Deerheart Studios and the Creative Process

My Creative Path

Carving Inspirations and Pictures of Henry Nolla

STUDIO ONE

Studio One 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 six work benches.

Here's where I hand carve, sand, saw, route, drill, sand, etc. Work- stations 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 usually have CBC radio on or my favorite CD’s. I take breaks outside in the hammock I brought back from a recent trip to the depths of the Amazon Jungle in Ecuador. Or I might munch on a snack a few steps away at the picnic table near the fire pit.

Here in Studio One I have also begun to work with copper.

Inside Studio 1.

After attending the Patchwork Copper Bowls class at MISSA (see links) in 2005 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 completed a private commission of a sculpture that involves the casting of a man's face first with plastered gauze, then in ceramic, which is fired and surfaced with copper. The sculpture incorporates cut copper sheet in grape leaf shapes that are riveted to a copper backing. A green patina is applied to it all resulting in my interpretation of Green Man, the Celtic image depicting a blending a human face with plant and foliage forms. The Green Man leaf-entwined face has appeared on countless gothic churches and castles since the Middle Ages. This enigmatic verdant image is an ecologically positive emblem of the powerful regenerative quality of Life and Spirit.

I am now making two similar sculptures. One has a female face and is surrounded by feathers and lace.

The other has a male face and is surrounded by Canadian maple leaves and seed pods. Both are available for purchase. Please inquire for details. It is also possible to cast your face and personalize a sculpture.

I am celebrating the completion of my new studio! This new studio and gallery has been built so I can work with media that is not compatible with the sawdust in my woodcarving studio. It will also provide the additional space for larger art projects and display space for gallery exhibitions.

As well, I will be teaching and hosting several workshops and classes (see Classes & Events page).

Studio Two will also be a great meeting space for groups. It will be available for viewing DVD’s and Videos on the Home Theatre System. High Speed Cable Internet brings the option of accessing art and design resources.

Other features include: a wheelchair friendly bathroom, a library of books & magazines, a fridge, a washer and dryer, and deep laundry sinks for fabric dying, papermaking etc.

The skylights in the north roof and high ceilings bring in natural light. There is a venting system to keep the air fresh. A wall of windows and the French doors opens to the 10’ x 50' covered breezeway connecting to my home and offers a view of the property.

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.

Rene Deerheart, the creative path

My aesthetic sensibility came from my mother. She was a registered nurse. She is 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.

At university (over 35 years ago) I started working toward a degree in Textile Design and eventually broadened the scope by changing my major to Design. All the popular crafts were covered but not papermaking. It had not yet been revived as a contemporary craft medium. I did lots of freelance work as a weaver, spinner, and yarn dyer. I taught basketry at the Sub Memorial Union at Iowa State University and later, weaving and macramé.

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.

In papermaking I am mostly self-taught by studying, experimenting and seeking out teachers since about 1974. I studied papermaking with Marilyn Wold in Hawaii, using the indigenous plant wauke and wild ginger. After continued study, enjoyment, and sales with papermaking, I had two solo exhibitions of assemblages: St. Albert Civic Centre, St. Albert, Alberta, and Talking Stick Gallery, Gastown, Vancouver, B.C. I also taught papermaking to youths and teens in the St. Albert Schools.

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 and selling for twelve years now.

As for jewelry, I studied silver work in university and won an award for a silver ring. In 2005, I took a course that introduced me to Precious Metal Clay. I have since been incorporating silver elements and small copper sculptures with beads to produce my original designer necklaces and other jewelry.

The future use of Studio Two will allow me to again dye fibres and fabrics using various techniques I learned in university and have used in the past. These are silk dying and painting, resists, discharge dying, textile printing, and multi-media assembling using handmade paper and any ol’ thing that I find. Whoooopeeeee!

"Rene produces some beautifully elegant work. We have several of her pieces displayed in our home and office and, almost without exception, they provoke many favorable comments from those who see them. Her work with yellow cedar, the surface textures and shapes, is very sensual, demanding to be touched. It's as though she has turned the wood into butter. Her designs are elegant and beautiful to the eye, using occasional accents of paua shell that highlight her meticulously carved motifs. It has been a pleasure to work with Rene and we wholeheartedly commend her work and her level of professionalism."
~ Kay Kitagawa and Andy Johnson-Laird, Portland, Oregon.

Carving design inspirations:

It's quite evident that Indigenous Cultures, especially of the Western Coast of Canada, have inspired most of my carving designs. I learned to carve from Master Carver, Henry Nolla. He was taught by his Swedish grandfather and several First Nations artists, notably our friend Roy Henry Vickers.

Thank you, Henry!
(Henry Nolla, 1931-2004.
A friend and an Inspiration)

While I lived with Henry on Chesterman Beach, Tofino, BC ten years ago we were surrounded by the wild and invigorating pacific coast environment. Many other carvers would show up at Henry's End where we would discuss form line, ovoids, wood grain, and share the spirit of the beach while we carved. Eagles made their nest in the tall trees above the rocks at the edge of the surf. Ravens chortled above the carving shed. Occasionally our dog, Quioutsi, would start to bark and howl indicating he smelled a bear. We would collect mussels from the rocks at low tide or row out past Frank Island to fish for our meals. Stories were told and retold around beach fires. Once a sweat lodge was made and we participated in a special four day ceremony. I was baptized in west coast style on Shell Beach in a Naming Ceremony. It is my love for the Earth and reverence for those who lived before me and their unique artistic style that inspires my own original designs.

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 different spiritual perspectives. My thanks to My Parents (Helene and the late Lyle Poyzer), My Son Corrin, My Grandson Keagan, personal friends Joyce, Candace, Maia, Justine, Susan, Ken, Dave, and Henry, as well as H.H. the Dali Lama, Adyashanti, Nirmala, Neelam, Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Peter Gold, Mother Earth, The Elements, The Directions, Earth Beings, Star Beings, Sleeping, Stillness...

All My Relations

For more information of upcoming events, click here!

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