'I'm a glass-blower': How a hitchhiker and a fib paved the road to a life in art

Twenty-six years ago, while living in B.C., Seema Goel picked up a hitchhiker. He asked Goel what she did.

Without thinking, she said, "I'm a glass-blower."

She wasn't.

But Goel kept up the charade, answered his questions about glass-blowing, and dropped him off.

Then she drove home, immediately called a glass studio, and landed the last spot in a workshop for the next weekend.

It was kismet, she says.

"I went and became a glass-blower because of this fib. Someone stepped into my car and I said this thing out of nowhere and I went and did it," said Goel, who now lives in Winnipeg.

Since that day,Goelhas gone full outas an artist, working in ceramics, sculpture and drawing. She went to art school, learned how to paint, and has since become enraptured with circuitry and engineering as an expression of art.

NowGoel'swindingpath in art is the subject of anew short film by Winnipeg filmmaker Mandeep Sodhi.

The film about Goel is part ofOur Culture, Our Art a four-part video series by Sodhi profiling South Asian artists in Manitoba, created forCBC Manitoba's Creator Network. The four-part series was produced in conjunction withCBC Manitoba's pop-up remote newsroom bureau and community space in Garden CityCentre in late 2021.

You can see thefirst film, about artist Azka Ahmed and their journey from spoken word poet to visual artist,here.

Two other video profiles will be released in the coming days:

• Thursday, Feb. 3:GurpreetSehra on how the outdated caste system informs her work.
• Sunday, Feb.6: Sisters Saira and Nilufer Rahmanexplain how they honour theirlate father's storytelling traditions.

About the filmmaker

Mandeep Sodhi is a screenwriter, cinematographer and director based in Winnipeg since 2011. He has more than 13 years of experience in the film industry in India, the United States and Canada.

He has won two national awards in India for his docudramas, and his music videos have been nominated for national and international Music Awards in India, Asia and Sierra Leone.

In 2015, Mandeep won theACTRA Manitoba Golden Boy awardfor most outstanding member initiated project for his short filmThe Perfect Little Plan.

He has written and directed for television and has had his works broadcaston Bell MTS, Super Channel and various on-demand platforms. His film company isSodhi Creative Films.