Annette Poitras
Artist Story
I began making jewellery in 2005 being influenced by a friend who was wearing beaded earrings. I asked her to show me how she made them and I was hooked. My materials of choice are caribou, moose, bison, muskox, dall sheep, mammoth ivory, some hides and all types of beads from tiny glass to large metals and stone.
In order to make a piece of wearable art from raw materials is nothing short of a challenge to me. Often the shapes are already there just waiting for detailing. Sometimes a completed piece is not what I believed would be the outcome. You could say even I am surprised by what a piece ends up looking like. All the while I am working I thank the animal for allowing me to re-create their beautiful natural gift.
I moved to Yellowknife in 1976 from Southern Ontario. Many members of my family are artistic, ie: my mother was a seamstress and my uncle was a wood carver.
Annette was born in Port Colborne, Ontario, but calls Yellowknife, NT her home since the fall of 1976.
She is a new and emerging jeweler who works with caribou / moose antler, musk-ox and bison horn, mammoth ivory and mammoth tooth, fossil coral, porcupine quills, and leather in collaboration with semi-precious gemstones, sterling silver, solid brass and copper.
Annette has been creating art for the past 20 years. She credits her mother as being an accomplished seamstress, and her grandfathers and uncles as wood carvers. She has always been creative and enjoys using items that are thought to be useless, and making them into something new.
e-mail: bearwithbabes@hotmail.com
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