In my child’s mind I did not connect these presents with the woodshed activities….. When I told my mother about these things many years later (11 or 12 years old)… I felt a great wave of shame as if I was complicit and to blame for the abuse… In retrospect, the views of society and the church at the time fostered and confirmed these beliefs. This was as damaging (if not more so) than the sexual abuse itself… Life gives us many opportunities to turn our dross into gold, and if we are fortunate, we do. There are many who are not so fortunate…. As every religion tells us, by listening to others, by loving and aiding them, comforting the lost and the desolate, feeding the hungry, befriending the friendless, we secure our own happiness.

-Arlene

Iris is a figurative painter who has committed herself to the human form. Hauser has exhibited her works throughout the province and region for four decades, and her paintings can be found in numerous private and public collections. Significant commissions include portraits of chancellors and presidents of the University of Regina, and Chief Justices of the Appellate Court of Saskatchewan.