Wire Jewellery for Kids August 8th, 2014 – 1PM – 4PM
Learn to make a “cage” pendant to show off a bead, marble, or tiny treasure – then decorate it
with dangling beads, or make a second pendant featuring a bead person in an expressive pose.
Joan Irvin
Joan Irvin is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, writer, and educator. She has been a Jewellery +
Metals instructor at the Alberta College of Art & Design for the past 11 years, and a guest
artist/workshop instructor for numerous other institutions throughout the western provinces and
NWT . Irvin’s jewellery and small-scale mixed media works have been exhibited nationally, in
the United States, Europe, and Asia. While her personal practice currently favours pieces
fabricated from gold and anodized metals (niobium & titanium), her workshops – for both
children and adults — deal with a much broader array of materials, techniques and professional
development to satisfy the diverse interests of both beginner and advanced students.
A graduate of Fine Arts, with distinction, from the University of Calgary in Ceramics and the
Alberta College of Art + Design in Jewellery + Metals, Joan has additionally studied at the Banff
Centre, University of Western Ontario, Kalliolan Vapaaopisto in Finland, Penland School of Crafts
in North Carolina, and with a Calgary goldsmith who specialized in custom work. She served as
Supervisor of Calgary’s Wildflower Arts Centre for many years, and has received numerous awards
for her work, and her service to the arts community, including a 2009 Alberta Craft Council Award
of Honour, for her contribution to Alberta’s Fine Craft Culture. Joan currently markets her work
through the Hand Made Here Artist Collective.


