Deborah Wilson – Jade Artist Spotlight (2012)

Teaching the techniques for small scale jade carving will be my mission this summer at Camp Brotherhood. What a great way to celebrate the 25th annual symposium!  

The workshops held there in the late 90s were very popular and I expect there will be a lot of interest again. Working small scale for those sculptors who normally focus on monumental works can be a bit like cleansing the palate! What better in the middle of a long project, than to create a lovely bangle or pendant in translucent jades of many hues. Wyoming olives, Canadian chromite laden beauties from Kutcho and Cassiar B.C. will be offered for sale with my recommendations for selecting the perfect piece of jade for the ideas you have for jewelry or small carvings.

We are all accustomed to tool making. I will be pleased to share with the group the way to convert a drill press into a “point carver.” This has proven to be the most versatile piece of equipment for jade artists that focus on small and medium sized pieces. I hope to have 2 of them there for the workshop.

A larger jade carving of my own will be brought to the workshop to demonstrate the carving process, and tooling involved.

I will be pleased to have this opportunity to encourage those interested to pursue the art of carving jade. The renaissance is still in the making! For example, the Jade Symposium, an online global competition, was held last summer with amazing results. This year’s event is unfolding as I write this, with a follow-up story to relay at the Camp Brotherhood workshop.

For more information go to my website: www.jadesymposium.com
Or email me at: www.deborahwilson.bc.ca

See you in July! Deborah