|
With the immersion that she had into all kinds of art forms as a child and young teen, it’s no wonder that Prince Edward County stained glass artist, Emily Istead’s present professional art pursuit was set up and inevitably emerged for her. Although home schooled at the primary level, her mother’s practice of needle-work and painting led Istead to try out a very wide variety of arts and crafts beginning with drawing and painting, then moving on to carving of birds and gnomes as taught to her at a workshop in Napanee; followed by felting (working to make animals with balls of rough wool), sewing blankets and clothing plus creating hot sac pain easers with cloth and lentils or beans. And it doesn’t stop there. When a bit older she worked with vinyl blocks to design and create lino prints; and made good money painting commissions of people’s pets in acrylics on canvas. After all that early practice, she was already a pro! Moving to the now: after high school graduation, the Bloomfield resident is now in her 2nd of two years of study to be an Early Childhood Educator at Loyalist College in Belleville. Her affection for children and the prospect of working with them, understanding how they learn and helping them become who they will be, motivates her in the pursuit of this, her primary career. Her study subjects include child psychology, child development, daycare practicum, English, creative writing (for which she has won awards for her poetry and essays) and art history. Graduates work as registered early childhood educators in various settings: private and public full-day kindergarten programs; before- and after-school programs; child care centres; nursery schools; private home child care; and children’s services, including support with special needs, mental health services, etc. She already has daycare centres interested in her services when she graduates. And at the moment, with first year complete and working at a summer job, Istead is concentrating, when there’s time, to create the stain glass pieces she will have for display at the Bancroft Studio Tour during the last two weekends in September. She promises a nice selection of happy/whimsical images of mushrooms, frogs, snails, turtles, birds and cats—all in brightly coloured stained glass. She begins each project with a pencil drawing that she attaches to the |
chosen piece (or pieces) of coloured glass—held there by clear contact paper—then cuts the shape of the glass to match the drawing. She grinds the edges, removes the contact sheet and drawing and sometimes adds enamel paint and pieces of wire to enhance the image. Then adds foil to the edge and solders to other pieces (as appropriate to make up the final shape. Some are simply for hanging in a window; and some are used in the construction of lamps, etc. She has shown this work at the Apsley Christmas Market, the Chandos Lake Artfest and in various Belleville events. And will be displaying her creations as a guest at her aunt Karen’s location at 68 Golden Shores Road just off Lower Baptiste Lake Road. (Profile writing and photo by Allan O’Marra) |
