Sylvina Lanusse, a mixed-media artist, takes us on a captivating journey across continents and through the layers of her rich artistic process. From the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires to the tranquil shores of Vancouver Island, Sylvina has woven her love for the ocean and nature's elements into her art. She reflects on how the spontaneity of migration has shaped her path, leading her to find stability and opportunity in Canada.
Sylvina Lanusse, a mixed-media artist and host of Walking for Inspiration, takes us on an engaging journey across continents and through the layers of her rich artistic process. From the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires to the tranquil shores of Vancouver Island, Sylvina has woven her love for the ocean and nature's elements into every piece of art she creates. Her recent Italian adventure adds yet another color to her palette, as she shares how the Vatican's marble floors sparked her creativity. Sylvina's story is not just about art, but about the emotional landscapes of migration, the bittersweet nature of farewells and the surprising connections formed along the way.
In this episode, we also explore the poignant themes of immigration and belonging. Sylvina opens up about how a generous benefactor changed the trajectory of her life, enabling her to study abroad and refine her artistic voice. We delve into the heartache of losing her parents, of losing her canine companion Polo and the intricate feeling of having multiple homes across the world. Art emerges as a sanctuary for Sylvina, a space where creativity transcends geographical borders and offers solace amid life's upheavals.
Silvina reflects on how the spontaneity of migration has shaped her path, leading her to find stability and opportunity in Canada—it’s a story of resilience, creativity and connection.
CHAPTERS
[00:00:34] Introduction to Silvina Lanusse
[00:02:11] Early Life and Family Background
[00:04:31] Beach Memories and Sensory Experiences
[00:07:51] Walking for Inspiration and Artistic Sensitivity
[00:09:58] Travel Adventures and Cultural Connections
[00:15:45] Benefactor's Support and Artistic Journey
[00:19:41] Finding Community Through Art
[00:22:11] The Art Is My Lifeline
[00:26:26] The Bond with Polo
[00:28:14] Coping with Loss
[00:29:30] Walking for Inspiration
[00:31:10] Shaped by Migration
[00:34:38] Choosing Canada Over the U.S.
[00:37:35] Embracing the Artist's Life
[00:39:09] Reflections on Immigration
[00:42:56] Connecting with Silvina
Contact Silvina: @silvinalanusseart
Website: https://www.silvinalanusseart.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silvinalanusseart/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/silvinalanusseart
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@silvinalanusseart
Walking for Inspiration – Silvina's video podcast on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@silvinalanusseart
Introduction to Silvina Lanusse
[00:00:34] Christi: Welcome to Moving Along. Silvina Lanusse lives in beautiful Vancouver Island, Canada on the Pacific Northwest coast, not far from Seattle. She is a mixed media artist and carries her box of traveling watercolors with her on her frequent walks around the island. Her video podcast is called Walking for Inspiration.
Indeed, her story is an inspiring one. Having moved at age 23 from Buenos Aires, Argentina to get her BA in studio art at Clark University in Massachusetts. She then went back to Argentina where she built a family. After several years, she went to Tampa and back to Argentina, and then to Port Moody, British Columbia bypassing the US all together.
We're gonna talk about that later. And finally to Vancouver Island. Her daughter, meanwhile now lives in New Zealand. Yes, Silvina has been to visit. Twice and just recently she spent a month in Italy walking for even more inspiration. Welcome, Silvina.
[00:02:00] Silvina: Oh, thank you so much, Christi, for having me. It's a pleasure to have this conversation as if we are just chatting at a coffee shop.
[00:02:08] Christi: That's what it feels like. It feels great.
[00:02:10] Silvina: Yes,
Early Life and Family Background
[00:02:11]Christi: Silvina, growing up in Buenos Aires, what did travel and moving mean to you as a child?
[00:02:19] Silvina: I know that you asked that question to most of your guests, so I do prepare, but really, It's interesting because it did prompt me to think about something. I sort of knew, but I had forgotten. And I come from a big family. I'm the youngest of seven. My eldest brothers they all got married and they moved away.
So, you know, moved out. And then it was just me and my other sister, maybe one other, maybe a third sister that was single. But I had two siblings who lived away from our province. So it required maybe, maybe four hour drive or a plane ride or something. And I remember when I was little and they would come and visit mom and dad and you know, they come with their kids and we would have a blast and they'll stay for a couple of weeks or maybe a weekend, and then they leave.
