Side Street Studio in Top 10 Best BC Christmas Gifts Ideas by BC Magazine
Side Street Studio has been voted into the Top 10 for Best BC place for Themed Gifts by B.C. Magazine. With over 320 local BC artists we are really happy to be included in this article!
You can see B C Magazine's article here http://www.bcmag.ca/10-BC-Themed-Gifts
A Passion for Nature and Ocean Themes
Darcy Epp began her pottery career in 1993 by taking night classes with a studio potter. She immediately realized that working with the magic of clay on the potter's wheel and individual hand sculpting was something that would be immensely fulfilling.
She has taken many workshops in both functional and decorative pieces at North Island College and Metchosin International School of the Arts, as well as specialized workshops and seminars from Gordon Hutchens (Denman Island), Siegele and Haley (Arkansas), Alan Burgess (Courtenay)..
Not limiting herself to one medium, she has learned and crosses over between traditional thrown pottery to slab work, Raku and porcelain, often incorporating the theory of one discipline to another.
A passion for nature and ocean themes, her attention to the intricate details of Orcas, Starfish, and Maple leaves has earned her pottery prominence in some of the most exclusive resort destinations venues.
Raku is an ancient type of Japanese firing dating back to the 16th century. Beautiful iridescent blues, violets, copper and crackle glazes are produced on either wheel thrown or sculptural pottery.
The pottery is fired to 1800° and then "reduced" in a chamber which catches fire immediately. The fire uses up all the oxygen in both glaze and chamber, thus producing one of a kind results.
Darcy's Raku kiln designed by Randy Brodnax who lives in Texas and still teaches pottery. Randy brought the kiln up to Metchosin and gave Raku lessons and left the kiln behind as it had to welded on site after he brought it up. Darcy bought the kiln from Sandra Dolph bought the kiln home to her studio in beautiful Black Creek on Vancouver Island
Jenny Miller Fine Jewelry
Jennifer Miller is the owner and designer of Uniacke Designs and her wok has been seen on Good Morning America and worn by Hoda!
She is a direct descendant of James Boyle Uniacke, the first Premier of Nova Scotia, Canada, during the 19th Century - hence the name Uniacke Designs. The name Uniacke dates back to the Strongbow Invasion of Ireland during the 11th Century. Originally the name was "Unicus Est" meaning "the only one". Over time the name changed to Uniacke.
Jennifer has always lived in Victoria. She has always had a strong love of animals, particularly horses. Since about the age of ten she has trained and very successfully shown horses, both her own and other peoples'. Jennifer's sharp attention to the many complex details involved with successfully showing horses has enabled her to focus her creative energy on designing jewelry -her other passion.
Her inspirations for the colour in her designs are drawn from current fashion trends and the unique and natural landscape that she is surrounded by in the lovely "city of gardens", Victoria, British Columbia.
To create the unique pieces, Jennifer uses a combination of colours, shapes and textures, utilising precious metals, either sterling silver or gold, semi-precious gems and stones, freshwater pearls and other natural materials. Each piece of jewellery is made by the designer herself using proven techniques to further enhance the jewellery that she makes. Jennifer's goal is to continue designing and creating beautiful and unique jewellery for women who love to express their own individual sense of fashion, personality and character.
In April 2010 Jennifer's work was shown on Good Morning America. Hoda was wearing one of Jennifer's magnificent bracelets and speaking to Kathie Lee about the superb jewellery.
Windy Tree Arbutus Wood Pendants
Rob Walton grew up in Crescent Beach, BC and has lived in Vancouver BC, Kugluktuk Nunavut, Mudge Island BC, and now makes his home in Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island BC.
As a self-taught artist, Rob has found that the journey to becoming a full-time artist has given him a strong sense of duty for his work. He has displayed his work at over 70 shows across the country and met thousands of people that have connected to his work.
As the connections to his work became more and more accessible the passion for pushing himself to a higher level of detail and a higher level of intention grew and expanded. Humbled by the response to this growth,
Rob has dedicated his practice to the art of patience and the pursuit of the subtle on behalf of those that support his work. Through reverence, nature is Rob's guide. The process starts by collecting selected fallen branches while out hiking through Vancouver Island and BC’s Gulf Island forests.
