Between a rock and an art place

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/02/2017 (2619 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While walking her dogs outside in the Hadashville-area, Janine Bergamot will often see something that tells a story for her or other times she’ll look at a stone that brings up memories.

But it’s what she does with these inspirations that have allowed her to become a familiar face in the Southeast art and crafting scene.

Bergamot creates one-of-a-kind metal necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pendants and other trinkets under the business name, North Sun Studio, which she runs out of her home. She frequents local craft shows and exhibitions in the Southeast and Whiteshell areas, creating individual pieces and custom work for clients and area-residents.

Around Christmas 2013, Bergamot began working with wire. Working with wire started off as something she was simply interested in trying and is the medium she uses to create her jewellery pieces.

“When I started working with metal, I had bought a magazine about working with it. I looked at the back cover, which had a picture of something called Viking knit. I thought that looked really interesting,” said Bergamot. “I have that quite often where I think: ‘I can do that.’”

After researching how the technique was done, Bergamot really enjoyed it and kept doing it.

“I became interested in trying different metals and learning about how metal behaves. I like a lot of the scientific aspect of why things happen and how things work,” said Bergamot.

She now runs North Sun Studio on a nearly full-time basis.

For the last 20 years, up until last April, Bergamot worked in the tourism industry. She has since taken a job in the transportation and shipping industry, which she said, allows her to have more time to work on her jewellery and meet with people about custom work.

Bergamot said she will come home from work and spend six to eight hours a day working on her jewellery. She finishes one or two pieces a week.

“It is pretty much a second full-time job. I try to get five hours of sleep at night,” Bergamot laughs.

Despite jobs in different industries, Bergamot is no stranger to the art world. She graduated from the University of Manitoba with the degree in fine arts in the 1990s, specializing in photography and ceramics. At that time, Bergamot said, those areas were very equipment heavy and they weren’t suitable to her lifestyle at the time.

Since then, Bergamot has continued to create in different ways. She enjoys working with small, fine details, like working with cross-stitch, embroidery and handmade cards. She’s always been interested in creating things, she said.

Bergamot has loved stones all her life and often incorporates them into her pieces. She also has done custom work for people looking to incorporate sea shells from a trip or arrowheads found outside.

When she does custom work, Bergamot will draw out sketches and send the customer her vision for the piece with details. Sometimes a customer will tell her to do whatever she wants, while others will have a specific vision or focal point she must create around.

Bergamot’s pieces often tell a story. She is currently creating a piece for an upcoming exhibition that focuses on her interpretation of the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.

“It’s like, ‘well how do you interpret that poem?’ What does that mean to me? Can I make anyone else see that?” said Bergamot. “Sometimes you take things in a non-literal sense a try to create an impression.”

To view Janine Bergamot’s current and past work, visit North Sun Studio on Facebook. She can also be contacted through her website at northsunstudio.com.