![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/jun-13-visual-art.13.Roxsane-Tanner-headshot.jpeg\")
<\/a>Born in Holland soon after the Second World War, Tanner came to Canada with her family in 1951.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was in the resistance, and my mother was in hiding during the war. They were both Jewish and wouldn\u2019t have survived otherwise,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her older sister was born during the German occupation, and her mother had to hide her baby with a local family. \u201cMy sister was 3 years old when my mom came for her after the war, to take her back. That was the first time she saw her mother.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After the family came to Canada, her parents moved a lot. \u201cThey were very entrepreneurial,\u201d said Tanner. \u201cWe lived in many small towns in Ontario and Quebec. Sometimes, my parents had several businesses open at the same time in the same town: a pet shop, a fabric shop, some others. They always worked hard. When I was 19, my parents and I moved to Vancouver. In the beginning, we lived in a trailer, the same one we drove here from across Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n Tanner inherited her parents\u2019 work ethic and their courage to try new things. \u201cAfter high school, I wanted to study nursing, but soon after I started classes, I hurt my knees and had to come home \u2013 I couldn\u2019t walk.\u201d<\/p>\n After she healed, she became a dental assistant and worked as one for several years. \u201cUntil I met my first husband,\u201d she recalled with a smile. \u201cHe was a wallpaper hanger. I fell in love with the man, married him, and joined his business. We worked together for several decades.\u201d<\/p>\n Even after her first husband\u2019s untimely death from cancer, she continued their business on her own. Many houses in Richmond and Vancouver feature wallpaper installed by Roxsane Tanner. By now, she has been a wallpaper hanger for more than 50 years. \u201cBut I\u2019m slowing down,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not accepting many new clients, not anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, she is becoming more and more absorbed in various artistic endeavours. Art was always on the periphery of her life. \u201cI always dabbled,\u201d she said. \u201cThen, about 15 years ago, my second husband, Fred, and I visited Italy. He was a high school counselor before he retired; we were chaperoning a group of kids on that trip. I saw some beautiful jewelry local artisans sold on the street. I liked it, but it was too expensive. I thought maybe I could make something like that, and Fred encouraged me. When we returned home, I enrolled in a course on silversmithing and started making my own jewelry. Fred built a silversmithing studio for me in our backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n She took more classes in different techniques, many of them on YouTube. \u201cI can spend hours watching educational videos on YouTube,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is always something new. Thousands of talented artists offer classes there. The good thing about YouTube: once you subscribe, you can watch the same lesson several times, until you really get it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n She sells her jewelry \u2013 earrings, bracelets and necklaces \u2013 in a local Steveston shop. Occasionally, she offers her own classes in jewelry-making, to children and adults. What started as a hobby from a casual observation in Florence ended up becoming a small business, as many of Tanner\u2019s hobbies tend to do: sewing, for example.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother taught me to sew, knit and crochet,\u201d she said. And, wanting to pass the skills on to others, she started, out of her home, to teach children how to sew. \u201cWe buy special kits and make hats and scarves for the homeless,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But that was not enough for her. Her creativity needed another outlet. About the same time as she embarked on jewelry-making, she also started painting in watercolours. \u201cI took classes, of course, some on YouTube, others at the local Phoenix Art Workshop here in Steveston. At first, I painted landscapes, but I didn\u2019t like it. A few years later, I went to Malta on a trip with the Phoenix Studio \u2013 they have amazing houses there, and I was inspired. The next year, we traveled to Mexico. I admired their historical buildings, but we also have amazing houses here, in Steveston. There are many heritage places here. I wanted to paint them.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When she returned from Mexico, she noticed a blue house in Steveston she liked and took a photo of it. \u201cI painted it from my photo. It was my first, and my friends kept bugging me: you need to show your painting to the owner. So, I went and knocked on his door. I never met him before that day, and he was somewhat gruff at first. He asked me if I would sell it to him, and I agreed. That\u2019s how it started.\u201d<\/p>\n Tanner has built another small business on that foundation. \u201cI paint houses that are for sale. Realtors around Steveston commission my paintings as gifts for the new homeowners. People also come to me and ask me to paint their houses, or their children\u2019s houses, as gifts. Sometimes, I paint from my own photographs. Other times, the clients bring their photos and order a painting from that image.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides personal homes, she paints heritage places around Steveston. The old community centre, a coffee shop, a church turned into a thrift store, the pier, with its picturesque boats, and the tiny post office \u2013 the same one where some of her work is now on display.<\/p>\n The exhibition includes Tanner\u2019s original watercolour paintings plus postcards and mugs with her artwork. Some of the paintings sport charming, quirky houses found only in the artist\u2019s imagination. \u201cI go online and search for heritage homes around the world. If I like one, I use it as my inspiration, but I don\u2019t copy the photos. I want my painted houses light and whimsical, like a fairy tale. Maybe a bit crooked, but reflecting the essence of the house, its soul and personality. Even the real houses I paint are not exact copies of the photos. I don\u2019t use a ruler to make the straight lines. I use my watercolours to remind people of the fun and joy their homes bring them.\u201d<\/p>\n You can see more of Tanner\u2019s art at instagram.com\/studioplace99<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>