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Inside the Printshop at Concordia University

The Creative Process and Me


My journey into jewelry design began in a classic print shop created for the traditional production of etchings, lithographs, and monotypes. I love everything about printmaking: the tools, the zinc plates, the smell of oil-based ink, the feel and weight of linen paper, the slowing down of time, and most of all, the intersection between physical process and that magic moment when the inked plate and paper make a print under the press roller. You never quite know what is going to come out the other side. You think you know, but the magic that happens under the roller is strictly between the ink, paper and pressure.
 Always a lover of allegory, these prints soon became bound into books.

That intersection of physical process and the final product involves a leap of faith, a willing surrender to the mysteries of the creative process. The outcome is planned, techniques used to steer the process, unpredictability accompanies every part of the process. Why does that happen? It is one of the things I love to think about, not really searching for an answer but more marveling at the essence of creativity and the bubbling energy that brings focus as I move through the set of techniques that metal smiths have been using for thousands of years. I am so glad to be part of this mystery and to be able to create lasting jewelry art will bring joy for generations to come. 
The unpredictability of the final outcome exists just as much in making art jewelry as in making an etching.