SORREL VAN ALLEN: A FINE LINE
Crafting jewellery and objects using ancient silversmithing techniques and modern technologies, Sorrel Van Allen explores contemporary associations between material value and craft labour. From design through fabrication, she carefully blends traditional methods of hand cutting and metal forming with machine cutting technologies and industrial surface coatings typically used in the automotive industry.
Through these intricate and colourful forms, Sorrel challenges perceptions of technological and traditional craft values by contrasting elements of both.
Silver
The winner of the 17th annual National Jewellery Student Competition at L. A. Pai Gallery in 2020, Sorrel Van Allen is a jewellery and object maker with a background in industrial welding and artistic blacksmithing. She has studied computer aided design and craft history at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland, and holds a BFA Major in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing from NSCAD University.
After graduation, Sorrel completed a year-long residential silversmithing program at Bishopsland Educational Trust, Oxfordshire, U.K. and the nine-month Metal airCraft Residency at Centre for Craft Nova Scotia. Her work has been exhibited and published in Canada, the United States and Europe, notably in Germany and the U.K. Sorrel is currently a Kjipuktuk/Halifax based artist, educator, and an active member of the Canadian art jewellery community.