I have gathered, grown, lived and worked as a white settler in North America my entire life. North America has been occupied by Indigenous communities since time immemorial and was originally known as Turtle Island before white settlers colonized the land. I grew up on the territories of the Algonquin Peoples in Ontario and now reside on the beautiful west coast of British Columbia on the unceded and traditional territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and səlilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations and the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Indian Band. They have lived and cared for these lands and waters since time immemorial. Indigenous peoples continue to protect and remain in relationship with these lands and will do so until the end of time. It is vital to me to honour and recognize the ongoing dedication and importance of Indigenous culture within my communities and within the land that I gather, live, learn and work on.