Salt Spring Island She Shed Tour 2018 - #7

In the ‘all u need workshop’ the natural world becomes art, the old becomes recycled and artistically repurposed. Kelp from the shoreline curled around broomsticks or any tubular object, allowed to almost dry and taken off when still pliable creates loops and curls for home decor. Grasses dried and woven into mats for wall hangings. Seed pods dried and gathered together in upside down bouquets. Very old postcards, that did the work in a day or longer that cell phones and texting does in minutes, Melanie embroiders mountain tops and tree-lines. As rain began to drip down through the spaces between trees, we helped clear off an outdoor table of sketch books. All the world looks so much more interesting after visiting Melanie Thompson’s all u need workshop that displays her love of nature’s gifts. Discovering this gift for ourselves is available every day.

“Never miss an opportunity of noticing anything of beauty….”

~  Ralph Waldo Emerson,  Nature and Walking

See more of Melanie’s works at craftymelanie.wordpress.com

Fundraising event for: Saltspring Women Opposed to Violence and Abuse

Salt Spring Island She Shed Tour 2018 - #6

Our next discovery was a very neat and compact She Shed with a lovely window facing the artist’s home. The many fine tools and cubby holes filled with beads, gems and fine wires for this fine and detailed work were within easy reach in this 10 x 10 structure. Her finished, and very attractive pieces of jewelry - earrings, necklaces and bracelets - were on display behind her work space. The tiny She Shed, built by the artist and her husband, was constructed with as many recycled materials as possible. The welcoming little front porch was perfect for a bit of relaxation and ease. 

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

~ John Keats, Endymion, A poetic Romance

My only contact information for this jewelry crafting artist is her name: Charlene Beaudette - Saltspring Island

Fundraising event for: Saltspring Women Opposed to Violence and Abuse

Salt Spring Island She Shed Tour 2018 - #5

On this wooded property with manicured lawn and deer fenced

garden, were two She Shed’s. The first, dubbed the Dining Pavilion, was windowed and with the dining table set for six. It was tiny with a beautifully finished interior and exterior. Farther back under low hanging branches, we discovered the second She Shed, construction still in progress. We were able to peek in a window to the comfortable interior. Cozy with a electric fireplace and furniture as in a living room, artist Shelley Armstrong-Plaunt said she would likely spend time working on her artistry - Collector Bears. We discovered so much more while visiting the She Sheds on this tour. Shelley brought out two of her hand made Collector Bears, each bear about eight inches tall. These bears are not the cuddly kind we give to children. They have glass eyes and their clothes have buttons - things that little ones may want to taste! One of the bears was a hiker wearing a back pack, sweater and pants all hand made, including the sweater made from a family sweater worn on hiking trips! The other, dressed in a little red print dress with fur edging, was styled from Shelley’s knowledge of the Yukon, where she lives part of the year. 

“Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and ti’s 

produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.”

~ Ken Robinson

Pictures of Collector Bears can be seen at Google Books, including excerpt about this artist in the book Bears Across Canada

She Shed Tour 2018: a fundraiser for Saltspring Women Opposed to Violence and Abuse

Salt Spring Island She Shed Tour 2018 - #4

Next we went to #4 on our program to see Nycki Samuels, Tough Tiny Welder, a tiny woman and tough enough to wield a welding torch. A welder by trade, she also creates fascinating art pieces from anything metal. We were shown into a very large workshop, all her tools clean and organized. “This is the neatest my shop has ever been!” On display, were several of her pieces of recycled and repurposed tools, machine parts and other heavy metal objects. We discovered a large crab, with pliers for pincers (ouch!), a snail from the cogs of, I assume, an engine and other little metal bugs and birds graced her shop. Our host took home a planter that Nycki repurposed from a barbecue propane tank. 

See Nycki Samuel’s very interesting webpage at toughtinywelder.ca, that includes a gallery of her very creative work from gates and railings to butterfly candle sticks. Included is a section on women welders. An interesting piece of history from this page is: 'The first time women welders were employed was in WW2 in the shipyards of Evansville, Indiana."

“Artistry exists in everyone. What makes it blossom is 

a soul’s personal desire to find an outlet for expression.”

~ Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway

Fundraising for Saltspring Women Opposed to Violence and Abuse

Salt Spring Island She Shed Tour 2018 - #3

The second stop, #3 on the She Shed program, was ’Amarah’s Artland', Amarah calls it her Shabby Shed and was a bit difficult to locate on this sprawling property full of gardens with plants of all kinds. But following the sound of women’s voices busily chatting, as well as a call ’who’s home’, we were directed down the correct path and ushered into a She Shed full of  artworks of all sizes, brushes, storage boxes filled with all manner and colour of paints. Every wall was full of finished large and small paintings with larger paintings propped against the walls. The most stunning discovery for me was three still life’s of single sweet peppers, each one a different colour. My hand stayed off of my wallet and I stepped away to examine Amarah’s selection of art cards. Her artistry, while brilliant and lively was not to my taste - except for the trio of sweet peppers. She also had collaged some ordinary plastic chairs with words, phrases and names from old magazines. A collaged chair she seemed most proud of were all names of women from a specific woman’s magazine - the writers, producers, and contributors.

I must admit that as I was on this tour, I had not yet thought of doing a series of blog posts about the trip. It started out to be only an interesting and fun day with friends. I usually write only one post on events or places that I attend. Consequently, my pictures seem quite insufficient, but all taken while we toured about for this very important fundraiser for Saltspring Women Opposed to Violence and Abuse. 

“Art and life are subjective Not everybody’s gonna 

dig what I dig, but I reserve the right to dig it.”

~ Whoopi Goldberg

You can find more information about Amarah Gabriel at saltspringisland.com.

Salt Spring Island She Shed Tour 2018 - She Shed #1

Our first stop on the winding Salt Spring Island roads was at the Thistle Rock Forge. Alison Sparshu is a farrier by trade as well as a blacksmith, window dresser and artist. She welcomed us onto this normally busy farm, where much more goes on than artistic ventures. The forge was quiet for this special day, tidied up in expectation of many visitors. Alison lead us back to her She Shed, where we discovered a work in progress filled with a jumble of materials for art pieces, keeping her art supplies separate from the forge work space she shares with her husband. Two art pieces on display were a life sized sheep used for a Christmas display and a bouquet of poppies for a Remembrance Day. To explain sheep at Christmas - there were two of them that pulled Santa’s sleigh as there are no reindeer on Salt Spring Island.  Outside in the farm yard, a black potbellied pig wandered up and sniffed my leg, much as a dog would, and allowed us to pet him. The shaggy family dog roamed the yard. It was a warm and friendly visit, a lovely welcome to this first She Shed, fundraiser for Salt Spring Women Opposed to Violence and Abuse. 

“Be an artist, in whatever little faculty possible. 

For the Earth, without ‘Art’ is just ‘Eh’”

~ Jasleen Kaur Gumber

See more of the artistry and work of these hard workers on their 

Thistle Rock Forge Facebook page and at

Thistle Rock Forge and Design

Salt Spring Island She Shed Tour 2018

So what is a She Shed? Well, most everyone knows a Man Cave is a dedicated place for the guys of this world away from the domestics of home, a place where the ‘real work’ can be done. So, She Shed’s are sheds devoted to the work that women do outside of the domestic part of life. Multimedia artworks from iron work to pottery to working with nature’s abundance in settings bucolic and lush on this lovely island in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island.

For the past 22 years, a group of women on Saltspring Island - Saltspring Women Opposed to Violence and Abuse or SWOVA - was developed in response to ‘a horrific incidence of violence against a woman and her daughter’ in the Saltspring community over 20 years ago. Since then they have been providing education, raising awareness and developing solutions to prevent violence and abuse on Saltspring Island. This She Shed Tour was this year’s fundraiser for this very important program.

A quick ferry trip in brilliant sunshine to Saltspring Island, we met with our host. For the rest of the day we were driven by said host from one She Shed to another - some of them obvious places of hard work to the more gentile and decorative. We did not get to discover each of the 14 She Sheds because of the interesting conversations we shared with the proprietors.  I’ll not be able to do this tour justice in tonight’s post, so will continue tomorrow. 

“The secret to change is to focus all of your energy 

not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

~ Socrates