Who is Tanya Cunnington?

My name is Tanya Cunnington, I am an artist, and I’m also the owner and director of Lee Contemporary Art Gallery.

I was born up in Northern Ontario but I went to high school here. I moved to Moonstone, which is just outside of Orillia, when I was two, so I went to high school here – I went to Park Street. When I was 18, I went to Art School in Toronto.

Just recently, I guess seven years ago, we had our son and we thought, there’s no way we could stay in Toronto. We came back because it’s really where I’m from but also to be with family.

So, you grew up here?

Yes.

What was it like?

Growing up here as a teenager – I don’t want to say it wasn’t a great place to grow up as a teenager, but I was so bored.

I grew up in Moonstone, it was very quiet, I’d be bussed in, go to school and sometimes hang out at the cafes on the weekend – I’d hang out with my friends. I don’t know, I just wasn’t happy here. I was craving the big city.

Moving back here as an adult has been amazing. I just think as a teenager, maybe it’s your job to be unhappy with your place in life, I don’t know. And I do also think that Orillia has changed.

When I was a teenager I would hang out with the skateboarders and we didn’t have a skate park yet, so we’d often get harassed by the police at the time. There wasn’t a Youth Centre, so we would just be hanging out on the streets, drinking coffee at cafes, so it was definitely a different town at that point. And now as an adult it’s a great place to be.