We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Schoppel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Amanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

It’s difficult to pick just one meaningful project. My business is built on creating meaningful custom projects for folks. We work together to commemorate life’s important moments. Together we design, and I carve representations of important life events, memorializing loved ones (both two, and four-legged), or creating annual birthday charms for babies, who become teenagers…

There are so many beautiful, meaningful stories to share about each piece of my work, and I am honoured to collaborate with clients to create them.

But for me, the series of projects that are most meaningful (and still give me goose-bumps when I think of them), is the Annual Birthday Charm series(s)… for several clients, I create a representation of their childs’ most meaningful memory of the previous year. These include, but aren’t limited to favourite stuffed animals or toys, beloved pets, home cities, or more general themes, such as family values.

Because I hand-carve all of my work, I have full freedom to create the exact representation of the thing, or concept that my client wants to convey. Some examples are: A much-loved stuffed animal (complete with missing eye ; ). Her Dad’s hockey jersey complete with his name and team number. Or a snorkel on the front, with her Dad represented as raft on the inside of the mask – what she sees, and feels with the love and support that her Dad gives now and forever…

At this point, these recipients are babies, or young children. I can’t imagine the beautiful weight and memories that these pieces will hold when these kids become adults, or in their late teens. Looking back at all of their own personal memories, represented in silver or gold, that their parents have compiled for them over the years.

Beautiful in every way.

It is such an honour for me to be apart of this memory-making.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the daughter of creative parents in the fields of Science; a Veterinarian/Wood Carver and Registered Nurse/Poet. I grew up straddling life in the city, and life on the farm in Ontario, Canada.

At Dalhousie University, in Halifax Nova Scotia, I began my studies in Marine Biology. However, during my first year at Dalhousie, I found Art. And never looked back! I transferred to the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where I enjoyed many exceptional experiences; hiking and kayaking in and around the Ocean, beautiful friendships, and the beginnings of a strong, challenging career in Art. I am so thankful and honoured, to have participated in art programs and residencies around the world. Some highlights include representing Canada in the sculpture competition at the IV Jeux de la Francophonie, being awarded a full scholarship to the MFA program at the University of California, Davis, and having had numerous works collected by the National and Provincial Art Banks of Canada.

I am also a Master Carver, having worked for over twenty years as a designer and wax carver for the giftware industry. I have carved beautiful green wax into everything from picture frames to box tops to teeny-tiny post earrings (smaller than 1cm in any dimension), all to scale, and destined to enter large-scale production.

Thinking of jewellery as small-scale sculpture, I feel that it is a language that I am fluent in. I know that in Art, there lies a translation for all things.

Happily tucked into my beautiful studio in the West end of Toronto, I currently offer my experience as a thoughtful, inventive, creative maker (who also loves a good story). I would love to work with you, or your business, using all of the experience that I have gleaned over the years, to create custom, wearable sculptures that mark meaningful moments in your life, or the lives of the ones closest to you.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Consideration and acknowledgement.

The goal in my creative jewellery journey is to be open to the stories of my clients, without judgment. To listen and understand, and then creatively translate the things I learn from them.

I love conceptualizing a project, it’s very exciting. It’s when the universe opens and there is so much potential. I really enjoy sharing that journey with my clients, and expanding the way that I, and they think about the subject.

Often lovely synchronicities develop, and add even more magic to the project.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I came from a rather intense conceptual art school background, having attended NSCAD (Canada), Chelsea College of Art (London, UK), University of California (Davis), and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (USA).

When I went to school, there was a lot of conversation around Fine Art vs. Craft… It has taken me until rather recently (about 20 years?!), to shed those strict definitions. And allow myself to flow between the two without reservation and judgment. The well has become so much deeper, now that I feel that I don’t have to fragment my practice to satisfy these limited and limiting definitions. I can simply make what I make… I am just one person after all.

The journey to this understanding has been rather liberating… and I can’t wait to see how my practice continues to develop.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amandaschoppel.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandaschoppel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amandaschoppel.artist
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAXeEI3lxolZAWpFYMg-wjQ/videos

Image Credits
Amanda Schoppel