This is Jennifer McCaw, a silversmith obsessed with outer space. Her recent work uniquely explores the mapping, colour, texture and movement of the celestial bodies.

She tries to replicate the colours and textures we see in telescope images by using techniques such as extreme heat, impact, and oxidation. Using materials including silver, gold, precious and semiprecious gemstones, she creates jewelry objects featuring constellations, zodiac, planets, moons and comets.

By the way, Jennifer is also a farmer! She and her husband own and operate a small market farm in Winlaw called Fairway 4 Farm (TAG). She’s been making jewelry since she was a little girl but nowadays she draws inspiration from the beautiful night sky in the Slocan Valley.

What does she love most about being an artist?

“I love creating tiny, wearable sculptures, filled with layers of meanings, secret messages, and information,” said Jennifer. “I love to see people wearing my work and filling it with their own meanings and significance. Jewelry has so many stories...it is so personal, we carry it through our lives, and it has so many functions and languages. It communicates information about our lives, status, wealth, culture, place, membership, loyalties, and so much more.”

Thanks for sharing Jen! Your work is out of this world.

Noam is a home-based potter who adds liveliness and originality to every piece of pottery he creates. His work is beautiful, highly functional and made for everyday use.

During his three years at Kootenay School of Arts, Noam discovered a joy for throwing bowls and cylinders on the potter’s wheel. He decided to go retail and Noam Ash Pottery was born. He has spent the last 15 years building a family home and clay studio in WInlaw.

Noam’s work is for sale at Camp Cafe in Silverton, as well as the Touchstones gift shop in Nelson. Direct sales can be arranged by appointment.

What inspires Noam while he is throwing and glazing pottery?

“I'm inspired to make ordinary yet spirited vessels that please the eye, are comfortable to hold, and therefore enhance the pleasure of eating and drinking,” he says. “The natural beauty and quiet pace of the Slocan Valley very much lends itself to my practice.”

Maa Press publishes and distributes radically-regional books and maps. They are based in New Denver, on the traditional and unceded təmxʷulaʔxʷ of the Sinixt Peoples.

K.L. Kivi, an author of eight books, founded Maa Press in 2005 at a time when Canada Council funding for small publishers was severely cut. Kivi had a book accepted by a publisher and touring grants secured, when suddenly everything was canceled and the only option was to self-publish.

Kivi realized that a clear need existed for a local publisher focused on regional titles, and that there must be other local, self-published authors who struggle to get their books into stores, and so Maa Press expanded into distribution.

“I love this place and the people who are inspired to write about it. In a globalized world, it's a radically meaningful act to uphold the ecological and cultural value of our homeplaces. I'm also deeply inspired by the Indigenous resurgence that's taking place across Turtle Island, and feel honoured to participate in uplifting Sinixt stories and Sinixt presence in their homeland.”

K.L. is also inspired by the valley, and many of their best ideas emerge when sitting by or paddling on Slocan Lake or hiking in the Valhallas.

“I love seeing our earth-loving, community-loving values shared and spread. I love the community connections that this generates and the sense of accomplishment and purpose that this nurtures.”

Thanks for sharing K.L! Buy unique local books and find out more about Maa Press right here → www.maapress.ca/

Barbara is a Crescent Valley-based visual artist and author. She paints forest scenes in oil on canvas, and writes about spending time in the forest.

For 20 years, Barbara produced the region’s tourist and street maps, until 10 years ago when the call to create art was too loud to ignore. Map-making had ceased to fulfill her creative urges, and she decided to sell the business. This allowed time for her to follow her heart, spend more time in nature, paint images and write about her profound experiences in the forests surrounding her home.

Working with Isaac Carter of ICandyFilms in New Denver, Barbara has created a film and book project called The Sylvan REFLECTIONS: Wanderings, Paintings & Ponderings From the Forest. The book contains a series of forest paintings with writings about the inspiration behind the images, stories about time spent in the woods, and mindful musings on what it means to be human on this beautiful planet. The film is a companion to the book - it guides one through the seasons of the year with gorgeous forest footage. Barbara and Isaac are currently working on Part 2 of the Sylvan Reflections.

What inspires Barbara the most? “It is the forest outside my door.” She says. “I feel so blessed to live in our beautiful wild valley. Having been granted this blessing, I feel a responsibility to share it with others who might not have access to such bounty of nature.”

You can purchase her incredible offerings and learn more on her website → https://www.barbarabrownart.com/

Morgen Bardati is a familiar face in the Slocan Valley. She is involved with so many different community initiatives, including Handmade Heart and the New Denver Friday market, but at her core, she’s an artist and maker who has made her home in the beautiful village of New Denver on Slocan Lake.

“Hatched and raised out of the red dirt and sunny beaches of Southern Africa”, she eventually migrated to Canada where she felt equally at home surrounded by lakes, mountains and the cold northern forests of her dreams.

The art she makes, including the collections of botanically dyed silks, screen printed purses and soft fibre jewelry are reflections of who Morgen is, where she lives and what inspires her.

“I’ve always had an intense curiosity about the natural world around me and the magical alchemy of making and creating from nature's gifts,” says Morgen. “As an artist, my prints, drawings and fibre art reflect ideas of human movement, economics and our relationship with the environment. As a maker of wearable fibre art, I am entranced by the magical botanical alchemy that occurs when cloth meets the vibrant and earthy colours of plants and minerals.”

Two things have always been a constant for Morgen - being an artist and being a gardener.

“Our garden is filled to the brim with food, plant medicine, dye plants and beauty,” she says. “Most of the art I make revolves around nature, the plant world and my relationship with them. The act of creating with our hands naturally connects heart, mind and spirit. I feel more whole in myself as I connect through my art to the living breathing world around and in me.”

You can find Morgen’s work at various artisan fairs throughout the Kootenays and on her online shop → www.morgenbardati.ca