Oh my goodness. Every time they would leave, I would cry. I would not show it, but I would cry because. I'm like, why? Why do they leave and I'm gonna miss them so much and what am I gonna do? So your question prompt me to think. Yes. From a very early age, I knew that traveling also meant parting and parting ways.
Parting, you know, a life that maybe you lived in the summer. Same thing happened to me in the summer when we went on vacation for three months. We were lucky enough my parents had a beach house and for three months we went to this house. And so beach days, one after the other, after the other, at the end of the vacation time to pack up and go, and typically was pack and go because school would start.
So driving the four and a half hours back home in the car with my parents. Tears dropping down and falling down, and I'm like, yeah, that's what traveling meant for me. It meant really cool experiences, seeing good, people you love, but then also having to say goodbye to all those things.
Beach Memories and Sensory Experiences
[00:04:31]Christi: So you spent your summers on the beach. Do you think that's part of what formed you in a way as a beach lover? A beach goer?
[00:04:40] Silvina: Oh, absolutely. Yes. Because so tradition was we would go there the entire day and we would make sandwiches and, food for the various coolers because again, our family was big and I was, you know, siblings with kids and more kids and cousins and whatever. So start heading to the beach like around 10:00 AM and then not coming back until sunset.
And that meant sometimes maybe mom or dad or a big sister had to go back home and pick up snacks for the afternoon and so on. Dinner in Argentina is typically at 9:00 PM so dinner wasn't a thing. It wasn't a problem at the beach. But yeah, my dad loved the beach, which he loved running jogging and he took me like, let's go jogging.
And you know, I remember those are really fond memories. The sound of the ocean, the wind, the wind is something very special as well. The feeling of the wind in my face and the sound of the wind in my ears. So yes, it, it really did pay, you know, a big, big impact in my life. And yeah, I can, I crave for water since then, all the time.
Yeah.
[00:05:57] Christi: In Walking for Inspiration, it's, it's like you're imbued in the natural world, and the wind again plays a very prominent role. It's not just visual for you. It's the auditory, it's the what else? It's the, it's the sensory.
[00:06:19] Silvina: Multisensory. Yes, you're right about that. Because all my, I am very sensitive, but you know, that's a side story really. When I go on a walk and the minute I go out, I step out. The minute I feel the wind, I'm like, oh, this, it just transports me. It gives me. I dunno, this feeling of cool, fresh renewal laying, I don't know.
There's something about it that really resonates with me, and it is, the heat of the sun, the sound of the steps, you know, whether you're in a cobble road or grass or wet leaves. All those things, are very I, I notice that a lot. To give you an example, more recent in my trip to Italy you know, we're in the Vatican with a guided tour and people are looking at the artwork and, and the guide tour is, you know, talking and what am I doing?
Looking at the floor, taking pictures of the marble floor. And the lady says, I was like, oh, I, I noticed that you're looking at that. I said, yes, I'm fascinated by the textures and the colors and the different, waves of the marbles on the floor. And she's like, yeah, I'm really appreciative that you do that, because people don't always notice. So I am very aware of things that happen around me, and I take that into my videos or into my walks all the time.
Walking for Inspiration and Artistic Sensitivity
[00:07:51]Christi: Mm-hmm. And two things are in my head at the same moment right now. One is about. Where you are in Vancouver is a rocky beach. It's not the traditional soft sandy, you know, like maybe
[00:08:07] Silvina: Ooh, you, you hit the spot.
[00:08:12] Christi: uhhuh and,
[00:08:13] Silvina: And your question is,
[00:08:14] Christi: question is was it hard to get
[00:08:16] Silvina: well. You know what, what other thing is different besides the rocks is the fact that the waves are non-existent.
[00:08:25] Christi: get, oh yeah. Is it, and an inlet, is that why I've never been to Vancouver Island?
[00:08:31] Silvina: yes, that's right. So the, the water is very calm and yes, there's waves of course, because we're in the ocean, but they're minimal. But you know what, I had to tune in and I'm like, yeah, there, there's, there's waves there. Wait a minute. Mm Yep, yep. That, yeah, that's the sound of a wave. And and there is areas where there is sand and it is a bit different sand.
