A Summer of Pacing – Time, Intensity and Naps

NEW BEGINNINGS 

Hello and welcome to my first blog post – I am very excited to have this beautiful website up and running. Big thanks to Ryan, who has been wonderful to work with. If you like what you see here, drop him a line at [email protected].

LEADING UP 

The month of July 2014 was  a whirlwind of last assemblages of works, laser-cutting and sewing beautiful packaging (leather pouches!), final website details, organizing proper documentation of the work, and an atmospheric garden photoshoot, a studio tour and a local Halifax preshow, moving out of the studio (I occupied for the past 5 months)  – but finally, I was off with my work to the capital city. Though Ottawa was the final destination (family in other parts of Ontario are precious too!) – I was able to squeak in a homemade German meal or two (and another preshow of the work!) with Tantes and Onkels, eventually making my way to Ottawa via road trip with a very special Aunt Dot.

SPECIAL LOVING

After covering over 600kms, we checked in at a lovely B&B – our host a stand-in for the evening, (mother-in-law of the owner/the lady we had first arranged with) gave us our keys and took the payment for the stay, confirming the visit. However, she continued on. Our encounter went something like this:

The Host: “So you’ll be in Room 24 for the first two nights, and then for the last one you’ll be switching to the family room for the extra visitor?” My Aunt squeaked in alarm next to me – while I remained oblivious.

Me: “Um, nope you must have mixed that up, it’s just Dot and I for all three nights.”

Her: “ Oh, but I had a note here somewhere from my daughter…here it is, ‘they’ll be staying in the annex room for the first two nights and then on the third night they will be switching to the family room after her husband arrives for the SURPRISE VISIT.………’

In a moment of desperation my Aunt said something to the effect of ‘its MY husband!’ – which, had I properly heard – would’ve been immediately suspicious of, as she is happily single. After a rather shocked and stunned silence shared by the three of us, one of us went red, while another covered her face in horror and the last grimaced. Elated and deflated all in one moment, I wished I could just unhear those last words. A little mist clouded my vision as I thought of the trouble he’d gone to arrange all of it. What a fantastic guy I have in my life. I decided I couldn’t ruin the surprise for him too, so I kept the news to myself.

After a day of arranging papers and pieces to just the right spots behind sparkling glass cases, the show successfully opened as The Gardens We Carry, at LA Pai Gallery. My favourite arrived and gave me a beautiful bouquet (he was a little crushed I knew already), but after we had consoled each other over the unsurprise, we celebrated my first gallery sale over a bottle of red wine and a beautiful dinner shared with my Aunt. And to top it all off, the B&B made up for the booboo and gave us a beautiful suite with a large tub, such a treat after an evening of platform heels on concrete floors.  It was truly a great week in many, many ways.

TO THE PRAIRIES

With the Ontario adventure behind and beneath me, I flew into a new week and a new province, Saskatchewan, where I spent a week with family. I doubt I’d ever have enough baby holding and photo-ops with my three new nephews, but it was wonderful to spend time with the rest of the family too – siblings, parents and Grandfather.

Then to finish off it all off,  a quick road trip was planned with a few close friends over to Winnipeg, Manitoba – uniting the original jewellery gang again, with some more favourites and long time buddies, Sonja Rosenberg and Mary Lynn Podiluk. These two talented ladies were by my side in 2009, the early NSCAD University days. We critiqued each others work back then, and we do it still, it was wonderful to share thoughts and dreams with each other again. Many lazy porch nights with lemon wine and ciders were had.  Its interesting to see that though our careers have taken off in a different provinces, I still feel a strong sense of craft community between us and am frequently touched by the heart of these two and their ambitions.

The BIG THANKS LIST

With so many adventures these past week’s I have had  frequent naps to stay ahead of it all. Its been amazing to see it all come together, but as with any endeavor  – it was not done alone. Many thanks to all of the following friends and supporters. Preparation for the show ‘The Gardens We Carry’ was brought to you by:

Gallery Owner and award bestower Lisa, from L.A. Pai Gallery in Ottawa, ON.

Generous funding was awarded by Arts Nova Scotia.

Hugs/comfort and amazing food from a loving and supportive partner and voice of reason, Luke Buxton.

Adventures in laser cutting and leather – Aurélie Guillaume, my amazingly talented good friend and the equally talented Jacob Mailman, NSCAD University technician.

Photo documentation by the understanding and enthusiastic Eliot Wright.

Photoshoot vision and collab with the talented and lovely Laura Ellen.

My website guru, Ryan Donkersgoed.

My sweet and willing model, Dominique Hurst.

Inspiring work space on loan from Rebecca Hannon.

Summer biking was made possible by Dan Freeman.

And continuous support and encouragement from all my friendgroups, the Laurencetown Crew, the Dartmouth Crew, the Studiomates, all my NSCAD jewellery peers and Profs, many members of the local Jewellery Scene, the barbershop customers, the Climbers, the Runners, my family and one of my biggest supporters – my Husband, Luke.

Also, check back soon, as photos of the brand new exhibition, ‘The Gardens We Carry’ will be put up shortly! Thanks all!