Resin in All its Glory!

Resin in All its glory!

I have always been creating! Since I was a kid, at 11 yrs old, from building forts with screen doors and large rock seating to molding earrings out of polymer clay to fashion design to oil painting to silk-screening t-shirts for my first small business at 16yrs and now to casting the most gorgeous resin accessories, crafts and home décor! When I was in high school, I sold my first oil painting (a naked lady against a baby blue backdrop) to an art dealer in Vancouver.

For many years, I have been afraid to share my talents and art projects with folks past my family. I guess it was the fear of rejection. The fear of no one liking anything that came out of my brain. I am an unapologetic black female and in my school/work life have endured many facets of openly and concealed racism I really didn’t think my art would be enjoyed in the mainstream or taken seriously. It wasn’t until my daughter was 8 years old and brought several of her drawings to me I realized my art wasn’t just for me. It was my offering to the world. It was to be left up to the universe to decide who could relate, interact and be inspired by it.

My daughter had been watching me create since she could write her own name at 3yrs old. I cried so much at her level of talent I thought my eyes would fall out of my head. As I got older I dabbled in so many forms of art. For the past 8 years I have landed on the versatile resin and polymer clay mediums!! I could sit for hours designing, molding, casting all of the above and not realize how much time has past by. My daughter and I designed 52 pieces of jewellery and sold 40 of them at a local market. After that I was hooked!! Afraid no more!

I got the courage one day to visit a local youth arts centre and asked if they were hiring community facilitator. When I share the examples of my resin, crochet and polymer clay sculptures, with and without light bases, jewelry, mixed media paintings, etc they were all to happy to offer me a spot to teach the kids. When I was to start, my class was the most filled!! It was a joy creating with those youth, They, along with my daughter, spared a fire in my belly that I did not want to go out. To date, I am still teaching at that arts centre and became the first Artist in Residence at our local library! I created 75 art kits to be distributed, created a light form project, led a Resin workshop and created a Video Mosaic.

Where would I be without my sharp, handy tools!! For most of my resin projects and jewellery I embed transparent words and pictures into the first layer. For my jewelry, I have created cards to sell them on, as pictured below. Nothing like a sharp pair of scissors to get your work precise!! I use fabric shears to get a sharp cut as well as special hole punch’s so the pendants and earrings can be strung through. I love to share my work now and a local beauty salon has purchased 25 of my necklaces to be sold there.

I am almost ashamed of holding my gifts back from the world, but thankfully because of contests like this, the magic of social media and my website, I can share with the world. My colleagues and I get to showcase our new works during the annual Couture show we created together!! A dream come true.