I need a gift for…

“Have you got any (insert item here) ….?”, is a common question I get asked at this time of year!

Here’s how I can help you AND help to support some of the fabulous local businesses that promote and sell my work:

• Available stock can be viewed online at anytime on my website, under > Acquire.
  Functional Pieces for Sale Here
  Sculptural Vessels Here
  

• My current exhibition of sculptural work from “A Study of Losses” (and two very special functional tea pots!) is still running until the end of December at The Peter Dušek Gallery in Creemore, ON. Pieces that are still available for purchase and write ups about all of the work can be found here. I have prepared a look-book for the exhibition here
  

• Pop into The 100 Mile Store in Creemore for a few bits and bobs of functional pottery, an alternative location to purchase my honey, and grab some local goodies while you’re there!
  

• Stop in at Juniper (beside The Pine Restaurant > where you can dine on many of my commissioned pieces at this Michelin star gem) this Sunday, November 30 and choose from an array of contemporary dinnerware and perfect pieces for your holiday table scape! I may see you there ;)

The frenzy of winter prep.

On the home-front, the veggie and annual gardens are composted and covered with straw. The native pollinator beds have been seeded and left to rest under leaf litter. The bees are finally to bed for the winter and the last of the honey is bottled up ( I have a few jars left if anyone is in need of a refill or perfect little gifts - order honey here or send me a message ). Canning for winter is still in full swing and fermentation is at various levels of completion - this year I have added fermented garlic honey, mead and sweet + salty hot honey to the test kitchen - and we had a whirl at fresh pressed apple cider and hard cider from the mast year of apples produced by our apple trees that were damaged in the spring ice storm.
The resilience of nature never ceases to amaze me and provides me with much of motivation I have to continue what I do. The chickens have struggled with a highly contagious respiratory infection, that worked its way through the most vulnerable in the coop, and turned my foyer into a chicken hospital. They have recovered, for the most part, and are all growing extra feathers for the cold days ahead. And I…am exhausted. How are you holding up?

Willow and weaving updates.

I continue to be fascinated by the cycles of the natural world and with the materials that can be regeneratively repurposed or ethically harvested from it.

My willow beds are starting to lose their leaves and are currently being harvested in sequence, to dry slowly in the gallery space for 6+ months. Not much in the way of volume as it is only their first growing season, but exciting non the less. Like my art, nothing about this process is quick.

I was fortunate enough to be able to go and coppice some overgrown black willow shrubs at a friend’s property up the road. This should hopefully provide lots of new weaving rods to be harvested next winter AND I was able to repurpose most of the material into a privacy screen for the end of our deck (the decimated ash trees used to serve that purpose).

I am eternally fascinated by ancient and traditional weaving methods from across the globe and challenge my creative practice with learning their intricacies, so that I can put a contemporary twist on their traditional forms. Like, the newly created privacy screen, that integrates the rigidity and longevity of black pipe (as the uprights) with the natural suppleness of willow branches (as the weavers) in this take on the traditional British hurdle.

A Naturalist at my core.

I am honoured to have been accepted into an artist residency at Gibraltar Point on Toronto Island, in February. “Interwoven: Art and Ecology of the Island- Interwoven invites artists working with natural materials and processes to come together in an immersive setting, engaging with the landscape and stories of the island”. I look forward to the creative ignition that this will be sure to provide.

As a Keystone Artist for The Rewilding Arts Collective as part of the David Suzuki Foundation, I am always looking to collaborate with and support individuals and causes that protect, educate, influence and study the natural world. This month, I have donated a “Wormwood Platter” to the silent auction being held by The Wye Marsh, to help support their facility and programming. Bid here.

What’s next?

It is with great sadness to report, that some new and compounding health concerns will require my attention for the next little while. Like the natural world that I am so in awe of, I too am resilient and will find my way. But I do need to take some time to rest, embrace this season ahead and find my path forward. Be sure that I will never stop learning or seeking out new creative challenges, and new works will be sure to follow.

I wish you all the best of health, warmth and joy in the months ahead and look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

Xx

Jamila