In my last post, I wrote about belonging, of how beauty often emerges through the quiet, persistent work of becoming ourselves. Lately, I have been thinking about another aspect of that journey: the marks we leave behind.
In Northern Ontario, I am surrounded by a landscape that has been shaped by powerful forces. The rock beneath our feet carries the traces of glaciers that moved across this region thousands of years ago. Their passage left grooves, scratches, and scars on the stone that are a record of movement, change, and time.
Those markings tell a story.
People have always marked the places where they lived, travelled, and gathered. We can still discover pictographs etched on rock faces that speak across many generations. They remind us that others stood here long before us, making meaning of their lives and leaving little traces.
Wayfinding signs guide us through airports, cities, parks, and unfamiliar streets. They help us move from one place to another with a little more confidence. I’ve come to realize that each of us carries a form of wayfinding within ourselves. The jewellery I create within the Marking Stories series explores the inner landscape of navigating the relationships, experiences, and places that shape our lives.
Much mystery lies within, but how to articulate inner feelings?
Marking Stories offers expressions of the deeper self when the spoken word may not be enough to fully express what we feel. A piece may reflect a cherished aspiration, a long-held conviction, a commitment, a new beginning, or an unfolding adventure.
Since we are always in the process of becoming, the collection also explores what may yet be. It is in the life forces that rise up and take hold, wanting to be visible, acknowledged, and remembered.
What We Remember
Our daily decisions create stories that become part of the landscape of our lives. In Marking Stories, shapes and shards of silver create a visual language that communicates with the spaces in-between. A darkened background may suggest a memory receding into the far distance. Or, it could represent a possibility from which something new is emerging.
I invite you to enjoy this iconography of symbols and codes. They have the ability to define us as individuals as well as connect us through shared experiences. Take time to linger with these pieces, and with the spaces they create. Consider what they might symbolize for you today, and how their meaning may evolve over time. Like all of my work, these pieces are not intended to provide answers. Instead, they offer space for reflection:
What “marks” have shaped your own story?
What experiences have guided you when the path ahead was uncertain?
What symbols do you carry with you?
We are all making our way through changing landscapes that are both external and internal. Along the way, traces get left behind as we gather new stories to bring forward. The Marking Stories Collection is an invitation to pause, reflect, and consider the pathways that have brought you here, and those still waiting to unfold.
Jewellery is a way of holding life’s meaning close. A ring, pendant, or brooch can become a reminder of where we have been, what we value, and who we are becoming. That is one reason why I continue to return to adornment as a form of storytelling.