Artist Statement
My work explores the intersection of myth, nature, and the unseen. Since beginning clay work at thirteen, I have expanded my practice to embrace a variety of firing techniques, with raku at the forefront. The unpredictable elements of flame, smoke, and transformation align with my interest in the ways material can carry spirit and reveal hidden patterns.
Symbols and mark-making are central to my practice, connecting to humanity’s oldest artistic expressions. Across cultures, these gestures communicated, honored, and mediated our relationship to the invisible. My sculptures—sprites, fairies, and other mythical beings—continue this dialogue, drawing on Norse and Celtic traditions in which the natural world was alive with guiding spirits and sacred creatures. These works invite viewers to engage with what cannot be seen but can still be felt.
Alongside clay, I create whimsical textile creatures from repurposed fabrics, often incorporating clay faces and symbolic motifs. By transforming remnants into birds, spirits, and hybrid forms, I explore thresholds between material and mythical, play and ritual, imagination and reality.
I seek to foster reconnection: to wonder, to the natural world, and to the invisible threads that link past and present. My work is an invitation to inhabit a space where imagination and ancestral memory converge, and where myth continues to shape our experience of the world.
Biography
Jennifer is a multi-textural artist whose practice explores the intersection of myth, nature, and the unseen. She began creating pottery at thirteen, experimenting with hand-building and discovering the transformative possibilities of clay. Over the years, she expanded her work into mixed media, oil, acrylic, and encaustic painting, layering textures and materials to explore visual and tactile depth.
In 2006, her relocation to the South Pacific inspired further exploration in textiles, pattern-making, and fashion design at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, where she studied mark-making and the cultural significance of symbols. Upon returning to the west coast in 2009, she began transforming repurposed fabric scraps into whimsical birds and creatures, integrating clay faces, chest pieces, and symbolic details to give life to material that might otherwise be discarded.
Today, her work focuses on raku-fired pottery and sculptures of sprites, fairies, and other mythical beings that inhabit the liminal space between the natural and imagined worlds. These works draw on folklore, ritual, and her ancestral threads from Denmark, Wales, and England, where spirits and creatures were honored as guides and guardians. Symbols and mark-making remain central to her practice, connecting her work to humanity’s earliest expressions of the unseen.
Through her sculptures and textile creations, Jay invites viewers to reconnect with wonder, imagination, and the hidden patterns of life, exploring thresholds where the material, the mythical, and the ancestral converge.
Website: jennifersjames.com
Instagram: @jennifer_s_james
Artwork Sales
Artwork cannot be reserved; sales are on a first-come, first-served basis.
Sales are open in-person and by phone during operating hours. Sales end at 9:00pm on Thursday, December 18, 2025.
How to Purchase by Phone
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- Make note of the artist name, artwork number and title.
- Call our Registration Desk at 604-664-1636 ext. 0 to complete your purchase. Please have your credit card ready.
- A copy of your receipt will be emailed to you. Please bring it with you to pick up your artwork. Sold artwork can be picked up during operating hours until 9:00pm on Thursday, December 18, 2025.