And I, yes. I also pay attention where my foot goes everywhere I go because I try to connect back to my sensories back when I was a child. So it's like, oh, this is not the same sand. Oh, it does, it doesn't feel the same. Oh, I, the, the sound is different. The wind is different. So. Yes, it took a little bit of adjustment, but as soon as I see the water, I'm, I'm in heaven. So it doesn't matter.
[00:09:21] Christi: It's the water. It's, it comes back to the water.
[00:09:24] Silvina: The water. It's so much the water, like when I go swimming, be it in the ocean or in a swimming pool, which I love. It's also, and, and I discovered this one day and I'm like, yeah, I love this. And then my swimming routine changed drastically, which is, I love feeling the water, like so you're doing front crawl and feeling the water up your nose and then seeing the water go by.
So you're swimming and the water's going by. That feeling is priceless.
Travel Adventures and Cultural Connections
[00:09:58]Christi: Wow. Okay. Okay. now this is part two of this question, and that's like, so we've got the rocks over here, and then we have Italy, which is a very, very different landscape. How did you decide, how, how did you pick Italy? You just, this was your first trip and you went for a month. You planned the whole thing on your own. What, what was the thinking there? I.
[00:10:26] Silvina: Well, the thinking was basically the main goal was to go and see the two little tiniest towns in the southern portion of Italy in Calabria where James, James' Nona and Nona were from.
[00:10:42] Christi: James is your husband. Let's just say that
[00:10:45] Silvina: yes. So His, his Nona and Nona. Grew up in these two little towns in, in southern Italy. So that was the main goal.
Like, we've got to go there. No one in his family has gone back. Maybe one person, but nobody really has gone to experience the whole thing and let's just do it. But why don't we might as well just do the entire country. So we started up north and then we started planning. And like he likes to say, yeah, I took a lot of wine, glasses of wine to plan the trip.
We planned it for two or three months. Every night we will go and say, okay, this is what we wanna do, what we wanna see. And because it was in retirement and because we took the, the consciously took the goal of staying as much as possible in each city, big or small. And not staying where the crowds were just taking an Airbnb, you know, a little far apart, maybe a 20 minute walk away or a metro away, or, taking a bus that immersed us in the culture and let us see, allowed us to see other things besides the main attractions, which I found really, really interesting.
Like, look at what people do. They hang their, I mean, of course we all know this, but they hang their clothes on the clothesline like outside the windows. We did that too. Wow. That's so cool. little things. The cobble streets and all of that. So yeah, it was just letting go of expectations and then following tours part of the time, but part of the time just wandering around, taking the bus, taking the metro with everybody commuting to work and here we are, you know, the two Canadians.
[00:12:31] Christi: And did you drive at all or you did? Total public transport. Good for
[00:12:36] Silvina: Yeah. Train and all public transportation or walking, we walked all that, that what's it called? The, the step, the thing that measures the Apple watch. Oh my god. We did about, I don't know, 16,000 steps a day average.
[00:12:53] Christi: That, that's very impressive.
[00:12:56] Silvina: Yeah,
[00:12:56] Christi: you made it all the way down to those towns where your husband's family was from, right. And so that was a piece of connection there. New Zealand, you have your daughter Is Argentina, is Buenos Aires still in you as you experience these new very different cultures, whether it's Canada or Italy or New Zealand?
[00:13:21] Silvina: Well, it is indeed, because there's always something somewhere that brings me back. In Italy, for example, it was a lot of the culture, the socializing. I was noticing people just going out and socializing or hanging out. At the park, just all chatting, So so it brought me back to yes, Argentian culture is very much like that too.
Food tasting, a lot of the flavors are very similar because we have a lot of a big Italian immigration in Argentina, so flavors are similar. When I go to New Zealand, yes, there, maybe there's not a such a straight connection to Argentina, but the beaches, yes, I go to New Zealand beaches and then it's like, oh yeah, here are the waves.
Maybe the colors are different, but here's the sand, here's what I, know it's familiar to me. so that's, part of the familiarity there. Of course, being with my daughter, that brings another emotional familiarity. And being in Canada. That has been the toughest, or North America has been the toughest because I had to find a way to connect or feel connected to my background.
and that was always a bit different because in what I experienced, I'm not saying everybody's the same, but is if you wanna see a friend, you have to call them ahead of time to let them know that you're coming and to see if they are available. Maybe plan a week ahead. In Argentina or in Bueno Aires. You're like, Hey, what you doing? Oh, nothing. I'm just, you know, doing laundry. Okay, I'm coming. Boom. And you go, and then all of a sudden there's pizza, there's something, whatever, wine, guitar playing, anything. Right? But you don't have to. You don't have to plan ahead. You just call on the spot and you go. And that was hard.
