Style Features

Anyone who's ever wandered into Circle Craft Co-operative Shop & Gallery in Granville Island's Net Loft has probably wondered about the artists who peddle their wares in this boutique.

Who are they? Are they full-time artists, or do they have day jobs to pay the rent? Where do they create their art? And who buys their work?

Monique Mousseau, a jewellery designer whose show Chroma opens at Circle Craft tonight (August 7) and runs until September 2, has some answers.

"Making jewellery keeps me interested," Mousseau says, sitting on a bench outside the store (located at 1–1666 Johnston Street). "Doing the same thing day after day would be soul-killing, and they have machines to do that anyway."

While she does have a part-time job working in another industry, Mousseau is happy to spend her days toiling over her craft. Plus, she says, "It's too late to change careers!"

A member of the Circle Craft Co-operative since its inception in 1972, Mousseau spends her weekdays creating the precious metal, stone, and enamel jewellery that she exhibits about once a year.

"Working with enamel is a slow process, so you're more limited," she says when asked why she doesn't showcase her work more often. On weekends, she works at her other job, though she has spent much of 2008 building a house on Protection Island in Nanaimo Harbour.

Born in McBride in Northern B.C., Mousseau attended the Kootenay School of Art in Nelson before becoming a jewellery designer in the '70s. Her work incorporates techniques she learned in school many years ago; in fact, cloisonné has become one of her signatures, working its way into most of her jewellery, including the pieces that are part of Chroma.

The ancient technique, which appears in a great deal of Chinese art and whose name comes from the French for "partition", is an extremely labour-intensive process.

Working in her Railtown studio, Mousseau first lays down what's called the flux: a base layer of clear enamel. After this has been fired, she manipulates fine wires into her desired shapes—oceanlike waves are a common theme—then lays them into the flux, which is fired again. After repeating this step a few times, the wires form "cells" that can be filled with layers of enamel and even 24-karat-gold filaments for sparkle.

Throughout her career, the West Coast has played a prominent role in Mousseau's work and, while Chroma is no exception, the collection was an opportunity to experiment with more colour. "I use a lot of blue—I guess that's my signature," she says. "For Chroma, I wanted to use new colours, so there are more reds and yellows."

Mousseau creates pendants, pins, rings, and earrings, and retails each for approximately $400 (a pair of earrings sells for around $800), though the pieces in Chroma will go for around $1,400 because many incorporate gemstones such as quartz, amethyst, garnet, and amber.

Although they may be pricey, Mousseau has found a market—both here and in Ontario, where her work is exhibited at Toronto's Zilberschmuck Art-Jewellery and the Harbinger Gallery in Waterloo—among collectors of local artisans' work. (Her work is also available through www.moniquemousseau.com/ .)

"Jewellery is a funny thing because you have fashion trends, but then there's also the studio jeweller," Mousseau says. "And they're very different, the people who appreciate handmade items or who just want the latest trends," she continues. "There's really no comparison."