I have been a professional artist since 2002, and started my love affair with mosaics twelve years ago. Like many artists I’ve worked in different mediums over time, and I trained formally in clay sculpture, mold-making and bronze casting at OCAD. After leaving art college I also left access to the main bronze foundry in the area, so I started creating larger relief collages using found objects and fabric, as well as wood carvings. The exploration in mosaics began back when I was assisting a friend with retiling her bathroom floor and we added shells and rocks on the border. Since then the rest is a delightful blur of tiles of all colours and textures in a range of sizes and formats.

My work is mostly representational and tends to depict people and other creatures at home, as well as occasional abstract designs. I’m passionate about making art accessible to everyone regardless of their artistic knowledge, and have carried out workshops with community organizations in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Kuala Lumpur. Some time ago I had the opportunity to enjoy The Magic Gardens in Philadelphia which stimulated my interest in mosaic as public art, and am always open to collaborating with other artists to create such work.

Although I spent my formative years in Toronto, right now I am based in Ottawa where I divide my time between community work, teaching, and mosaics.  My business name is borrowed from the chip-chip mollusk found on the shoreline in Trinidad, where the multi-coloured shells cover the beach in low-tide and the sand acts as grout, weaving through the colours and textures to create a dreamy pattern.