That was hard to adapt to that. So it was a bit tougher. But, you know, ev eventually you just carry on and then you understand that you need to call people ahead of time and,
[00:15:29] Christi: Do you still have family in Argentina?
[00:15:32] Silvina: I do a big, big family, big huge family. I wanna take pride in the fact that I was the first one of my immediate family that moved away.
[00:15:43] Christi: I wondered.
Benefactor's Support and Artistic Journey
[00:15:45]Silvina: And I was the only one with amongst my siblings that was given the privilege of studying in a school that was bilingual and taught me, you know, I learned my English. And that gave me the open doors for me to do anything else after. My life has been blessed in this way that my parents were the only ones who said, well listen, she's smart enough.
I think she can handle this and we can do it. So off I went to that school and then I blessed again because someone I knew related to me personally. It was a la a lady. I'm still very much in connection with. She said, I believe in you and I have the means to pay for your university in Massachusetts if you're willing to take that without asking for any money back.
[00:16:42] Christi: Like an angel.
[00:16:45] Silvina: An angel. An angel, and that all again opened up many, many doors for me. So my life has been blessed in, that way. Right? Like I've known people from many countries and I've had opportunities that other people in my family did not have.
[00:17:05] Christi: So you benefactor, she believed in you, did she understand you to be an artist at the time?
[00:17:13] Silvina: she did, because at the time I was looking to study abroad and that's what she caught on. She knew that I was looking and she also knew that it's expensive to study abroad and She said, well, I know that you've been looking, I know that you've done your research for a year, and I know how tough it is.
Here's my proposal. And I said, but I will never be able to pay you back. My parents will never be able to pay you back. She said, I don't, I don't need money back. I just know that you have it in you to, to do this, and I want you to give you that opportunity in life. And I talked to my parents. My parents says, oh, no, no, no, we can't accept this.
You know, we are never gonna be able to pay her a meeting. Had to be, had family meeting. You know, and then it all worked out really well.
[00:18:03] Christi: Is your benefactor still alive?
[00:18:06] Silvina: She is, she's in her eighties. Yeah. And I talk to her, you know, a lot. And, and she's, she's been my greatest support in also looking at my art. And yes, I love this and She was a one. I I always mention this anecdote because I love it. She was the one that said to me, you know, I've seen the world.
She's traveled the world. Oh my goodness, she's traveled the world. I've been to galleries, I've been to art shows. She says by myself, you know, with someone else, whatever, blah, blah, blah. But the best times I've had at an art show or art gallery or museum is when I go with you. And I said, why? Because you show me things that otherwise I would not see.
And she was specifically saying, for example, if I look at a painting, and I said, but look what those two colors are together. You know? And so like, I, I make her see things that would otherwise be, Not noticed. And she really paid attention to that. And she's like, the best thing to do is go to a museum or a gallery with an artist by your side.
[00:19:17] Christi: Has she been to visit you in North America?
[00:19:20] Silvina: she's been to Canada when we lived in Port Moody area. but she was already, she's suffering from Parkinson's, so she was already having some mobility issues that doesn't, she doesn't care. She's just still wanting to go and do things. She's not traveling anymore, so she's not, we doubt that she'll come ever here, but we do plan to visit next year.
So,
Finding Community Through Art
[00:19:41]Christi: Ah, I wondered if you had plans to go back. Yeah. since you moved, have you been back to Argentina or Not yet? Next year.
[00:19:50] Silvina: when I first started living abroad on, in my twenties, I only went whenever we had school holidays. So once a year. When we moved to Tampa, I only went maybe once because at that point it became, okay, now we're running a home. We need to save. We cannot spend money just traveling. So we did much less traveling.
And then when we moved to Canada, still the same thing. We had to start over from scratch and save and this and the other. So I did a trip in 2010 and then at that point, my mother who was in her eighties, she said to me. She said, a goodbye hug. And she said, I know I'm not gonna see you again.
And I said, oh mom, come on. I said, what are you talking about? I'm coming in a couple of years because that's what, how we planned going every two years, go visit. I said, I'm coming back in two years, you'll, you'll see us in two years. And she said, no, I know. She says, and I didn't make it. We booked the trip for two years later and my mom passed a couple of months before our trip, so she knew.
