BIO
I am a jeweller and multi-disciplinary artist based out of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. Art has always been a strong focus in my life and after high school, I relocated to the west coast to study visual art at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University. After completing my Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2001, I returned home to Muskoka, got married, built a home, and became an active member of the local art community. In 2006, I indulged a lifelong fascination with personal adornment by enrolling in the Jewellery Essentials program at the Haliburton School of Art & Design and I've been making jewellery ever since.
My work is a visual exploration of the many ways we converge with the natural world. Distillations of organic forms, fabricated from metals and worn on the body, help remind the wearer of their place within the natural world. My project work delves even deeper into these themes, with organic motifs acting as metaphors for our emotional experience of the world as we make our way through the life cycle.
I have always regarded objects as powerful storytellers. More valuable than the sum of their parts, objects are imbued with meaning by the stories they contain. Pieces of jewellery, perhaps because of their intimate connection with the body, are incredibly potent storytellers. Jewellery can help us outwardly express our personality or quietly remind us of a cherished person, memory or idea. Whether I am creating a custom piece commemorating an important milestone for a client or I am developing a new collection, I strive to make pieces that are more than just a beautiful luxury item; it is very important to me that the pieces I create hold meaning for their wearer.
My design process almost always begins with research. Something will spark me to learn more about a subject - it could be anything (an anecdote from a friend or an unusual plant in the woods) but it almost always relates to the natural world. Once I delve a little deeper into a topic, a physical idea begins to form. Creating an object that helps communicate what I have learned has become a way for me to make sense of the world - almost like another language. Once I begin making, I use only traditional hand fabrication tools and techniques to translate my thoughts and research into a physical object. As a maker, I value careful craftsmanship, but I also embrace natural imperfections in my materials as part of the process and evidence that each piece has been made, one at a time, by human hands.
I work out of my studio on the upper level of Britton Gallery a lovely fine art and craft gallery my Dad and I opened in downtown Bracebridge in December 2019.