Julia Woldmo’s half of the white dorm room she shares with a roommate in the Grey Nuns residence is decorated with band posters and prints. Her desk is framed by a string of bronze lanterns and a big homemade calendar for the month of September. She sits at the desk, more than 4,000 km away from her hometown of North Vancouver. Despite this, the drawing and painting major isn’t homesick.
“I feel very at home (here),” Woldmo said, speaking not only of her room in the residence but also of Montreal as a whole. “I find it equally important to like physically where you’re living, not just your university.”
Coming to Concordia University and Montreal has been a bit of a process for the 18-year-old. In her last year of high school, Woldmo knew she wanted to come to Concordia. She had heard great things about the school from alumni and high school teachers. One of the people who inspired her most to apply to the school was a neighbour who had graduated from Concordia with a degree in design and was now a practicing artist.
“They just all had really great experiences (at Concordia) and said if they were going to do it all again, they definitely would recommend it to someone,” Woldmo said.
Woldmo was also ready for a change of pace. She had never lived outside of North Vancouver, and so moving to Montreal for university was the perfect opportunity to experience life in a new city. She had fallen in love with Montreal and its vibrant art scene during a visit the previous summer. However, even though she was accepted into Concordia right out of high school, Woldmo decided to wait a year before taking the plunge.
When Woldmo initially applied to Concordia, it was for a therapeutic recreation specialization. While she had always been passionate about art and had lingering ideas about going to art school, it wasn’t something she seriously considered in grade 12. She said that during high school she felt pressure to pursue something more academic. So when it came time to send out university applications, she chose therapeutic recreation instead of art.
“I knew (therapeutic recreation) was something that interested me,” she said. “But it was such a big commitment to fly across the country, so I didn’t end up going that year.”
Instead, she chose to enroll in psychology for a year at the local Capilano University. Woldmo took a variety of academic courses and enjoyed them— but she just wasn’t passionate about any of it the same way she was about art.
“Last year really brought that notion to me, of ‘You should definitely be making art’,” Woldmo said.
With this in mind, she took two art history courses last winter, worked on her art during her free time and even sat in on figure drawing classes at the university. Finally dedicating herself to her art made Woldmo realize just how excited she was about the prospect of art school. She knew studying at Concordia would offer her the mix of studio art and art history she was looking for.
So, when university application time came around again, she applied for Concordia’s drawing and painting major. This time, when she was accepted, she decided to go for it.
Now that Woldmo is finally here, she’s looking forward to the next four years of her degree and where it will take her after that. Her ultimate goal would be to becoming a practicing artist, but she said as long as she’s doing something creative, she’s happy. In the meantime, Woldmo’s looking forward to everything her first year in Montreal will bring— from a real Canadian winter to eventually moving out of that white dorm room into her own apartment.
You can see more of Julia Woldmo’s art on her Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/juliawoldmoartist/?fref=ts) and Instagram (@juliawoldmoart)