So,
[00:21:01] Christi: you made it for the funeral basically,
[00:21:04] Silvina: Yeah. Well, and not even, yeah, not even, because that went really fast. I made it then to see my dad, who at that point, he was in his nineties, and because they've been together for over 50 years, then he was just downhill. So I saw my dad and I said goodbye to my dad at that point. So, yeah, everything is, as I said before.
I have connections in every little place I go and I go back, I enjoy, or I have a good time, or I load myself with, goodness and hugs and emotional hugs and all that, and experiences, and then I have to leave.
migrating or moving, actually your heart is divided.
So my heart is divided in at this moment, probably three. So when I'm in New Zealand, I, oh, I miss Canada. When I'm in Canada, I miss New Zealand, but I also miss Argentina, so I have, as you know, you don't have a physical home or emotional home that is just one. It's just many,
The Art Is My Lifeline
[00:22:11]Christi: And how does the art play into that?
[00:22:14] Silvina: The art is my lifeline, and it is a way to connect myself to myself and to present time, but also it's given me the strength to carry on in the turbulence of migration or of separation, or of changes. And it sounds very romantic, but it is actually the truth because when I cannot express myself in words, I can always go back and paint.
And now that I'm, you know, almost 60, I am more aware that, yeah, when I paint, I transport myself. I escape. Reality. I'm in my own little cloud or my own little world, and that brings me peace.
[00:23:12]Silvina: So I've always done that when I was in college. Yes, it was a big, huge change in, you know, first lecture in history, sitting in Clark University big hall.
I'm listening to this man talk and I'm like, I don't understand a thing he's saying and I'm supposed to understand English. Oh no, what am I gonna do? I dropped the class, but then I said, okay, let's focus on what I really came here for, which is art. And so that sort of pushed me into thinking more about the goodness of being there.
The, the, the fun part, my thesis was all about self-portraits and Argentinian symbols. So it is a connection. It, it was for me. Okay, let's see. How can I connect that to who I am or where I was from? So it was, I don't know, about 15, 16 paintings. All of me. My mom said, oh, how can you portray yourself so ugly?
You don't ugly? And said, mom, don't worry. It's all about the expression of it.
When moving to Canada. Again, art is my lifeline. So I'm here, I'm new, I don't know anybody.
How am I gonna find friends? Hmm? There's an art center. There's an art group. Join them. Go check 'em out. And that I got my, artist friends and lots of opportunities right then and there. So, and then moving here and splitting, because the time we moved to the island was about the same time my daughter moved to New Zealand.
So it was a complete big, huge change. Empty nesting, like most people call. For me it was again, super tough. And then is when I started. Doing the walks for inspiration. You know how kids at that time and even now, maybe not so much, but it was Snapchat. I don't
know if you're familiar with the application,
[00:25:12] Christi: remember Snapchat.
[00:25:13] Silvina: so Exactly.
So then what happens is my daughter's in a complete different time zone. She's in a day ahead, 20 hours ahead. So the connection times are very difficult sometimes. So at the beginning, what I end up doing is li little videos. It's like, Hey, I'm going for a walk and this is my dog and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, and hope you have a good day.
Bye. You know, and she would do something else and, oh, you know, I'm cooking this, da dah, dah, dah, and bye. You know, but I did that so often when I went to walks that I said, well, maybe I should talk to the world about it. And that's how my, you know, walking for inspiration sort of started because I wanted to share.
With others the same way it came naturally to share with my daughter, for
[00:25:59] Christi: Mm-hmm.
[00:26:00] Silvina: And it's just very improvised. It's not super planned. It's not planned at all. I'm just walking and it's like, oh yeah, look. You know. And so again, that in that in itself, it's collaging pieces of my walk, painting colors of my walk in the little videos, and that then transported to my canvas.
The Bond with Polo
[00:26:26]Christi: Who's Paolo
[00:26:27] Silvina: Polo is my dog, or was my dog. So Polo. Polo, which is POLO,
polo, shihtzu Mix. So he was a. Like a 22 pounder shi. So he was, you know, heavy side and he was the only connection I kept from my previous life as a mother because he was our dog. When my daughter was growing up, my daughter moved away, we moved to Parksville and Polo was here with us. Walking with Polo has always been my thing. I always went with him places and I don't know if you have dogs or pets, they become your soulmate. They're like, they're just there. He walks, I'm crying, I'm sad. And then I look at him ahead, just prancing around,
[00:27:19] Christi: The little.
