Meet Sheila Fendall

The word art can conger up a plethora of different ideas. From painting to sculpture, art exists in a variety of different mediums, all of which support the idea of delivering a model of creativity.

Jewelry, when done in the correct fashion, fits not only the vessel for creativity, but also for function.

To wear a piece of art is truly an incredible feeling and one that certainly cannot be undermined.

Sheila Fendall creates just that - wearable art. With her amazing and intricate attention to detail, what she makes is something worth marvelling at.

She has been honing her skills for approximately 25 years now, and it all began in a basic class.

“I had taken a beading class way down in Kensington for making necklaces, with beads, and I really liked that and it was really kind of cool.

“The next step I guess was to progress to something more and that became a silver smithing class. Back then the Calgary Board of Ed ran classes, so I took one series of classes through the Calgary Board of Education,” said Sheila

It goes on from there, class after class, until she found herself making jewelry more and more. It wasn’t quite welcomed into her life with open arms, however.

“I had always told my kids, who were still quite young at the time, that once you start something you have to finish it.

“They’ll do something like t-ball and basketball and all that, and I said you always have to finish it.

“I didn't really like the classes initially because I burned my hair, I had really long hair, and I burned my hair on the propane tank and that kind of freaked me out a little.

“I really didn't like the whole thing, it was really quite intimidating and sawing I found very hard.

“But I kept having that in my head, I kept telling my oldest son, you have to finish what you start. So I kept at it and then, by the time I'd made a few pieces and wore them to work, people were commenting on my jewelry.

“I kind of got a little more enthused about it, so that's why I kept taking more classes.”

Sheila begun branching out on her own, teaching herself what it was that she needed to know in order to further her knowledge of the craft.

Now it seems to be on her mind more often than not, always looking around for sources of inspiration.

“Sometimes I'll just be driving along and just see some random glitter or something on a car, the sun gleaming or something.

“I'll see some vision in that, and I'll think, that’d be kind of cool. And oftentimes lying in bed at night, unable to sleep, some weird little thing will come to mind, I should try this or try that, and then I can't sleep.

”She recognizes just how far she has come from the days of burning her hair and learning to use the saws.

“There's gonna be failures, I've certainly melted a lot of things early on. You find certain things that you love and if you feel strongly enough about it just keep at it.”

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