CANADIAN MOSAIC - pendant/brooch


Dimensions: 74 x 42 x 6 mm Materials: sterling silver, 25K gold, 18K gold, iolite, patina

Beyond its stunning physical geography and wide open spaces, Canada is an abstraction - a mosaic of cultures, histories, languages, values, traditions, spiritualities, relationships, opinions and beyond. The Canadian mosaic is complex, intriguing and continually evolving. Canadians are formally "documented" by birth certificates, passports, SINs and citizenship cards, but these are superficial, unidimensional representations of what it means to be Canadian.

The pendant/brooch, Canadian Mosaic, expresses the abstraction of what it is to be Canadian in the 21st century. The materials - silver, gold and iolite - are all found in Canada, but like Canadians are cosmopolitan in origin. The piece consists of thirteen disparate elements, one for each province and territory. All of the elements are distinctive (without corresponding to a specific province or territory) and vary in shape, texture and materials. Some are boldly textured; some are subtly patterned; some are geometric; some are organic. Like the provinces and territories with all of their idiosyncrasies, these elements fit together to form a unified whole. The iolite is a focal point that signifies that ideal of Canadian unity. Canadian Mosaic reflects the abstraction of Canadian identity in 2016.