[00:27:20] Silvina: sniffing little tanks, wagging, and all of a sudden like, wow, yeah, he's doing great.
And then it kind of shifts your mood. And then some interesting things happened. All the times that I walked him is that whenever he saw a bench, he would stop and he would want to sit on the bench with me. I don't know why, but that's, he always did that. And so everywhere we did, we found a bench. We sat and we sort of like, okay, you know, yeah, let's look.
And then I petted him and for a few minutes and then, okay. You know, I could see he got restless and then he wanted to go. So he was a very important part of my going out there and living and carry on. And I wanted to share that with people and, and he played a very big role. So,
Coping with Loss
[00:28:14]Christi: when did Polo pass?
[00:28:16] Silvina: he passed two, two years ago. No, a year. It's gonna be two years this coming year.
So yeah, it was tough. It was very sad. It was very, very sad. And what did I do? As soon as I had to put him down and went to the vet and the vet was just the best.
I called my daughter and said, yeah, it just happened now, blah, blah, blah. I left her a message 'cause I didn't, I wasn't able to connect. And what did I do? Guess
[00:28:43] Christi: for a walk
[00:28:44] Silvina: I went for the walk at the
beach.
[00:28:46] Christi: the beach. Yeah,
[00:28:49] Silvina: And I put my feet in the water and I recorded my feet going in the water, and I sent the recording to, and I was talking about it and I said, oh, you know, Polo passed and dah, dah, dah to my daughter.
And I sent her a little video and she says, mom, it's so interesting that when you were recording, videotaping your feet, well, going into the water, you can see dog footsteps. And you could, because probably from another dog that was walking.
[00:29:18] Christi: Oh,
[00:29:20] Silvina: So I'm like, oh my goodness.
[00:29:22] Christi: heartbreaking.
[00:29:23] Silvina: Yeah. So, so, yeah. I had to go to the beach and dip my feet in the water.
Walking for Inspiration
[00:29:30]Christi: Part of what interests me so much about Walking for Inspiration is how meditative they are the just, it's not just your voice, although that's a big part of it. It's the way that you move the camera from the far view to the selfie view to. to the ground and then back up. And those benches where you and Polo used to sit are see, I mean, these are beautiful, beautiful walking trails in Vancouver Island.
Just so, oh, I, I just wanna close my eyes and kind of feel like I could hear the wind and the water, and is that part of the intention, or did it become part of the intention
[00:30:19] Silvina: It became, it was all natural. I did not plan. Any of this. I never plan anything in my life really.
[00:30:27] Christi: except the trip to Italy? Wait a second.
[00:30:29] Silvina: except the trip to Italy,
[00:30:30] Christi: moment from the,
[00:30:35] Silvina: except
[00:30:39] Christi: okay.
[00:30:42] Silvina: I like, like I'm a very spur of the moment type person. So my walks just became part of a, a ritual, as I said, with a Snapchat thing. And then it switch into, okay, now I'm gonna do a video. And then it went like, okay, I'm just put it out there and see what happens. And I don't know where I'm gonna walk. I don't know what I'm gonna see.
'cause every time you see a different thing,
Shaped by Migration
[00:31:10]Christi: Do you think, and maybe I read this somewhere, I think I read it in something that you wrote about being shaped by migration. How so?
[00:31:22] Silvina: Well, I think it goes back to the fact that you try every time you migrate to a new place, the first thing I have to do and I trust that anybody has to do is connect. First thing is connect. If it's temporary, still connect. If it's for a long term, connection is key. and I've learned that by migrating, because as a kid I was very shy.
I never had a lot of friends, I never liked talking to people in recess. I would be like, in a little corner, people would come and say, oh, hi, you wanna play and you wanna jump rope? I'm like, mm-hmm. And so much so that my parents started to worry about it it's like, oh, you know, we need to do something, you know, and no, you know, I was always very shy.
It only took me one mi the first migration when I went to college. And I was, okay, I better start talking because otherwise I'm just gonna be on my own. I had my boyfriend at the time and he was going to another university and, and all of that. So I had that sort of family and he was, he's also Argentinian.
