Paying 'Homage' to Canadian women

Arts/Life

Posted By SUSAN DOOLAN

Posted 1 month ago

If there is anyone who can marry art and craft, it is Donald (Don) Stuart. Normally the two don't meet, but then Stuart is a crafty kind of guy.

Well-known as one of Canada's leading gold/silversmiths, the local artist draws on his multi-discipline past to create a show of necklaces inspired by Canadian women.

That the show, called 'Homage,' is on display in the same room where his daughter Meeka was married, pleases the Barrie artist no end.

And he's fixed it so that the pieces are attached to the wall, within a frame, so that they do not need to be removed for weddings and other events slated to take place in the upstairs Carnegie room over the next couple of months.

"All of the artwork around the walls added another dimension," said Stuart, of his daughter's wedding. "I wanted it to be part of any events, weddings (taking place at the MacLaren). More people see it and if you're going to have an event at an art gallery it should look like an art gallery."

As this is Stuart who is doing the creating, it stands to reason that these are no ordinary necklaces. He has incorporated everything from driftwood and beach pebbles for artist Emily Carr, to antique piano keys for Diana Krall.

"The diversity of material in this show is because of the people," said Stuart, citing explorer and geologist Eira Thomas whose necklace incorporates diamonds -- she is credited with discovering a cluster of the highest grade diamond pipes in the world, in Yellowknife.

There is the famous Elizabeth Arden, yet many familiar with the famous American cosmetic company name are unaware she was born a Canadian.

The expected, Laura Secord, along with women from a diverse range of professions and occupations such as Belinda Stronach, Susannah Oland (Moosehead Beer), philanthropist and arts supporter Joan Chalmers (for whom the annual Chalmers Awards are named.)

The other aspect of this exhibition which makes it unique is stories of the woman behind the work.

They are mounted on the wall, along with a sketch of each woman (drawn by Benson), beside each necklace.

"How can you just have a necklace and say it's inspired by so and so. Who is so and so?" said Stuart. "It's not just a show of necklaces, it's an education. Olivia Poole invented the Jolly Jumper -- how many people know that?"

Growing up in Toronto, Stuart graduated from Ontario College of Art in 1967 where he majored in metal and textiles with a minor in wood.

Shortly afterward he travelled to Baffin Island to help Inuit women in Pangnirtung set up a handweaving studio.

Today, it is the largest handweaving studio in Canada. He is travelling back there this month, in honour of studio's 35th anniversary as well as Stuart's 38th wedding anniversary (in the 2-1/2 years he spent there, he also met his wife, Jill).

Shortly before the couple married, Stuart accepted a position at Georgian College to teach design, woodshop and start a weaving program in Barrie.

It was his idea to add an elective in jewelry and, under his guidance, it soon became a three-year program, the first of its kind to incorporate paid coops for its students.

Alongside teaching, he s own work. He felt it made him a better teacher.

Even though Stuart had begun making a name for himself in tapestry, he was losing his passion for the medium and becoming more fascinated with metal.

So, he took a sabbatical from Georgian to go back to school in Rochester, N.Y., for a fine arts degree in metal, crafts, and holloware.

Over the course of his career, Stuart has won many awards for his work, teaching and volunteering, but the one that means the most to him was the Order of Canada, presented in 2002.

While Stuart's last show in Barrie was 1993, he has do a lot of work with commissions and volunteer with Canadian Executive Service Organization, assisting with product development and design. His last solo exhibition in Toronto was also on jewelry, the history of it, shown Stuart's way. He retired from teaching in 2001.

'Homage' is on display at the MacLaren Art Centre until Sept. 5.

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