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In her own words, Emmie Clare Frater describes her strong feelings about her craft of fine art bookbinding thusly: “In a world that is increasingly dependent on screens and digital media, the influence of the written (on paper) word has been replaced with podcasts, vlogs and reels. Books, to me, are beautiful and the information and wisdom held within them precious and timeless.” And, further: “I practice traditional binding techniques using a range of materials: leathers and hides, fabrics and also wood/bark from my forest home. No two pieces are ever the same. Whilst the majority of my books are blank and intended as journals, I also like to work with interesting texts, the most recent being a 1932 edition of Culpeper’s Complete Herbal.” Like many artists/artisans, England-born, Emmie has creativity in her blood—beginning with her paternal grandmother, who excelled at crafts, calligraphy and fine art; and her equally as crafty mom and engineer father–who practiced an interest in 35mm photography. Emmie says: “I have been an artist for most of my life. I studied Art & Design and have a degree in Photography & Digital Imaging. I spent ten years as a professionally accredited photographer (LBIPP) and taught Art and Media students.” After vacationing in Toronto in 2012—getting a nice feeling about this country and moving here permanently, Emmie involved herself in various employments which included a mentor and coach of High School-DECA–a global career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. She, subsequently moved to the Millbridge area, in 2019 where she lives on a rambling farm property with chickens and goats—harkening back to country girlhood times she spent on her uncle’s farm in England–with her husband, Gordon, a beekeeper, who she met at a regional farmers market. And, in the last six years, in addition to binding, she created SoulCraft Canada, an art/craft DIY kit subscription business that provides instructions and materials for budding craftspeople to create a wide variety of crafts/arts. Emmie has shown her binding work in The Mother of All Craft shows and the Mistletoe Magic Artisan events in Belleville. When she isn’t binding, she travels to the farmers markets; Bancroft, Codrington and Haliburton in her self converted coffee truck from which she sells varieties of exotic coffee drinks and the family honey products along with her binding craftworks. |
Emmie will be a fascinating new participant in the Bancroft and Area Studio Tour this September on the last two weekends, the 19-20 and 26-27 when she will be showing her bookbinding art as a guest artist with photographer, Daryl Phillips at his Bancroft location. She can be contacted at binded.ca@gmail.com (Profile writing and photo by Allan O’Marra) |
