Artist Profile: Caroline Stikkelbroeck

Today's featured artist is Caroline, also known as tantecaroline.  Enjoy her unique work with polymer clay, jewelry and her many-layered and antiqued swirly balls and frames in between her wonderful story!

Meet Caroline first-hand and see her amazing creations at the Who Knew show on April 29 at the Wildflower Market and Restaurant. 

Buy your tickets right here!

Says Caroline:

In my home when I was growing up, someone was always making something.

I think my father could do anything. Seriously, if he couldn’t, he would learn. Woodworking, mechanics, rug hooking, electronics, plumbing, and on and on. He made my first stereo, his first computer, and even built a car -- made the fiberglass body from moulds he constructed, built the engine from bought and salvaged parts, and even designed and sewed his own tonneau cover for the sporty convertible.

My mother operated her own successful business out of our home, sewing, and quite often, designing clothing for women. In between meals, our kitchen table was her worktable. I don’t think we ever watched an episode of Walt Disney that wasn’t accompanied by the sound of her snipping scissors. Our Barbie dolls were the best dressed in the neighbourhood.

I drew a lot as a child, but once I was out of school, and no longer had ready access to free materials, I put it aside. I produced some stellar doodles during my 20s, but my interest in creating really began to revive when I started renting homes almost too ugly to live in. Painting, plastering and tile laying, soon led to decorative painting and plastering, antiquing and craquelure. These techniques all re-surface in my current work.

I think it’s no coincidence that I re-approached art at the same time that I re-entered school. I believe the cranial tune-up sparked a creative need that didn’t require rational thinking. In addition, just as I didn’t leave academics after graduating, staying on at Brock as a Teaching Assistant, and then pursuing and completing a Master’s Degree in Popular Culture, likewise, my interest in creating has not only stuck with me, but grown.

My work is largely about transformation and texture, regardless of the medium I’m working with. I have a strong practical side that is revealed in my creation of usable pieces of art, whether it’s frames, boxes, holiday ornaments, or jewellery.

I enjoy mixing it up. I move between decorative techniques, such as antiquing, craquelure, stamping, decoupage and stencilling, to jewellery making, and polymer exploration. To each of these mediums, though, I bring the same commitment to creating unique, well-made and usable art.

More of her work here!