My first carving followed an auto accident in which my forestry survey partner and I hit and killed a young deer while travelling home late one foggy night after having some drinks. It was carved in small burned pine stump that I had picked up at an old prescribed burn site where we were surveying. The carving depicts a human body that transforms into the split hoof of a deer below the torso, with the upper body wrapping around the hoof, one arm clinging tightly to it. Strangely, the carving seemed to carve itself out of the soot, through tears and woodchips and blood. I called it “Assimilation.” To me, it represents how many living things are being lost (becoming endangered or extinct) due to the careless consumption of humans.
I am a self-taught artist. I have been carving wood and other materials sporadically since 1994, and in 1995, I carved my first piece of jewellery. It was a wooden pendant, a gift for my partner at that time, made out of a piece of oak from my old, broken, tree-planting shovel. It fitted the occasion remarkably, as we had got together on a tree-planting contract—a ‘slash romance.’
In 1996, after returning home from a transformational trip to
East Africa
, where I was inspired by the amazing art and carvings and craft I saw there, I took up the carving tools again, and made some pendants and a few other gifts, until lack of funds warranted a move.
For the next several years my carving tools sat packed away in a box in the attic of my parent’s garage, while I traveled and toiled, trying to teach Asia English. English was my vehicle for travel.
Then, in the winter of 2000/2001, I retreated for four months in a small, remote Canadian town, where I had lived for the first year of my life, with a newly acquired collection of tools, some musical instruments, and an openness and need to explore. There, I began carving jewellery and miniature sculpture out of wood and soapstone. Out this period came the first hardwood rings and many pendants. Independently, I studied iconography from all over the world, and soon began to see shapes and designs in everything, everywhere. My creativity flowed, or, perhaps, more aptly described—‘the creative force flowed through me.’
In 2003/2004, while living in
Victoria
,
BC
, I started carving for a living and began working in hard beach stones, making laminated hardwood rings, doing wood-cut prints, and developed some wood-cut printed Japanese lanterns. I sold my wares at local markets, the university, and at folk festivals on
Vancouver Island
. Competing with all the other extremely talented artists and artisans in
Victoria
, I carved out a meagre existence and eventually felt I needed to change gears
So, in the fall of 2004, I moved to
Edmonton
to study writing. After a year of this—disillusioned with formal education and feeling boxed in—I started up my carving business again and developed it substantially, with the encouragement, advice and help of some good friends. Over the next couple of years, I vended at a local markets and festivals, and other festivals around the country.
I am forever uprooting myself, but always a seed flying in the wind, searching for fertile ground in which to plant myself, a place where I can grow wildly. In Edmonton I once again found myself dreaming of such a place. I could think of no better place than Haida Gwaii, a mystical and magical group of isles off the west coast of BC, a region where giant trees grow on carpets of moss, under wet blankets of gray. Here, I am beginning to do some bigger sculpture, exploring the world of writing, and continuing to evolve the jewellery. Here, there is much space to expand, and the waves and winds stir up much inspiration and, of course, a plentiful supply of materials for carving.
Festivals, Shows and Farmer’s Markets attended
- Winnipeg Folk Fest,
Winnipeg
,
Manitoba
,
Canada
, 2006 (juried)
- Calgary Folk Festival,
Calgary
,
AB
,
Canada
, 2006 (juried)
- Edmonton Folk Festival,
Edmonton
,
AB
,
Canada
, 2006 (juried)
- Calgary
International Reggae
Festival
,
AB
,
Canada
, 2006
-
Edmonton
Earth Day Festival,
Edmonton
,
AB
,
Canada
, 2006
- Fair Trade Fair,
University
of
Edmonton
,
Edmonton
,
AB
,
Canada
, 2006
- Edmonton Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market,
Edmonton
,
AB
,
Canada
, 2006 (juried
- Edmonton Fringe Festival,
Edmonton
,
AB
,
Canada
, 2005 (juried)
- Edmonton City Market,
Edmonton
,
AB
,
Canada
, summer 2005 (juried)
- Moss Street Market,
Victoria
,
BC
,
Canada
, 2004 (juried)
- Government Street Market,
Victoria
,
BC
,
Canada
, 2004 (juried)
- Vancouver Island MusicFest, Courteney/Comox Valley, BC, Canada, 2004 (juried)
- Islands Folk Festival,
Duncan
,
BC
,
Canada
, 2004 (juried)
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