So, you know, we had that little bit of connection. But I needed to be out there. I needed to talk to people. I needed to engage. I needed to see visit again in Tampa, same thing. I need to go out, I need to talk to those moms in school. I need to see what the teachers are doing. I need to talk to the teachers.
They can. And so it's shaped me in a positive way in which I, now, every time I move, which hopefully maybe I don't have to move again, but who knows, is go out and see who's out there. What are they doing? What are the things that I like doing and who's there? And talk to them, Hey, you know, I'm new. When did you move?
Like, do you wanna go for coffee? And so being the one that does, gives the first step I wasn't like that. And migrating has taught me that up.
[00:33:26] Christi: Has that informed your travel style as well? Do you talk to strangers when you're traveling?
[00:33:34] Silvina: See, that's what James does a lot. I'm not too much of a small talker, Like, oh, how was your day? Oh, good, okay. You know, and talk about the weather. I, no, I like to do deep conversations. he's the one who actually goes and talks to everybody and I let him, I.
So when I'm traveling, like say when we travel to Italy or when I traveled in New Zealand and we were just sightseeing or whatever, he does the talking, I do the observation, and then is when after observing, then I, oh, I noticed that so and so is doing that. So maybe then afterwards I go reach out. But the initial, the initial small talk, Hey, how are you?
I'm so and so. it's, it's on his side,
[00:34:22] Christi: So he breaks the ice
[00:34:24] Silvina: He ice I find the connection.
[00:34:28] Christi: That's a very interesting, way of doing it with traveling with two people, traveling alone, you don't necessarily have that luxury,
[00:34:37] Silvina: Yeah.
Choosing Canada Over the U.S.
[00:34:38]Christi: Well, okay, so I'm just going to say briefly that the reason you were in Tampa was because of a corporate work thing, right?
Your husband had a work
situation, that's why you were there. I didn't mention that before, but. You chose to bypass the US when you're really thinking about settling down and go to Canada. Why was that?
[00:34:59] Silvina: Well, the reason it was very straightforward, the first four years that I was in the US I had I was in Massachusetts and I absolutely loved being there. I made lots of connections. We had the opportunity of, you know, going to New York for the day. I mean, come on. So lots of, lots of good memories there.
Lots of friendships still there. And mentorship, our student visa ended, so we had to go back and then, but we wanted to go back to the States mainly because Argentina has never been a country where financial situations have been stable, politically it's not stable either. And opportunities for our then growing daughter were kind of stale at the moment.
So we said, no, we've seen something else. We want that for our daughter, so we need to somehow go back. We cannot stay in Argentina. And so we started looking into opportunities and this job came out We renewed our working visa twice. So the first three years, then you have the right to renew it again, another three years.
And then after that you have the right to ask for residency and apply for it. And we did apply. A couple of times we even participated in the lottery. A house was always denied,
[00:36:19] Christi: this was in Tampa, so you tried.
[00:36:22] Silvina: So we tried. So after the six years we tried to extend our stay. We, now we wanted to become residents and, and stay, but that didn't work out. It was always no, blah. Like, you know, it's, it's a process, right? You apply, either you get in or not. I mean, it's straight like that. And so after being declined, like probably three times, we said, well, obviously this is the, universe is telling us that this is not where we need to be.
And so, but what are we gonna do? Because we definitely don't wanna go back to Argentina. By then. Argentina was an economic disaster. And we, you know, finding jobs back at home again, that was gonna be stressful. Our daughter at that point, you know, she knew more English than she knew Spanish. So we're like, what do we do?
What do we do? And then we said, well, what about Canada? Neither of us had ever been to Canada. And I think that we were watching some Olympic games, some skating or something, and then there was a Canadian figure skater, and I thought, yeah, let's try Canada. And we tried, and the Canadian process was a lot faster.
It only took us nine months to get
residency.
[00:37:33] Christi: Wow.
[00:37:33] Silvina: So that's how we ended up here.
Embracing the Artist's Life
[00:37:35]Christi: Are you guys retired now? You, you and James,
[00:37:38] Silvina: Well, James has been retired for quite a few years now. he was able to retire earlier from his own business. He was a mortgage broker. And then I moved to the island and I kept on working because. Full-time artists for me is just very recent. Before it was just, okay, I need to make a living and then, build a family and whatnot.
