the maker

My name is Donna. I am a historian and a goldsmith, and the creator of Prima Materia. 

I understand the transformative power of stepping out of an old life and into a new life because one of the hidden histories in Prima Materia jewelry is mine. 

Before I became a historian, I was trained in jewelry arts and during the late 90s I worked in Toronto’s jewelry industry as a designer and wax model-maker. This period also marked a dramatic shift into the digital age. Computer-aided design (CAD) swiftly transformed jewelry production. I felt like my value as an artisan had been replaced by dehumanized, dematerialized, machine-driven production. I felt unmoored.

In this sliding space of change, I unexpectedly found a path forward through history. 

I encountered the past in material form, in handling jewelry from different centuries through colleagues who were auctioneers and antique jewelry dealers. Asking questions about the origin stories of these pieces opened up a path that led me to graduate school. I left the bench for the archive to learn the historian’s craft, how to understand the complexities of the past through the analysis, interpretation, and contextualization of various kinds of evidence, such as texts, images, and objects. As my intellectual understanding of materials and historical practice expanded, my inner goldsmith re-activated.

Prima Materia embodies an inflection point in my life. Creating new knowledge as a historian and creating jewelry as a maker go hand in hand for me. Jewelry brings my two sides together. Jewelry enables me to think imaginatively with materials, to better understand the world around me and how my ideas and art can be impactful.

Here is what I have come to know. Handmade matters. Metal has a soul. As I evolve, so does my art.

Certifications

PhD 
Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture 
Bard Graduate Center

MA 
History 
York University

Ontario College Advanced Diploma 
Jewelry Arts 
George Brown College of Arts & Technology