Hands On
Solo Exhibition at Mary E. Black Gallery of Craft Nova Scotia
Hands On explores the power of touch in a world reshaped by distance, caution, and accelerating technology. Inspired by the Buddhist image of Avalokiteshwara, the thousand-armed Bodhisattva offering compassion through sacred objects, these works reflect on how touch connects us to memory, comfort, and one another. In an age increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and virtual experiences, the physical act of holding, caressing, and feeling becomes even more vital—reminding us of the irreplaceable value of human presence and material encounter. Through enamel, silk, and sculpted hands, the pieces invite viewers to consider how objects, gestures, and human contact affirm our resilience and intimacy, and why hands-on experience remains essential to being fully alive in the physical world.
RATUAL OBJECT SERIES
HANDS ON MEMORY SERIES
In 2025, I invited people to share photographs and tell the stories of their hands, their children’s hands, or the hands of their family members. Each image carries the true feeling of a memory unique to that person. A recurring image keeps surfacing in my mind: diving to the bottom of the ocean, I come across fragments of statues, now inhabited by sea creatures and overgrown with marine life. Memory, too, is fragile—it dissolves once the tangible objects we touch are reclaimed by nature.
During COVID I lost access to my shared jewelry workshop but still sought creative outlets with the art materials I already had a hand. I started working with watercolors, and this pic is my beloved assembled ‘warm colors’ set. I really liked the freedom of working on the 2D plane, working intuitively, and utilizing color with materials that aren’t precious/expensive. This object/art material is still a link between the COVID time and today- and it actually brings me great joy, as this newly discovered practice of making has persisted.
——R. H.
Finding and catching bugs and critters is a favourite part of working in the garden. We found this giant hornworm while visiting grandparents
——J. H.
I have to hold a pencil all the time to talk to somebody.
——K. S.
These are my Mom's hands. She passed away in 2015. She lived her hold life working with her hands. Most importantly as a Mom baking and praying for her family. She farmed along her husband, volunteered, and worked as a post mistress.
—--J. M.
During the lockdown, I was fortunate to still have access to my pottery studio. It became a sanctuary, a quiet space where I spent countless hours with clay—and with myself. Alone in the studio, with no way to replenish my supply, clay became a precious material. I began to truly consider each handful, using it with care and intention rather than rushing to create more.
The act of touch became a meditation, a dialogue between the material and myself. As I shaped the clay, it reflected not just my movements but my emotions, my state of being in that moment. Through this silent conversation, I connected more deeply with both the material and myself, finding meaning in each curve, each imprint, each breath of stillness.
——W. C.
I remember how small and delicate my daughter’s hands were when she was first born and laid on my belly. She is growing so quickly, and the feeling of holding her hands now is slowly replacing the memory of those tiny newborn hands.
——Y.X
During COVID I lost access to my shared jewelry workshop but still sought creative outlets with the art materials I already had a hand. I started working with watercolors, and this pic is my beloved assembled ‘warm colors’ set. I really liked the freedom of working on the 2D plane, working intuitively, and utilizing color with materials that aren’t precious/expensive. This object/art material is still a link between the COVID time and today- and it actually brings me great joy, as this newly discovered practice of making has persisted.
——R. H.
Finding and catching bugs and critters is a favourite part of working in the garden. We found this giant hornworm while visiting grandparents
——J. H.
I have to hold a pencil all the time to talk to somebody.
——K. S.
These are my Mom's hands. She passed away in 2015. She lived her hold life working with her hands. Most importantly as a Mom baking and praying for her family. She farmed along her husband, volunteered, and worked as a post mistress.
—--J. M.
During the lockdown, I was fortunate to still have access to my pottery studio. It became a sanctuary, a quiet space where I spent countless hours with clay—and with myself. Alone in the studio, with no way to replenish my supply, clay became a precious material. I began to truly consider each handful, using it with care and intention rather than rushing to create more.
The act of touch became a meditation, a dialogue between the material and myself. As I shaped the clay, it reflected not just my movements but my emotions, my state of being in that moment. Through this silent conversation, I connected more deeply with both the material and myself, finding meaning in each curve, each imprint, each breath of stillness.
——W. C.
I remember how small and delicate my daughter’s hands were when she was first born and laid on my belly. She is growing so quickly, and the feeling of holding her hands now is slowly replacing the memory of those tiny newborn hands.
——Y.X
Hands On Memory
2025
5-20 cm Dia. x 2cm in Depth
Materials: Enamel, copper, silver, 24-k gold,
natural-dyed silk, nickel, smoky crystal, cotton thread.
2025
5-20 cm Dia. x 2cm in Depth
Materials: Enamel, copper, silver, 24-k gold,
natural-dyed silk, nickel, smoky crystal, cotton thread.
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Hands On Feeling No.9
2025 18x18x8cm Enamel, copper, Swarovski pearls, silk thread, chemical binding, bombax ceiba. |
Exhibition Photos
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