Halifax jewelry artist wins Governor General's Award

A Halifax jewelry artist has won a prestigious national award, but you'd be hard-pressed to find her work in your local store.

NSCAD University Prof. Pamela Ritchie is the winner of the 2017 Saidye Bronfman Award, part of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

"I was thrilled. It is a tremendous acknowledgement of your peers," said Ritchie. "There's a lot of people who deserve it, there's a lot of very fine craftspeople out there."

• Provocative, experimental, challenging: 2017 Governor General's Media and Visual Arts winners announced

Ritchie said her work isn't well-known locally, as it is shown largely in other cities, and appears mostly in galleries, not stores.

"The work that I do is generally called art jewelry," she said. "That means that the work has more of an interest in the changes and development and statement and the poetic side, or emotive side, of jewelry."

Ritchie's work often explores a wide variety of materials, processes and techniques. Her current workis based onscientists who have made a huge difference in human lives in the last century.

She is focused on Joseph Lister, a British surgeon who pioneered using antiseptics in surgery, particularly carbolic acid.

"The work is developing an image of him and some of the scientific formulas used in carbolic acid," she said. "It is made with sterling silver and wood."

Ritchie said the vertical piece is of a larger scale thanwould normally hang from a small necklace. But it can still be worn.

"There are pieces that are made in the art jewelry field that are meant to question the wearability of it," she said. "But something I have maintained in my work is the ability to wear it. Nothing is too heavy. I definitely feel it is important to make work that is wearable.

"Because I like to draw attention to a triad, that is the maker, the wearer and the viewer."

• Watch videos about the 2017 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Artswinners

Ritchie will receive her Governor General's Award March 1 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

"I feel very lucky to have followed this career. It isn't as well-known as it should be but it's a tremendously creative field."