Get to know Della Burford

When growing up I lived in Ottawa, on a farm in Saskatchewan and in Edmonton. At eighteen, my twin sister and I travelled to New York to study Interior Design. Our classroom was the Metropolitan and Frick Museum. Dale, my husband, and I spent over a year travelling in Europe and we explored museums and art galleries. Before I had left, Canada I got my Bachelor of Science in Textiles, so this made exploring architecture and art in Europe even more interesting.

When I got back to Canada I worked as a designer and taught design at Humber College in Toronto. After teaching I would go to my studio,and paint "Dodo Land". When these paintings were shown in a gallery on Markham St. in Toronto,everyone commented that they thought this would be a great story for children. When I told the story to a class of seven year old children, I knew it was true. It was after this experience I decided to pursue getting my Bachelor of Education and teach children as well as adults creative writing, aand art, often including storytelling. I had the chance to lead many workshops for teachers on Building Self Confidence, teaching Global themes,the Environment and teaching E.S.L with creativity.

The "Journey to Dodo Land" and "The Magical Earth Secrets" were an author's dream as I was able to help design the books. Dodo Land became a play in New York and was performed for seven years, in which, I helped in writing, direction, and design. This included designing costumes that were hand painted and sets which were large acrylic canvases. The most exciting performances for me were at the Museum of Natural History, the Discovery Theatre at the Smithsonian Institute, in Guatemala for teachers of the physically challenged, and to children in East Harlem schools. "Imaginations Unlimited" had over 100,000 children come to their performances and visit Dodo Land. Now Dodo Land is on the internet as Dodo Land in Cyberspace. The story of "The Magical Earth Secrets" was performed as a play in New York before it was a book. Swedish children performed the story at the "Globetree Conference" at the concert hall in Stockholm. It was also a puppet dance show at the Centennial Library in Edmonton with Maria Formolo Dance. In the spring of 2001 a storytelling performance was done at the World Festival of Island Cultures in Korea. A storytelling was done in 2002 at the Sea Salish Day at the Children's Festival in Vancouver. In 2003 a Love and Protect the Earth" writing and art project was done at Immaculate Conception School in Vancouver

I have done storytelling, readings and workshops throughout North America, Mexico, England and Holland and am open to travelling and working around the world in new and different ways. I love travelling and have been inspired by tavels to Japan, Korea, Thailand, Europe and Mexico. I have presented a "Dodoland- Magical Earth" Storytelling at the Festival of Children hosted by the South Coast Plaza in Newport Beach California in 2003,travelled to Holland to do a storytelling and lead a workshop on Creating Your Own Healing Story in 2204, and did a storytelling of Magical Earth to launch a Science Fair event at Sunshine Hills School in 2005. Myself and Dale recently filmed for two short demos in England, Wales, and Ireland including my latest story - Little Rabbits Miracle Stones.Dale and I co-design with the help of Chris Dodoland in Cyberspace which was one of the first e-zines for kids in Canada.. I love having contact with so many people in the world.I work from our home/studio in Vancouver in Canada overlooking the ocean. It is inspirational and a great place to write, paint and be. To find out more about my "Author Visits" click here.

Della Burford

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