the artist behind GEMmade Designs. I am a Guelph, Ontario born artist that creates landscapes made entirely from wool. I frame my pieces in unique way by restoring and repurposing antique window frames collected from across Ontario.
My artistic goal is to create a style of artwork full of colour, texture and movement that can add life to any room. I believes a handcrafted piece of art can transform any space into feeling more inviting and special because it brings a high level of craftsmanship and most importantly, a story.
The roots of my journey as an artist began with my nonno, my beloved grandfather. Nonno was an inspiring model of creativity, from his love of the earth which was in full expression through his impressive vegetable and flower gardens, fruit trees and beautifully manicured lawn to his fondness for drawing simple pictures just for the joy of it. It's the treasured memories of my time in the garden and countless blissful hours spent sitting at the kitchen table with nonno encouraging me and giving me some drawing instruction that the first seeds of my love of the arts were planted. I've been an avid illustrator ever since those early years.
Music has played a significant role in the art I create today, as foundational as drawing. As an accomplished violinist mastering the skill of transferring the emotion of a piece to my audience, my vision of art helped me 'colour' my notes. I consistently found myself going back to my childhood and using my love of art as the vehicle (vision) to highlight the feeling in my playing. I studied art in university and shortly afterwards I discovered wool painting. While creating 3D animals is popular in this medium, I was drawn (no pun intended) to rekindling those beautiful early years and the joy, the peace and absolute delight I felt in nonno's gardens and drawing at the kitchen table with him by my side .
Then came that 'aha' moment, the moment that resonates with you when you've suddenly discovered something about life or yourself or both that causes that important shift. When I hear and play music I see colours. This is known as Synesthesia. Through my artwork I bring life to these colours meaning everything I saw when I was 'colouring' my notes in music, I found myself now wanting to express through wool art. When I started to create, what I call wool paintings, I realized all those visions in my mind that I was using to colour my music in order to communicate to my audience I was now expressing through my nature-themed paintings. This artistic journey of mine has been characterized with experimenting and getting lost in the process, the textures, the colours, the movement, the rhythm - the flow of creating.