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Art was the obvious choice: Laura Endacott 

Graduation is just one chapter in several charting Laura Endacott’s relationship to Concordia.

Back in the 80s, Endacott took an aptitude test and the results were incontrovertible. “They told me the only thing I could do was go into the arts,” she said. It was not the obvious choice for someone with a working class background, but Endacott followed the advice.

She was one of 10 students accepted into Concordia’s Inter-related Arts program, a precursor to today’s interdisciplinary studies. “It was a way to work in all disciplines, without being limited by the boundaries of each individual discipline,” she said, adding that this was not a sanctioned choice at the time, when pursuing a specific field of study was expected. But her great success in the program, and high marks, suggested that the aptitude test was on the mark.

Endacott continued her education formally and informally. “I did my own art history course visiting galleries and museums throughout Europe.” She did a Graduate Diploma in Communications in the early 90s. And she started a family.

Her eclectic background gave her strong knowledge of fibres, and computers, a combination that had Concordia calling her to teach in the mid-90s.

As a teacher, she got her students involved directly in the community, perhaps most remarkably in a partnership with the Old Brewery Mission that had students working with the residents to design and produce Dream Screens to provide both privacy and a personal touch to their beds.

By then, she was a student in the Special Individual Program. She has again earned high marks in a program that borrows and builds on a combination of disciplines. She was one of six admitted the year she applied.

I like in-between spaces, and not always doing the same things,” said Endacott. “I need to produce with my hands and my mind.”