Urban Alchemy

I am the sole jewellery artist/metalsmith behind the brand Urban Alchemy. I collaborate with other artists once in a while, but for the time being, I am a one-woman operation. I started making beaded and hemp jewellery when I was young and fell in love with the process of transferring ideas into wearable pieces. It wasn’t long before my ideas outstretched pre-manufactured components. This was the driver in my decision to attend Kootenay Studio Arts in 2013. This 10 month program gave me the fundamentals and practical skills to continue forward on this path of creating. The stunning landscape of the Kootenays and the vast wilderness of Northern BC (where I currently reside) fuels my desire to mimic our natural surroundings in all of its visceral beauty and inspiration. I achieve this replication through texture, contrast and forming in with an abstract, contemporary flair. In contrast, architecture, especially bridges and buildings - modern or ancient, are also of particular interest to me. These industrial, man-made marvels are fascinating and have inspired me to create a few mini-series and 3D, moveable pieces. I work predominantly in sterling silver, but I also use gold, brass and copper. I make mens and women’s jewellery, including, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, body chains, rings, brooches, cuff links, tie clips, and pins. In addition to jewellery, I make metal keepsake boxes and memorial vessels. Currently, I have 4 collections and production lines - Philosopher’s Stone, Transmutation, Elixir of Life, and Magnum Opus. Each collection features a mix of techniques and imagery to achieve the desired aesthetic. I use freeform cuttlefish casting to attain a highly textured, prehistoric feel for the Philosopher’s Stone collection. For this traditional, freeform casting, I carve into the 2 pieces of dry fishbone and tape them together forming an ingot for the molten metal to flow into. If I love the casting, I rubber mold it and have it re-cast for production. From there, I cut, form, shape, braise or rivet, and polish to create different pieces within the series. I hand carve the wax and then go through the same process as the freeform casting to create variation within the series. I am a huge fan of forming metal. I love the tactile connection with the material and ability to transform it from casting grain, recycled bits or sheet into a multidimensional, voluminous, textured and sculpted piece of wearable art. I use forming techniques like anti-clastic, synclastic, and fold forming to achieve these characteristics for the Transmutation Collection. I use lost wax casting, precious metal clay, and/or milling to imprint or mimic leaves, brush, or textures collected around my rural studio or along my travels to add an element of nature to the Elixir of Life Collection. The Magnum Opus series allows me to mix it up from production and make One-of-a-kind pieces that are more labour-intensive. These pieces incorporate locally sourced and/or irregular, one-of stones, found objects, custom alloys, mixed metals and utilize a variety of techniques and imagery to make them unique. In addition to metal and stones, I have been experimenting with resin and hope to have a recycled collection added in 2018 involving a mix of resin, recycled metal and found objects.