JEWELLERY
Jewellery as storytelling. Small sculptures that are necessarily about touch and specialness. A selected portfolio from 2019 and before
Tea-Shell
Sterling silver, 22 karat gold, Oaxacan seashells
2019
I spent some time in the Winter of 2019 on the coast of Oaxaca. On previous trips, I had usually travelled rough. This time, I had a vacation in spite of myself.
On my last day on the beach, feeling that I hadn’t really experienced the place Leo style, I stripped down and headed South along a rocky peninsula. Barefoot, I burnt my feet in the red, dusty sand. I climbed a small cliff and found that it was a cliff on the other side as well: a rocky spine. I crossed ponds frozen over with salt.
I found the place where the fisher birds eat their meals and leave their hollow sea shells. Each shell looked like one of the ocean’s eyes. I collected a pile to take with me. It felt too greedy, so I only took a few from the pile. I listened to the ocean lapping on the Southernmost stones of Mexico for a while before heading back to land.
Return
Sterling silver, precious & reclaimed metal antiquities
2018
Artificial gemstones made from material reclaimed from fine jewellery, precious metal objets-d’art, colonial antiquities, and workshop scraps. This was an effort to turn culture back into nature and led to the use of this reclaimed material in Lionize. One of the first gemstones made this way was flung into a field near Stratford, Ontario by a friend of mine from ᐃᖃᓗᐃᑦ. The third part of Artefact, my sustainable jewellery project with Jared Daugharty.
Elevate
Sterling silver, gold
2017
New forms cast from molds of antique metalwork in sterling silver and gold. This was the second part of Artefact, in which we attempted to elevate the folk tradition of silverware jewellery.
Salvage
Reclaimed sterling silver & antique silver plate
I learned to make jewellery from silverware from friends of mine in the street art scene in Ottawa when I was starting out as an artist. Later, I would return to this folk craft as the first part of Artefact, my sustainable jewellery project with Jared Daugharty.