Alice Bottrill
Biography
Alice Bottrill (formerly Ling Zhen Jiang) was born in Xinhui, Guangdong province, China. Alice faced many challenges during her youth—her family experienced oppression under communism due to her father’s political affiliations. In 1987, when she was 27, Alice immigrated to North Vancouver and began working to bring her sister and parents over. They arrived on October 1st, 1989 to start their new lives. Alice has always enjoyed making art, and is presently dedicated to developing her skills as a watercolourist.
Painting a Home
“I did whatever I could to get out of the country. I did not want to spend my life in that kind of system and I thought about the future. If I had children, I would like to have them in an environment with more freedom so they could express themselves. I never flew in an airplane before because we were so poor. My first flight was from China; Hong Kong, across the Pacific, to Canada. I could breathe, yes, once I arrived, I could breathe.
You never stop developing. That’s art. People say, “You are very good.” But I say, “When you climb up one mountain, you always see another mountain higher than you. That is art.” And then, after so many years of working on it, you sometimes pull at your hair and you don’t know what you’re doing. But my passion is enjoying the process. No matter how many mistakes you make, it doesn’t matter, it’s part of the process.”