White Wedding Wednesday: Leah and Jason

With the stark, fantastically surreal landscape of Iceland as the back drop, Jason asked Leah to join him on a lifelong adventure.

I met Leah several years ago as my neighbourhood of Roncesvalles was in transformation after the long period of construction ended.  Leah opened up a new shop, called Scout featuring art, functional home objects, greeting cards and gift items from North American artists and makers.  Leah has been carrying my work in her shop and is a strong supporter of artists in the area.  She's wonderfully professional, and stocks her beautifully curated shop with items that she loves.

I was honoured to create some simple, subtle wedding bands for Jason and Leah, in white gold and sterling silver, and pleased to have played a small part in such a big day.

Take a look at their stunning wedding photos, shot by the talented duo at Tied Photography, and be sure to drop by Scout if you get a chance!

Where did you both meet?

He said: At a Halloween party.  I was dressed as a dwarf, she was a fairy.


She said: At our mutual friends BBQ.  Though technically a few years before at a Halloween party.

At what point in the relationship did you know that you wanted to get married to each other?

He said: About two years in. It was the moment when I realized my life wouldn't be complete without her.


She said: A couple years in we started discussing the possibility, though we were both never big into the idea of marriage before that.  It was a new idea and feeling for both of us that we were excited about.


How did you imagine your wedding day to be as a child or teenager?

He said: I didn't imagine having a wedding day. Only when I met someone worth marrying did it all come together in my mind.

She said: To be honest, I was never that girl who dreamed of her wedding day. I can't say I really had a vision of what it would look like. 

What is the trait that you admire most about the other person?

He said: Her compassion.

She said: His drive and his dependability.  I can always count on him, and that's not just true for me but all of his loved ones.  He is true to his word and he's there when you need him. Of course there are MANY other things :)

What do you like to do on weekends, as a couple?

He said: Walking and drinking coffee, and mini road trips.

She said: Sleep in a little, go for brunch or make breakfast at home.  We also love doing little close to home road trips, rent a car and explore somewhere close to the city.


What was your most memorable date or trip together:

He said: Iceland, what's more memorable than asking for a lifelong commitment.

She said: Iceland! The place where Jason proposed to me :) Who knew you could make such a unique, beautiful country that much more special.

What was the most memorable/surprising thing about your wedding day?

He said: Our overwhelming feelings of gratitude.

She said: All the love! You can't really prepare for the feelings that come with being surrounded by all your closest friends and family supporting this huge commitment in your life. It was overwhelming and we didn't want it to end.


What does your new jewellery mean to you?

He said: It's a physical symbol of the connection that exists between us at all times.

She said: I never want to take it off!! I love showing it to people and looking at it and just being reminded of our commitment to each other.  I love that it was made by an independent designer who I've come to know from carrying in the shop.


What is your biggest fantasy/dream/hope as a couple?

He said: To keep the excitement, joy and love that we experience in this newness for the rest of our lives.

She said: To keep on the same path.   To buy a house and continue to travel. To grow together and embrace the changes that come. To keep having fun with each other and take each day as it comes.  To not lose the feeling of gratefulness for having found each other.

Wedding photos from Tied photography and personal photos courtesy of Leah and Jason.

Perfect Strangers.

Strangers make us nervous.  Strangers trouble us.  Strangers often delight us.
"Stranger Danger", is something my sister yells occasionally, when someone creeps her out.


We're taught as children to be suspicious of strangers, and to never accept gifts from strangers, which is what makes the "Perfect Strangers" project by Oh, Comely magazine
so delightfully wicked.  An international gift exchange between strangers, perfect strangers has paired people from every continent in the world!  Check out this amazing map that they created because they were so astounded by this years numbers.


I thought that this would be a fun project to participate in, and take me out of my bench work head space for a little while and focus my attention on a perfect stranger.  A perfect stranger living in Lancashire, England.  All I know is that Sally is a photographer, and has just moved into a new home, and is settling in. 


The premise of the project is pretty simple..."Prepare a package for a stranger, and fill it with things you love. You'll surprise someone. You might be surprised in return. You might even find a friend."  So, I decided to focus on some great handmade and local items for my stranger across the ocean and filled my parcel with a great handmade, solid walnut shelf by OffcutStudio, an embossed journal by Artistry Cards, some cinnamon French milled guest soap, and some other little gifts.


Check out some of the great gifts that people have posted on the site, and sign up to take part in next year's project!






































All images from the Perfect Strangers Facebook page.

The Big Gigantic

My solo exhibition, "The Big Gigantic", opens in Regina today, at Slate Fine Art Gallery.  I really wish that I was able to travel to the opening, and spend a bit of time in the Queen city, but it's just too busy in the studio before the holidays.

This show features several bodies of work, including my Canadian men Series, The Provincial Floral Silhouette Series, my icon silhouette series and shadowboxed works.

"My current body of work explores the icons, symbols and clichés of Canada.  While these symbols are often nostalgic and romantic, they are symbols that I reluctantly embrace and identify as being Canadian.  Within this body of work are several series that represent both obscure and iconic provincial destinations, people and symbols. 

