The Saskatchewan Craft Council runs an Emerging Artist Market Experience Program, which allows emerging craft artists to participate in SCC markets in order to experience the market environment first hand and expand their contacts with the Saskatchewan craft community. This program gives artists in the first 5 years of their professional career the opportunity to participate in an SCC market for a reduced booth fee, without the need to be juried. There is a selection process; however the formal jury process is bypassed in order to introduce potential marketing members to SCC markets.
The following six artists are the Emerging Artists who will be at WinterGreen Fine Craft Market in Regina at the Conexus Arts Centre from November 20 to 22. Come check out the great work handmade by these talented artists!
Dawn M Teasdale
Dawn M Teasdale is a jewellery artist working in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Over the years, she’s made a lot of different things (needlework, knitting, sewing, clothing design, millinery, rug-hooking, paper-making, book-binding, painting… you get the picture). But when she started working with precious metals, she was hooked! From the first time Dawn sat down at the jeweller’s workbench, she fell in love with the goldsmith’s craft–the techniques and the tools. There’s something undeniable and intimate about the process of transforming metal into a wearable object; one that can be a receptacle for time, space, and memory.
Each of Dawn’s pieces is meticulously hand-forged; the textures and patinas are individually applied. This is jewellery made to last a lifetime. Dawn’s keen interest in mid-century modern design and passion for finding patterns and repeats in nature drive her design process. The interplay between light and shadow, the spaces in between, the contrast between smooth and rough compel her to explore these intersecting elements and interpret them in her work. She enjoys exploring these concepts through the custom of personal adornment – forging and fabricating each piece, so that no two will ever be exactly alike. Because you’re not living a cookie cutter life, and the jewellery you wear should reflect that!
Email: dawnmteasdale@gmail.com
Website: dawnmteasdale.com
Etsy: dawnmteasdale.etsy.com
Citizens of Craft: citizensofcraft.ca/profile/dawn-m-teasdale
Angelle Dancsok
Angelle is a fibre artist living in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. She has been knitting and crocheting since she was 8 years old, but for most of her 20s & 30s she didn’t seem to have the time to work on her craft. After friends and family began to ask her to create winter items for them, she decided to enter a table at a craft show in Indian Head. After that, Angelle decided to leave her career in sales to pursue her passion. Creating and selling her fibre work is her full time job. She sells her work through her business Knitty Gritty Accessories.
Angelle incorporates bull elk horn antler buttons into her pieces. Angelle’s parents have an Elk Ranch in the Qu’Appelle Valley and every year their bull elk naturally shed their hard horn antlers. Angelle’s father creates buttons from these antlers for his daughter’s use in her designs.
Angelle designs her pieces with the Saskatchewan seasons in mind. Her main focus is her hand knit and crocheted outerwear and accessories. Angelle creates ponchos, capes, scarves, cowls, scarves, hats, boot cuffs, and headbands. She aims to keep her designs as natural looking as possible, using only colours found in nature. She utilizes wool blends, cotton, and, alpaca, and she has even used Yak!
Email: angelle@knittygritty.ca
Website: knittygritty.ca
Facebook: Knitty Gritty Accessories
Instagram: @Knitty_Gritty_Accessories
Mark Wells
Mark has been making jewellery in one form or another for over a decade. He started with making chainmail style chains and then progressed to more traditional silversmithing techniques. All his work is handmade in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Mark’s jewellery is inspired by the desire to challenge himself try new techniques and to integrate those design elements as cleanly as possible. He sells his jewellery through his business Make Your Mark Metalwork.
All of Mark’s jewellery pieces are completely handmade, typically from solid sterling silver. He loves to create custom work, so feel free to contact him to discuss your project. In the event he can’t create your specific vision now, maybe your question will inspire him to learn a new skill!
Email: mark@makeyourmarkmetalwork.ca
Website: makeyourmarkmetalwork.ca
Google +: Make Your Mark Metalwork
Citizens of Craft: citizensofcraft.ca/profile/mark-wells
Sonia Griffiths
Sonia Griffiths is a ceramic artist based in Regina, Saskatchewan. Having worked in clay throughout high school, Sonia moved from Edmonton in 2011 to study ceramics at the University of Regina, where she will be completing her Bachelor of Arts Honours in 2016. Her commercial work, produced under the business name Pinching Porcelain, features delicate, stackable pinch pots and rose necklaces in wood fired porcelain, along with other hand built functional and sculptural forms.
Sonia is interested in the tactile joy experienced when working with clay, and the imprint of touch left when porcelain is pinched between fingertips is highly visible in her work. These organic surfaces dotted with finger prints are further enhanced through atmospheric firings, with a particular affinity towards unglazed porcelain fired in the University’s wood kiln. The results are totally unique surfaces, varying from soft pink and peach tones to bright, almost metallic oranges.
Email: griffiths.sonia@gmail.com
Instagram: @PinchingPorcelain
Gary von Kuster
Gary von Kuster has spent most of his working life as a professional photographer. He worked in print at The Star Phoenix, and then moved on to working in television at CBC and CTV. After going freelance, he then worked on documentaries and series for Discovery, APTN, Life, BBC & Global.
A couple of years ago Gary bought a small lathe, took a few lessons, and started turning pens and pencils at his home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Everyone uses a pen, so why not a beautiful one? There are so many different kinds of materials from which to turn the bodies of the pens. Gary casts a lot of his own blanks so he can use a variety of materials including musk ox and buffalo horn, deer and elk antler, wasp nest (yep, real wasp nest), paper money, birch bark, lichen, exotic woods and not so exotic woods such as beautiful caragana. He sells his work under the business name GVK Pens & Pencils.
Pens come in a lot of different shapes and sizes and it is an adventure to find the one that fits in your hand perfectly. Gary loves the challenge of finding the right blend of materials that will say with one pen “this is a beautiful, serious writing instrument” and with another pen “this is just crazy fun.”
Email: gary@gvk.ca
Facebook: GVK Pens & Pencils
Citizens of Craft: citizensofcraft.ca/profile/gary-von-kuster
Judith Wera
Judith Wera and her husband Saphern Odiyo are originally from Kenya, and now reside in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Through their business Authentic African Crafts, they sell handmade “African-style” crafts made out of recycled materials. Judith and Saphern create all of the work they sell by hand. “I would like people to appreciate the importance of recycling, as we make all our products out of recycled materials,” says Judith of her work.
Cow horns are a main staple in Judith’s jewellery work, which she collects from local farmers. Judith and Saphern boil the horns, treat them, cut and dye them, and then use them to make beads for earrings, bracelets and necklaces.
They use soft mahongany wood to create giraffe sculptures and simple cups, which they then paint. They also use mahogany and cypress wood to carve salad spoons, which also include recycled animal horns in the handles.
Lastly, Saphern paints traditional African scenes onto banana fibre instead of canvas. This fibre comes from the stem of the banana tree. It naturally has layers like an onion, so Judith plucks them out, drys each layer separately, and then Saphern paints them.
Email: judywera@yahoo.com