Written by: Sydney Luther, Communications Assistant
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 firsthand and expand their contacts with the Saskatchewan craft community. This program gives artists in the first five 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 artists are the Emerging Artists who will be at WinterGreen Fine Craft Market in Regina at the Conexus Arts Centre from November 16 to 18, 2018. Come check out the great work handmade by these talented artists!
Kaia Anderson
Mosaic Designs by Kaia
Email: beautyinbrokenglass@gmail.com
Facebook: Mosaic Designs by Kaia
Instagram: @beautyinbrokenglass
Kaia Anderson is a high school teacher by day and a mosaic artist by night. She started making mosaics about five years ago when, on a whim, she decided to design something unique to hang above her mantle. She enjoyed it so much that she ended up creating more pieces for family members. Lately, Kaia and her dad have spent many hours together in their workshop honing their crafts. He does woodworking and Kaia does her mosaics. Since they work together, Kaia’s dad always builds the frames for her mosaics, which allows Kaia to work on any sized surface that suits her fancy. She has grown to love working with glass. She never gets tired of the deep jewel tones and the way the light makes each finished piece shimmer. Kaia is thrilled to have been accepted as an Emerging Artist at WinterGreen and looks forward to seeing where this new adventure will take her.
Yommer “Joan” Charalla
Acos Handcrafted Jewellery
Email: acosjewellery@gmail.com
Website: acosjewellery.com
Facebook: Acos Handcrafted Jewellery
Yommer “Joan” Charalla is a Saskatoon-based artisan who was born in the small Quechua village of Acos, Peru. His work is significantly influenced by his culture, which prides itself on creating beauty through weaving intricate designs. Joan’s principal technique is “filigrana,” a traditional form of jewellery making that involves twisting, bending, and braiding metal wire. His work largely features sterling silver wire and semi-precious stones, but a variety of other metals and secondary materials fill his workshop as well. Though Joan’s principal technique was learned informally, he also draws on experience gained through formal jewellery design studies in Argentina. He is currently designing and creating art as the owner and sole artisan of “Acos Handcrafted Jewellery”.
Jenni Haikonen
Jenni Haikonen Studio
Email: jenni.haikonen8@gmail.com
Website: jennihaikonen.com
Instagram: @jennihaikonen
Jenni Haikonen grew up in Hepburn, Saskatchewan. After completing her Certificate in Art & Design from the University of Saskatchewan in 2011, she went on to study at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, BC. Upon completing her Diploma of Fine Arts, she moved to Vancouver to begin her own artistic practice. Jenni works in a variety of medias, but is most interested in watercolour and acrylic painting. In her work, she explores the connection between land, nature, and the emotional & spiritual self.
Her current work reflects the natural and wild landscapes of the prairies and west coast, with a focus on plants that hold healing properties, both physically and emotionally. She is interested in sharing the intricacy of wildcrafted plants that can be used for practical purposes. She holds a fascination with the longtime practices of herbalism and folk medicine and hopes to share the beauty of these findings with others.
Maureen Johnson
MauReu Designs
Email: maureudesigns@gmail.com
Website: maureudesigns.ca
Facebook: MauReu Designs
Instagram: @maureudesigns
Maureen Johnson designs and creates one-of-a-kind fine silver jewelry at her home in Saskatoon. Inspired by her late father Reuben, who worked with silver and semi-precious stones, the name MauReu (Mah-Roo) honors his memory and influence. Maureen has studied in Saskatoon and Phoenix, Arizona. She has been designing jewellery with various mediums and participating in trade shows for three years. Maureen has taken classes in Precious Metal Clay in Edmonton and received her Art Clay Level 1 Certification.
Maureen designs with Fine Silver precious metal clay that becomes pure silver metal once fired in the kiln. The soft clay is kneaded, rolled, texturized, shaped, sanded, dried, fired in the kiln, and polished. The fine silver shines and signifies the refining process in our lives. Many of Maureen’s pendants are enhanced with a Viking Knit chain weaved with 26 and 28 gauge Fine Silver wire. The weave in the chain represents the different directions we have walked on our journey of life and how all those experiences have weaved together to make us strong.
Akiko Muromura
Email: akiko.muromura@gmail.com
Instagram: @ceramistakiko
Originally from Tokyo, Akiko Muromura started taking pottery classes as a hobby. After two years of practice, she had an opportunity to come to Canada, where she landed in “the land of living skies.” Eventually, she became a resident of Regina. About 10 years ago, she re-started taking some pottery classes after several years of absence. Clay became her passion.
Akiko is enjoying producing functional wares and some decorative objects. She uses porcelain and stoneware fired to cone 10 in a reduction gas kiln. She also likes using the wood fire kiln, which shows the collaboration between ash and fire.
Brendon Parker
Brendon Parker’s Custom Pens
Email: brendon_j_parker@yahoo.ca
Facebook: Brendon Parker’s Custom Pens
Brendon Parker has always been a woodworker, but started woodturning about two years ago and fell in love with it. His passion is turning handmade pens and pencils. Brendon uses wood, acrylic, and shed deer antler to make his pens. He gets a lot of joy from the work itself, but the true reward is to see the expression on a customer’s when they take home a handmade, one-of-a-kind pen that is a true work of art.
Sonja Rosenberg
Sonja Rosenberg Jewellery
Email: sprosenberg@gmail.com
Facebook: Sonja Rosenberg Jewellery
Instagram: @sonjarosenberg
Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Sonja studied jewellery design and metalsmithing at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD) in Halifax, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2012.
Sonja is inspired by elements of erosion, decay, and re-growth in urban and rural environments. Her interest in sculptural concepts and three-dimensionality continually influences her work. Sonja currently resides in Ste. Anne, Manitoba, where she houses her unique off-grid studio, actively creating pieces for both exhibition and private commission.
Jo Shepherd
Owl Eyes Printmaking
Email: owlprintthat@gmail.com
Website: owl-print-that.com
Instagram: @owleyesprintmaking
Jo grew up in Moosomin, Saskatchewan on a farm with two siblings before moving to Winnipeg for university. While there, she learned some basic printmaking techniques at the fabulous Martha Street Studio, a workshop and shared artistic community space. Jo found linocut to be an especially enjoyable and flexible art form, and continued to work on small projects at home. After moving to Yorkton in 2015 with her young son Milo, Jo was able to buy her own printing press and more supplies, and has participated in two arts and craft markets since then. She loves to make custom prints as gifts, and is always trying to challenge herself with more complex layered pieces. Bright colours, a painterly approach to applying ink, and an interest in natural forms characterize her linocut style.
Kim Undseth
Kim Undseth Pottery
Email: tk.undseth@sasktel.net
Website: kimundsethpottery.biz
Facebook: Kim Undseth Pottery
Instagram: @kimundsethpottery
As far back as Kim can remember, she’s been creating. She took a pottery course at the Art Gallery of Swift Current in the fall of 2014 and fell in love. Five weeks after touching clay for the first time, Kim had her own pottery studio. She lives 9 kilometers east of Swift Current with her husband. Together, they have transformed their walkout basement into a pottery studio and are open to public.
Kim makes functional pieces: plates, bowls, mugs, pitchers and vases. She loves being able to take a lump of clay that has come from Saskatchewan ground and make something beautiful out of it. Each piece is unique and sometimes has a story that goes with it. Kim has been experimenting with a variety of glazes and underglazes and feels she has found her own style.