These works explore an "idea” of Canada, and allude to the souvenir. The desire to take a “piece” of a place home with us and to somehow authenticate a journey is a shared one.  This common need allows us, as Canadians, to relate to one another despite our distance across such a vast nation."

The theme and exploration of this work has been in development for the past 11 years, starting with the Canadian Men Series, that reference the style of Victorian mourning jewellery, or monarchy medallions and illustrate the archetypes of Canadian men that are disappearing, lost and forgotten but persistent.

As well as showcasing some of the older work, I continued working on my Provincial Floral silhouette series, and Slate Fine Art Gallery will host the newest additions to the collection: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

Each Canadian province and territory is assigned a flower, generally a prolific or symbolic flower for each province. These statement neckpieces reference the floral symbols of each province beginning at the East coast, and moving westward, in a sort of visual road trip.

Finally, I really wanted to revisit my ongoing series which I describe as my silhouette drawings.  These acrylic drawings or silhouettes are forms and symbols of heroes and villains, inspired by Canadian history high school textbooks, maps, pop culture, tourism brochures and postcards.  This series is presented as a hinged shadow box that functions both as a vertical jewellery box, and wall mounted art piece.  Each framed piece has a component that is removable, and can be worn as a jewellery piece.

I also added several new pieces to this ongoing work:  "Sudbury Saturday Night", (with a removable stomping board and microphone brooch, inspired by Canadian musician and Icon, Stompin Tom Conners) and if you're not familiar, you should listen to this version, by Hannah Epperson, "On Second Thought", (with removable maple sap bucket brooch), "Just Married, 10 Year Anniversary", (with removable tin can brooch that celebrates the upcoming 10 year anniversary of same sex marriage in Canada), and "Game On", (with removable word bubble brooch).

And the title of the exhibition?  Well, because this work is showing for the first time in western Canada, I titled it after a misheard lyric that dominated the radio when I was a teenager from the song, "Hundredth Meridian", which goes, "Left alone to get gigantic, hard huge and haunted"...I thought the misunderstood song lyrics would be a good title as the song references the longitude line that separates Western Canada from the Central and Atlantic regions.  

Western Canada will always be the big gigantic in my mind. xo.

I graciously acknowledge the support and encouragement of the Ontario Arts Council. Thank you.

Dance party for one...

Inspired by the magical and the melancholic, Russian born artist and illustrator, Yelena Bryksenkova is someone you need to know about.


Her illustrations of forest maidens, dance parties for one, and magical characters are whimsical and enchanting, without being overtly saccharine. Her exploration of the hidden, the quiet and the melancholic draws you into her imagined worlds.


Richly textured and layered in pattern and content, they often feature lanky, bohemian girls and document their beautiful daily adventures.  I often feel like I've been in the apartments and homes of these women, they resonate with me and feel like safe spaces where I'd share a secret or two over some mulled wine with a girlfriend.


Her multiple inspirations are described on her website:

 

"The art and literature of Russia's silver age has been a tremendous influence on me; the world of art movement, Diaghilev's ballets Russes. Indian miniature painting, Pre-Raphaelite photography, folk art. for inspiration I often look to the work of Serov, Sargent, Renoir, Vuillard, Matisse; I will never get tired of paintings of quiet repose, everyday moments. women brushing their hair, reading, arranging flowers, drinking tea, lost in their private thoughts and surrounded by cherished objects. stylistically, the way I draw people was most likely shaped by studying the work of J.W. Waterhouse and Edward Gorey, as well as fashion illustrations from the 1920s. reading Haruki Murakami and Alain de Botton has shaped the way I perceive the world and informed my work. so many things...I'm always living under the spell of something or other."

Perhaps it's the grey snowy weather over the last couple of days, but I've been looking at my pinned prints that I'm wanting to collect for my place, and really thinking about gathering a few things, my Icelandic wool blanket, a pot of green tea, a book I've been putting off too long, and some new art to hang over the long winter to come.  Her work can be purchased on Etsy, and you can learn more about her work on her blog.

A Fall Escape in pictures....and a wonderful surprise.

The past few weeks have been very busy in the studio, longer hours, leading up to the holidays, and too much blending of home and work, but as the light is slowly fading faster day by day, it tends to zap my energy levels, and leaves me needing an escape.

A weekend escape was planned following the long holiday weekend (Thanksgiving here is in October), to take a bit of quiet time for my partner and I to catch our breath, as Cameron also works as an artist/maker and his days are long in the tooth this time of year as well.

We chose a stunning location at the bottom of a valley, along the Niagara escarpment in an off the grid cabin, lit by propane lights and surrounded by a rushing brook, right outside the door.

It was a stunning fall weekend, dramatic grey skies, vibrant leaves carpeting the ground, and just enough of a chill in the air to light the fireplace in the evening, and sit in a cozy circle.

And, something very exciting happened when the air began to chill....I was left wondering why Cameron wasn't putting more wood on the fire, and went to check on it...inside the wood bin, sitting amongst the off cuts and scrap wood that he brought to the cabin to burn, a rough, handmade box that looked just like a piece of firewood, but inside! Oh inside!  A stunning, white gold art deco ring with lacework, snug within a hand embroidered miniature pillow that my friend Bebhinn made for the box.  I didn't throw that log in the fire kittens, but I did say yes!