Making these artefacts is very humble work. Rob completely looses himself in the creation of these artefacts and enjoys the connections this work brings to the countless beautiful people along the way.
Rob feels very honoured to be able to create one of a kind art for a living. He selects each piece individually and allows it to ask what image to cut using a freehand design on the scroll saw. The work takes him to a peaceful and meditative place connecting me to the spirit of the arbutus, a healing and nurturing tree.
See more of Robs beautiful work at
Lanterns for a Winter's Night
Tracy Lewis Lanterns
Perfect for those dark winter evenings!. Tracy Lewis has been drawing and dreaming about homes and houses since she was 5 years old. Her ceramic house lanterns are one of a kind, created with warmth and whimsy, using paper clay.
Tracy graduated from Emily Carr College in 1988 with a BFA in Film Animation. She worked as an independent animator for many years on several NFB films, and as a mentor for many fledgling animators in remote communities such as Bella Coola and Old Crow, via Reel to Real, Bite Sized Media, and the NFB.
Since moving to Vancouver Island, Tracy has been teaching art and animation to young children from her home. Each summer, she invites groups of 6 children to a one week session of Animation Camp.
It's super fun! Folk Art has always been of interest to her and you may be so lucky to own one of her wooden flip toys, or one of her free standing or flying angels, or a duck, goose, or penguin flapping push toy.
Tracy has a line of greeting cards, and has illustrated 3 children's books. You never know what she'll make next, but you can be sure that it will be animated!
Tracy is a recent empty-nester, living in the Cowichan Valley.
You can see more of Tracy's beautiful lanterns at
Kiln Art Glass Studios
Dichroic Glass Jewelry By Peggy Brackett Of Kiln Art Glass Studio
My glass jewellery starts out as large 18 x 18 sheets of opaque, transparent and dichroic glass which I cut, piece and layer to create designs which I fuse (melt) together in an electric kiln at about 1500 degrees F.
After the sheet is fused and slow cooled, I re-cut, grind and drill the pieces. All of the drilling and grindings is done under water with special diamond bit tools. Then I return these pieces to the kiln and re-fuse them.
I make many of my own findings, e.g pendant bails, necklace extensions, fancy ear wires etc. I also use commercial high-quality findings such as basic ear wires.
The findings I use are chosen or created to be an element of the overall design of the piece, but are intended mostly to showcase the glass-work. All of the designs are my own. Kiln art Dichroic (Die-crow-ik) glass is glass that has a very fine layer (about 3 microns) of metal fused to its surface.
Different metals in different combinations create the beautiful colours that you see. I also use glass stringers (‘vermicelli’ shaped/sized glass), glass powders, metal foils and surface manipulation of the dichro etc to augment my designs.
You can see more of Peggy's beautiful work at
Charles Van Sandwyk
Charles Noel van Sandwyk was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1966. In 1977 he emigrated with his family to Vancouver, Canada.
By the early 1980's he was selling his drawings and water colors in a style reminiscent of the old prints and paintings which hung in the family home. Van Sandwyk studied graphic design at the Capilano College art programme in North Vancouver.
Upon completion in 1986, the wanderlust of younger years sent him travelling to the South Pacific. He discovered the Fiji Islands, and fell in love with a remote island and its inhabitants.
He began to divide his time equally between Vancouver and Fiji, leasing land from the neighboring family and building for himself a simple home of grass thatch, in the traditional island style.
In recent years Charles has been spending more of his time in beautiful Vancouver where he has been creating more beautiful works including an audio CD where he reads passages from his books to giving a 'Ted Talk'.
Charles Van Sandwyk uses his wonderful, romantic imagination, artistic talents and calligraphy skills to create his beautiful, superior quality, hand-stitch books for you to treasure. His world is a gentle one in which to escape. He believes that art, indeed life, should be a rich visual feast, restrained only by good taste. Hand crafted in BC. Beautiful greetings cards are available for most of the illustrations.
