home is where the heart is

home is where the heart is, a set on Flickr.

“home is where the heart is” gallery exhibition for Port Moody Arts Centre, opening reception 6-8pm on Thursday, April 21st

content ©pomomamadesign

Artist Statement

“Leaving home, leaving the country of my birth, leaving my family, putting down roots half a world away. The old familiars are no longer at hand beside me.

Yet I look up to a new night sky so similar to the old one I used to gaze at as a child from the shadows of my childhood garden. I orientate myself with familiar constellations; Orion the Hunter, the Plough, the Milky Way though it is dimmer and the stars sparkle less. So comforting, knowing that over the seas my family are rooted under the same sky. Even the water I dip my toes in is remotely connected through the great oceans to my childhood beach where I gathered shells and sea glass treasures. I carry my memories as wearable, portable touchstones of those precious to me.

I remain connected. I make my home.

One of the first reasons for making my own jewelry was extreme homesickness experienced after moving to Canada, selling our UK home and putting down roots here. I missed and still miss my family and friends as I make my new life in BC. Emigrating exacts a huge price on social networks, family ties, and security, especially for the non-working, trailing spouse who has no familiar work routine to slot readily into. On the trip back to the UK to sell our home I spent a few weeks with my parents in the Scottish seaside village which I grew up in. I came back to Canada with almost a kilogram of beachcombed sea glass from my childhood beach and over a hundred photographs of my childhood garden. Somehow they developed mystical qualities, tying me to the homeland I will probably never live in again and influencing my work. My jewelry-making initially focused on creating portable mementoes using sea glass, vintage beads from unstrung hand-me-downs, and other souvenirs of a former life, so I could carry them with in my new homeland.

So I can remain connected to who and where I used to be.

So I can feel safe and secure and put down new roots.”

This is a test post I am writing to check up on something in WordPress

Welcome to AddThis for Chrome!

Welcome to AddThis for Chrome!.

working on wordpress

today i’m trying to remember how to use wordpress with pauline 🙂

read all about it: i listed these fine s

read all about it: i listed these fine silver maple leaf pendants http://ow.ly/2Sk0l & blogged about making them here http://ow.ly/2Sk47

will be demo’ing wire crochet at the Pl

will be demo’ing wire crochet at the Place des Arts open events this Thursday and Saturday http://www.thev3h.com/2010/09/place-des-arts-open-houses/

Make It March: wordless wednesday

glitterball pendant in silver artistic wire plus glass seed beads

wordless wednesday: my studio

working at the bench (also my computer table)

new storage layout (and hidey hole)

on one side of the bench

my new summer workspace!

or maybe here!

Faberge – a history

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Not sure why, but when I first made a multi-coloured wire crochet cuff it reminded me of work by Faberge.

The first cuff was crocheted in tinned copper with freshwater pearls. It was one of the first mesh bracelets I made. It sold at a craft fair (I think – record keeping was a little sketchy then) but the name hung around.

The next “Faberge” was in copper with an even more exotic mix of freshwater pearls. I liked it so much that the cuff was recreated three times.

Then a customer mentioned she would be interested in one in silver wire, so I made one in argentium sterling and LOVED the combination of shiny wire with pearls.

…. and then I went back to tinned copper ….. but tried a string of multi-gemchips. Voila! A new “Faberge” is born.

Valentines Day

heart drops, originally uploaded by ebbandflo_pomomama.

I’ll be spending mine in the gift shop at Port Moody arts centre (come on down for those very last minute gifts).
Also thinking of going to see “Holmes” at the local cinema this evening. Any takers?