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Deerheart Studios and the Creative Process
STUDIO ONE This studio is tucked in the back of the property under tall cedars and firs. It is 12’ x 24’ with a covered porch, allowing space for carving and copper projects, wood storage, and work benches. Not only do I carve in here, I work with sheet copper. After attending Metalsmithing at MISSA ( www.missa.ca ) in 2005, 2009, and 2010, under Crys Harse, I have acquired tools and equipment to continue. I have an outside torch area and tubs for pickling solution. I have cut, filed, sawed, hammered, riveted, and applied various patinas to sculptures and functional forms such as mirror and picture frames, centerpiece bowls, trays, and also jewelry.
I am now making mirror and picture frames using various design motifs. My Australian client has commissioned a mirror using eucalyptus leaves because the tree is ubiquitous in her home country. Also in the works are small and medium size mirrors and picture frames (will fit in a suitcase) with Canadian Maple Leaf design. Please inquire if you would like a particular size.
If I am not working with copper, I hand carve, sand, saw, route, drill, sand, etc. From my work bench I look out to a view of the woods. Often a movement in my peripheral vision has caught my attention. I have looked up from my work to see deer walking past a few feet away. I take breaks outside in the hammock I brought back from a trip to the depths of the Amazon Jungle in Ecuador. Or I might munch on a snack a few steps away by the Koi Pond. STUDIO TWO This studio and gallery was built originally to be able to work with media that is not compatible with the sawdust in my woodcarving studio. The fabulous view to our charming property was so inspiring, I just moved in. The old cottage on the property has been replaced by a new custom designed owner-built home by my son. The landmark treehouse nearer the road beside the rope swing & zip line informs that kids must play here. Indeed, my son & his family live in the new house. It is the perfect arrangement and the bonus is having many Grandma Duty Days as well as sharing the responsibilities.
My Creative Path:My dad said I was hammering nails into a sawhorse when I was two years old. My dad was a math teacher and education administrator and a farmer. In the summers he did other jobs including building homes. All my life I have enjoyed building and making things with my hands, too.My aesthetic sensibility came from my mother. She was a registered nurse. She was very creative and decorated our homes as beautifully as you see in decorating magazines. Her superior sense of design was also expressed as she tooled copper, painted porcelain dishes, and sewed drapery and clothes for herself and all of us kids. And she taught me to sew.
After I immigrated to Victoria, B.C., I co-owned Fan Tan Gallery for five years where we sold craft supplies, organized textile classes taught by local reputable teachers, and held art shows. I participated in several group-weaving exhibitions. I became interested in papermaking after indulging myself with spinning and dyeing. After preparing the natural fibres, such as sheep's wool, alpaca, vicuna, cashmere, dog hair, cotton, silk, hemp, flax, etc. I spun them into yarns for manipulating, weaving, and knitting into clothing, home textiles and fibre sculptures. I cooked up vats of steaming vegetable matter to make natural dyes. It followed next that I would start from scratch with fibres to make paper. I have experimented with many different plants such as iris leaves, daphne bark, cedar bark, grasses, cornhusks, and others; and I have used imported Japanese plant fibres such as mitsomata, kozo, and gampi.
I didn't learn to carve until some years later. It came easy to me probably because of the extensive background already laid in art and crafts. I can visualize in 3D and was able to learn the nature of a new medium and how to work with it. I also had the greatest teacher, the late Henry Nolla, who taught and encouraged masses of students during his decades at Chesterman Beach, Tofino. I was just carving for fun on Chesterman Beach, Tofino, B.C., and sold my first spoon to Canadian actor, Gordon Tootoosis, who was in a movie being shot in Tofino. In time, I exhibited in a group show with other carvers in the area such as Henry, Michelle Foley, and Richard Menard. It was at the Old School House, Qualicum Beach, B.C. in 1996, and organized by artist, Signey Cohen (owner of Reflecting Spirit Gallery in Tofino). For several years The Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino, commissioned many trays to sell and to use to present the bill in the Pointe Restaurant. I also carved paddles, trays, and salad sets that were part of gift accommodation packages. Those commissions helped launch my carving career. I have been carving now for close to 20 years.
I completed the Certification Course with Fred Woell at Oregon College of Crafts in Portland, Oregon, in 2007. We covered the use of the Precious Metal Clay® brand which results in Fine Silver (99% pure silver) PMC Standard, PMC+, PMC3. We used Aura Gold 22 as a slip (creamy state) and painted fired silver pieces to gold-plate them in 22 karat gold. In 2008, Bronzclay® was introduced to the art world. Then in Spring 2009, came Copprclay®, followed by Fast Fire Bronzeclay®, then PMC Pro® which results in a stronger metal closer to sterling silver. In my own work, I have been incorporating silver, bronze, and copper elements and components with beads and handcarved wood amulets to produce my original designer necklaces and other jewelry. People have been curious about my long name. Jhampa Zangmo is a Buddhist name meaning Noble Love which I received in 1991 when I took Refuge Vows. I did not renounce my Christian upbringing. Eaglespirit Deerheart was bestowed by my "Lakota Sisters", Lois Joy and Joyce Matters at Shell Beach, Tofino, B.C., at a Naming Ceremony, the summer of 1994. Over the years I have encountered many valuable teachers from a variety of spiritual perspectives and walks of life. My thanks to my Parents (the late Helene and Lyle Poyzer), my Gramma Linnie, my siblings (John, Jane, Jim), my Son Corrin and his family (Leilanie, Keagan, Ashley), personal friends Joyce, Susan, Rosie, Ken, Dave, and Henry, as well as H.H. the Dalai Lama, Adyashanti, Mukti, Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Gangaji, Peter Gold, Mother Earth, The Elements, The Four Directions, The Three Jewels, Earth Beings, Star Beings, Sleeping, Stillness... All My Relations For more information of upcoming events, click here!
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