Uploaded February 2017 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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Pamela Ritchie is a 2017 winner of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
Directed by Tim Wilson
Presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm's-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 (Canada Council for the Arts Act) "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."
For more information, visit: ggavma.canadacouncil.ca
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Transcript:
Jewellery-making. People think of jewellery as something that is simply ornament and has very little to say. But when you start to really look at something for a long time that’s that small and detailed, you’re carried off into a place that is like a dream.
And it’s a paradox that a piece that’s this small and intricate can capture so many ideas.
This one is part of a series called States of Matter. The intention there was to think about what physicists are doing, which is trying to understand what we are, what we are made out of.
What is this material that makes our universe the first matter, that expansion of that big bang, that huge collision?
Paper is at once a kind of inexpensive material that we don’t think of as having any lasting quality but stamps are considered very precious by a lot of people. So you have this interesting contrast of the way we treat stamps; collected, treasured, or thrown out or recycled. I thought that it would be interesting to place them in the context of the precious by framing them with the sterling silver.
This is a very recent piece, and I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going with it. It’s made completely of alternative materials, of wood, of polymers, paint.
This could be a landscape, but not on our planet.
People come close to look at your work when you’re wearing something unusual, and it usually does start some kind of conversation.
Please like this video and subscribe to support the arts in Canada.
Pamela Ritchie is a 2017 winner of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
Directed by Tim Wilson
Presentation of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Independent Media Arts Alliance
The Canada Council for the Arts is a federal, arm's-length Crown corporation created by an Act of Parliament in 1957 (Canada Council for the Arts Act) "to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts."
For more information, visit: ggavma.canadacouncil.ca
****
Transcript:
Jewellery-making. People think of jewellery as something that is simply ornament and has very little to say. But when you start to really look at something for a long time that’s that small and detailed, you’re carried off into a place that is like a dream.
And it’s a paradox that a piece that’s this small and intricate can capture so many ideas.
This one is part of a series called States of Matter. The intention there was to think about what physicists are doing, which is trying to understand what we are, what we are made out of.
What is this material that makes our universe the first matter, that expansion of that big bang, that huge collision?
Paper is at once a kind of inexpensive material that we don’t think of as having any lasting quality but stamps are considered very precious by a lot of people. So you have this interesting contrast of the way we treat stamps; collected, treasured, or thrown out or recycled. I thought that it would be interesting to place them in the context of the precious by framing them with the sterling silver.
This is a very recent piece, and I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going with it. It’s made completely of alternative materials, of wood, of polymers, paint.
This could be a landscape, but not on our planet.
People come close to look at your work when you’re wearing something unusual, and it usually does start some kind of conversation.
