THE INFORMER PAGE 2

JANUARY 28, 1992

Kiff Holland: Teaching is a Break from Work

You don’t often meet an artist who says he teaches
for fun and paints for work. That’s just the sort of
conversational twist Kiff Holland clearly enjoys. He
often refers to himself as a “right-wing bigot,” but the
Informer heard nothing overtly shocking, or more right
leaning than a 31’s approach to elementary education
and an aversion to television.

Kiff is one of Cap’s well-known secrets. He is a suc-
cessful painter. He has won several awards and was re-
cently named to the American Society of Watercolor
Artists, a prestigious honor bestowed on only three
other Canadians.

Holland’s light-filled works can be viewed at the
Harrison Gallery, or if you’re on the third floor of A
Building, stop by the anteroom to the President’s Office.
There is a beautifully evocative portrait there.

That is all I will say about the work itself: Kiff has

an aversion to critics, and says they should stick to criti-
cizing other writers.

“Critics make up their own language that can only
be understood by other critics. It makes them the laugh-
ingstock of artists, or even worse, artists start believing
the critics.” He stops himself and says, “I’m politically
incorrect and I love it.”

Kiff professes he fell into his career “by accident.”
After an extensive art education in South Africa includ-
ing two years at the University of Witwatersrand
(which required an A in a nine-hour exam) and two
years in Commercial Art at the Johannesburg School of
Art, Kiff worked in advertising and with his family’s
outdoor education business. Then he and his wife,
Janet, decided to leave South Africa. They went to the
States to explore, and on a visit to Canada (to see fellow
African emigré and English instructor Bill Sch-
ermbrucker) they discovered Vancouver. “We went to
the top of Mt. Seymour, and I felt like Moses with the
tablets looking at the promised land.”

Three years later they immigrated. Kiff worked for
the Anglican Church at Camp Artaban on Vancouver
Island for three years, then spent a dismal year trying
his hand as a life insurance salesman. “I turned to
painting as solace,” he says.

When Janet took one of the paintings to a local
gallery for framing, the owner asked if it was for sale.
“Janet said, ‘well, yes.’ It took her half an hour to get
home. When she got there the phone was ringing. The
gallery owner asked, ‘Can he do another?’."

“I made $5 on that sale,” says the artist. But some-
thing had begun. His next jobas museum designer was
gained through a creative approach to resume design.
He created an illuminated manuscript out of the bland-
looking document.

Laid off three years later, he faced another turning

continued on page 5

SARAW Program continued from page one

other. guests with a gracious “hello.”

SARAW is a talking computer program, which was
introduced at Cap in 1990. Developed by Pat Hodgson,
former literacy coordinator at the College, and Don
Bentley, computer programmer for the Neil Squire
Foundation, the program teaches literacy skills to non-
verbal adults who have severe disabilities. The program
sounds out words the students spell, plays literacy
games, helps the students read stories and helps them
write. Candice used the program to write the following
letter to Perry:

Dear Mr. Perry,

It was very nice to meet you. I hope you enjoyed
learning about the computer program. I think it is
important for people who have disabilities to learn some
type of a skill. I would really like to thank you for all
the support you have given the SARAW program.
Without this, students would have to stay home. I’m
glad to be coming to SARAW because I am able to meet
many new people. I hope you have a nice day.

Sincerely,

Candice.