Blunt Object

“These are goat bones…I’ve got a whole pile of them” isn’t a line borrowed from a David Lynch script; it’s just another day in artist Susanna Blunt’s North Vancouver home. There are thousands more curiosities and oddities stacked, tucked, and neatly stored away: fossils from Indonesia, pots from Peru, skeletons, antique puppets, broken porcelain, pharmaceutical bits, plastic, twine, glass, rubber left over from a rubber pour. All found objects that feed an insatiable artistic output: “I will never live long enough to make all the things that are exciting to me.”

Cyclops Grieving (it’s missing an eye) showcases Blunt’s talent as found-object sculptress, though Canadians are more familiar with her stunning portrait work, namely the queen’s regal visage on the back of all our coins. But Blunt has recently turned both eyes to a new contemporary expression: acrylic laser-cut jewellery. The Much Ado About Something line includes fluorescent cameos that evoke the Victorian profile, but that profile might be yours, your spouse’s, or even your dog’s, depending on the photo you bring to her house/gallery/workshop. “I love the absurd,” she adds.