Marking your path on the journey of life
Glaciers, waves, wind and sand with a little help from an artist's hand. That is the way I see my art. Thousands of years of natures work has turned jagged rock into smooth polished beach stone. Yet, a stone is merely a stone, it is a sculpture of stones that make a cairn. Cairns can be simple or complex like the meaning they convey. To me they are timeless reminders of what it is to be human - the ability of using art and symbols to communicate meaning.
For many years I have been guided by cairns during my hiking and backpacking travels throughout the upper Great Lakes, Canada and the Western United States. I've also enjoyed beach combing for stones on the shores of Lakes Michigan and Superior since I was a child. It was from these outdoor ventures, my Irish and British Isles ancestry, along with my interest in human cultural history, that my cairn art idea was born in the summer of 2010.
Cairns can convey many meanings by the maker and be interpreted in many ways by the traveler upon these stone markers. From a simple directional duck cairn to a memorial cairn, the meanings are endless and it's one's individual interpretation that makes them so interesting. To wonder who made it, when it was made, and the meaning the maker was conveying is what makes them so intriguing to me. This wonder, along with my deep spiritual connection to Lakes Michigan and Superior led me to this natural connection of artistic expression.
My first gallery sale was in February of 2011 and I opened my Etsy store in the fall of 2011. Since that time, I have added cairn necklaces, earrings, and stone pendants to my collection. To date I've had over 1800 gallery and website sales in forty-nine states and twelve countries.
In addition to my Etsy store, my cairns can also be seen in these Michigan shops and galleries: The Painted Bird Gallery in Suttons Bay, NorthGoods and Sturgeon River Pottery in Petoskey, Mr. Millers Art Emporium in Douglas, The Depot Art Gallery in Beverly Shores, and The Ruth Conklin Gallery in Glen Arbor, Michigan.
For many years I have been guided by cairns during my hiking and backpacking travels throughout the upper Great Lakes, Canada and the Western United States. I've also enjoyed beach combing for stones on the shores of Lakes Michigan and Superior since I was a child. It was from these outdoor ventures, my Irish and British Isles ancestry, along with my interest in human cultural history, that my cairn art idea was born in the summer of 2010.
Cairns can convey many meanings by the maker and be interpreted in many ways by the traveler upon these stone markers. From a simple directional duck cairn to a memorial cairn, the meanings are endless and it's one's individual interpretation that makes them so interesting. To wonder who made it, when it was made, and the meaning the maker was conveying is what makes them so intriguing to me. This wonder, along with my deep spiritual connection to Lakes Michigan and Superior led me to this natural connection of artistic expression.
My first gallery sale was in February of 2011 and I opened my Etsy store in the fall of 2011. Since that time, I have added cairn necklaces, earrings, and stone pendants to my collection. To date I've had over 1800 gallery and website sales in forty-nine states and twelve countries.
In addition to my Etsy store, my cairns can also be seen in these Michigan shops and galleries: The Painted Bird Gallery in Suttons Bay, NorthGoods and Sturgeon River Pottery in Petoskey, Mr. Millers Art Emporium in Douglas, The Depot Art Gallery in Beverly Shores, and The Ruth Conklin Gallery in Glen Arbor, Michigan.