Jewellery/Metal Artist Kristen Bishop Wins 'Nel Oudemans Award'
The Sheila Hugh MacKay Foundation has offered the Nel Oudemans Award for emerging artists in the fields of fine craft and design since 2002. This year, Kristen Bishop, jewellery/metal artist and jewellery/metal arts technician at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design was the 2020 recipient.
The award is named after Fredericton weaver Nel Oudemans (1918-2002), a prominent Canadian artist and leader in the applied arts field. Much like Nel Oudemans herself, Kristen has excelled in her craft and craft education in New Brunswick. She was chosen based on the recommendation of an independent jury and received a $2,000 award in recognition of her accomplishments. Kristen says those accomplishments include having solo shows and finding her voice.
“I think I’ve found a voice within my jewellery. People can kind of recognize me a little bit. That was a big accomplishment as an artist.”
Kristen’s voice includes the texture, the nature and the patina technique she uses.
“When I do have a show or sale, I think it's very cohesive. I think things relate to each other in their own way.”
In the award’s press release, Kristen was noted “as an artist who pushes boundaries to explore the creative possibilities,” in addition to her being an active member of the New Brunswick arts community.
“I always try to stay true to myself. . .If you come to my house or my studio or my yard, it makes sense when you see the things that I make.”
Kristen’s house and studio are filled with what she calls “organized piles.” There’s bowls of rock and bowls of driftwood. It’s all organized and presented nicely, but she’s not as much of a perfectionist as she used to be.
“As I’ve gotten older, I realized there’s more important things than cleaning and keeping things together. I still keep things together, but I guess I have relaxed a bit. My whole house is like that.”
An Active Arts Member
Kristen goes about her day-to-day life between working in her home studio and at NBCCD as the technician for the Jewellery/Metal Arts program. A welder by trade, she was employed by a welding supply company for many years before she started pursuing her current career as a jewellery/metal artist.
In 2009, she moved with her children from out west to Fredericton. When she arrived, her cousin, John Leroux, told her she should take a casting course with Kristyn Cooper at the college. She loved it and decided to take Foundation Visual Arts the next year.
“I've always been a crafter. I've always been a maker.”
Kristen said John telling her about NBCCD was the first time she ever heard of the college, even though she is from New Brunswick. If she knew of it earlier, she probably would have changed her life path.
When Kristen graduated from the Advanced Studio Practice program in 2013, she was immediately hired as the jewellery/metal arts technician at the college after obtaining a diploma in the same field. She’s been working there ever since.
“I love being connected and inspired. The students are inspiring, the people I work with are inspiring, everyone is doing so many different things and on different paths - it’s great to be a part of it. It keeps me making.”
Her Craft
Kristen makes a lot of nature inspired art. In her jewellery, she creates a lot of poppies, and her favourite, irises. But she doesn’t describe herself as a production jeweller. She collects metal and uses it to inspire her, which often leads her to try new things. She frequently creates art beyond the norm, like her large, flat metal wall hangings that appeared in a Beaverbrook Art Gallery exhibition in January 2019 called Her Metal: Six New Brunswick Metalsmiths.
She also uses cast twigs and collects rocks to individualize many of her sterling silver pieces.
Over the summer she collected objects for a series of neck pieces.
“I've been collecting pieces of wood and metal, and I make a lot of patinaed pieces of metal that I've saved, and I make stock with. I use those within the pieces.”
She’s also is in the process of making some metal plates for a show in St. Andrews next October.
Kristen collects her metals from all around.
“When you’re walking down the sidewalk, sometimes I find little pieces of things, bolts that are rusted.”
A few months ago, Kristen was walking down by the Saint John River when her son pulled out a rusty plate.
“And he was like, ‘Oh, look at this gross thing,’ and I was like, ‘That’s awesome, Give me that. It’s on our kitchen table right now.’”
Kristen joked that she should throw all her collected metal in the Saint John River and get it next year, so it gets a similar look: one of natural textures and colours that she’s so fond of.
The Nel Oudemans Award recognizes outstanding achievement, something Kristen has certainly accomplished in her short time as a New Brunswick artist. She hasn’t been exploring her craft that long, so her immediate plan is just to keep working and making. She hopes to continue the pursuit and be brave – she’s paved a way where she’s able to focus on creating pieces that bring her joy.
Jerry-Faye Flatt was a summer reporter for CreatedHere Magazine and is now the Student Life Coordinator at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. She’s a recent St. Thomas University grad who double majored in journalism and communications. Flatt spent her final year at university as the Managing Editor of The Aquinian, STU’s official student newspaper, after working as the Arts Editor in her previous year. When she’s not busy out getting the latest scoop, you can find her playing in bands or driving around in her red 1981 Ford Econoline van. If you have a story tip, you can contact her at flatt.jerryfaye@gmail.com.