Bonegarden Beadwork Canada

• 

  Back to profiles Invite to apply

I am a rural Alberta artist whose practice combines dermestid beetle cleaning with intricate beadwork and painted designs on wildlife skulls. Each piece begins as a natural process, with beetles preparing the bone, and evolves into a work of art through hundreds of hours of hand-placed beads. My work explores cycles of life, death, memory, and renewal, transforming skulls into contemporary objects

My practice sits at the intersection of biology, craft, and contemporary art. Using dermestid beetles, I begin by cleaning animal skulls in a natural, ecological process that preserves every detail of the bone. Onto these surfaces I apply beadwork and painted designs, placing thousands of beads by hand to create imagery of fire, smoke, ravens, treelines, and other symbols drawn from memory, environment, and story. Each skull becomes more than a specimen or an object of display; it is transformed into a vessel for remembrance and reflection. Through this process, I explore cycles of life and death, destruction and renewal, while reframing traditional beadwork and natural materials within contemporary installation and exhibition contexts.