OUR TOWN: Joy and passion on canvas is Kaaren Soby’s signature

Published 12:30 pm Saturday, August 2, 2025

Kaaren Soby paints on a canvas as large as her passionate spirit.

It was what my soul needed – to see Kaaren’s work on the Artisan Tour recently in the Bulkley Valley. There is a joyfulness in almost all of Kaaren’s work that compels me to keep examining each piece – until I can move on to the next.

Kaaren credits her joy and passion, in all her forms of expression, to an ‘interesting’ childhood’ in High River, Alberta..

Her dad was a kind intellectual. A family doctor and a surgeon, he was also a gifted opera singer and multi-instrumentalist. His special gift was the cello.

While getting his medical education, he played saxophone for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. 

His appreciation of education and learning led Kaaren to pursue her degree in languages.

Kaaren’s mom was also trained in classical music. And she was fun, always fun, Kaaren said.

She was a deeply empathetic person, a talented nurse, and, like many in the post-war era, found that alcohol could help ease the tension. With her life becoming layered and confusing she turned to musical theatre, an outlet for her energy and passion. 

She was also a Charleston champion of Alberta.

Spiritual awareness, for Kaaren, came via the 10 years (from age 5 to 15) her mom had her enrolled in a convent.  Within the walls of tight structure that surrounded her effervescent spirit during her early teenage years, Kaaren started searching. One thing was clear in her mind… she wasn’t going to be a debutante.

While in her early 20s, Kaaren paired her clear voice with the dynamic banjo. She would join her brother listening to the Kingston Trio. They performed together but she didn’t like the bar scene.  With her spirit leading the journey, and while strumming her banjo, Kaaren became passionate about folk singing, which took her through most of Canada. 

Music, however, wasn’t the path that brought her to where she is today. She started to develop an interest in visual art. With learning being a big part of who she is, she took a plein-air workshop in Banff, Alberta. 

Kaaren couldn’t keep still at the easel and began to explore and hike. Her instructor, Nikola Bjelajac, a prominent expressionist and art educator, got her to sit still for a moment. He told her that he would like to study her and teach her. 

He liked her energy, her curiosity and attitude. He believed she could be the next Emily Carr of Canada.  

She told him that she would follow him anywhere, but she needed to work. For one year, he paid her $50 a month and she worked as a janitor in his art-classroom hangar.  And when she asked what she should do, he challenged her spirit and said “you paint.”  

Fast forward to today. Kaaren’s work is renowned.

When I asked about a painting "Disappearing Caribou" that I loved, it had been sold for $12,000. Another piece "Bjorn the Bear Salmon Fishing" had similarly been sold.

A recent painting of a lady with a big-brim hat, standing in a tide pool in Hawaii hangs in a local restaurant.

Kaaren paid tribute to local flower farmer John Kholer and this painting is hung in the Alberta Stock Exchange building.

Over the years, she has found herself channelling various subjects, she said. A few years ago, it was wildlife as she grappled with her sorrow surrounding population declines of iconic species.

“Painting puts me in a contemplative, meditative state and it’s a hugely spiritual activity for me, and I am communicating with the animals when I’m painting, and I am presenting their essence and their beauty and their magnificence and even their humour,” she told The Interior News in 2019.

These days she has gravitated toward painting First Nations people. 

Each layer in Kaaren’s story could be a chapter in a compelling and absorbing book. For the last 50 years she and her family have lived well, and with joy, off-grid in the backcountry of Telkwa. Her husband, Larry, steadfastly supports her as she tells him “to get his own canvas.” 

Her daughter, Cheechum, coordinates her art business.  

Her family is a great part of who she is. They all live together in the ‘bush’ while influencing us to see the wonder, joy and necessity of the natural world.

And she loves being in the Bulkley Valley, noting the vibrant artistic culture. She cited Perry Rath and Mark Thibeault as two local artists who have been particularly influential to her.

As I drove away from my enchanting interview, Kaaren sang, while standing in a field beside my car, "Sanso Duso," a song from Serbia. I felt a very natural beauty, in a passionate, spiritual artist that I am so thankful to get to know better.  We felt as kindred spirits through our shared love of music, natural beauty and art.

To see Kaaren at work, go to her Facebook page. Also, check out the website art@xyt to see a large collection of Kaaren’s pieces, many of which have been sold.

The joy in Kaaren’s spirit, and the passion she has while creating, is as large as the canvasses she paints on.