And then art. Then it was very difficult to find jobs here that were long term. And at some point I said, you know, I'm just tired of every time preparing for an interview, sending over an estimate, sending a cover letter being in the corporate world because that's what I did is not what I like. Every time I'll be in an office and I have a lot of coworkers, friends, and whatnot.
They know, I always said this, it gets in the way and people just like, what do you mean? But you get paid to be in the office? No, no, no, no. I don't care that I get paid to be in an office and doing administrative stuff. I wanna be home painting. This is just a waste of my time. Right.
[00:38:39] Christi: That is the artist's way.
[00:38:41] Silvina: I lost a job last August and I started looking, looking, looking, looking. And then by January I said, well, no, this is again the universe telling me stop looking. And I stopped looking. It is still early. I'm not really retiring age,
[00:38:56] Christi: So you paint, that's a wonderful thing, and you sell your prints and
you have a a burgeoning community of followers and fans.
[00:39:07] Silvina: Yeah. Yeah.
Reflections on Immigration
[00:39:09]Christi: Let me ask you, what is your opinion about the anti-immigrant sentiment in the States?
[00:39:18] Silvina: Ooh, that's a very delicate question to ask. I'm sad because. I have a lot of friends in the US both born and raised in the US and immigrants, and I fear for my immigrant friends because some of them, came to the states with, I don't know if with legal paperwork. I don't know what happened to some of those friends.
I see them on Facebook and I don't dare ask. So it makes me a little sad. It makes me sad too because the world has more and more and more always been turning and people have always gone to new places and always had to start over in a new place, and the character of that particular culture is built.
With people from there, from outside there, people who were there even before them. And you know, it's a mix match. It's a collage of people and cultures and if you close that off, then I don't wanna say it, but it may become stale in the long run because you are within your own people and it's like, well, wait a minute.
And what about the richness of the cultures, the rituals, the food, the flavors, the music, So yeah, it's a delicate subject because I also lived there 10 years and I have one of my favorite memories there have always been with other Americans. And yeah, it's, it's sad. It's sad to see that. There's this dis, dis dissonance.
Is that a word?
I don't know. Like, you know, that that doesn't allow for more richer experiences and, and even for the kids, you know? Even for the kids. Italy. Italy is full of migrants migration. Like there's a lot of people from other countries there as well. Everywhere you go in the world, New Zealand, everywhere, right?
Canada, well, we're, wow. Lots of
[00:41:44] Christi: Lots of people. It's true.
[00:41:47] Silvina: Lots of people.
[00:41:47] Christi: Yeah.
[00:41:48] Silvina: And you cannot prevent that. That's the other thing. I don't think it can be prevented. People are always gonna wanna find a, a better opportunity somewhere else. Be it because it's more peaceful or because there's a better opportunity for their children or because there is a better economical situation, political.
People are always gonna go find something new or maybe because they're bored. I mean, people, if you had on your podcast, they pack away and they go on a boat, you know, it's like,
[00:42:17] Christi: Yeah, but I, I do, I agree with you. I think there is a striving to a better life always, and whatever that means. It means different things for different people,
[00:42:29] Silvina: It does. Sometimes you need to disconnect from whatever's bothering you and find a new place, or sometimes you actually find love, like my daughter, you know, she found love in a new place,
[00:42:40] Christi: she's welcomed in New Zealand.
[00:42:43] Silvina: She was I think the world would be a better world if we all including myself, accepted everybody. As they came. and especially if it's good, there's good in them, of course. You know,
Connecting with Silvina
[00:42:56]Christi: Well on that happy note
[00:42:59] Silvina: Yes.
[00:43:00] Christi: how can we get in touch with you?
[00:43:02] Silvina: Instagram. Same thing, same handle. SilvinaLanusseArt and Facebook and yeah. I'm always there. YouTube, you'll find me. I'm building.
[00:43:12] Christi: And, and walking and inspiring,
[00:43:16] Silvina: Yeah.
[00:43:16] Christi: inspiring listeners everywhere and they really are beautiful. Video pieces, very meditative and calming in this turbulent world. It's very calming. Thank you. And I'll definitely put the contact information in the show notes
[00:43:35] Silvina: I just wanna say thank you to you and it's been great. I feel that, you know, I've known you for a while now sitting here and chatting and, talking about traveling and experiences. I loved it. I, I love what you do and that, people can hear different points of view from all these experiences because we all have different experiences when we travel, thank you.