- City
- Halifax
- Booth
- Nathan Phillips Square
Booth 215
Sorrel Van Allen
Sorrel Van Allen completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in jewellery and metalsmithing at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Halifax, Canada (2020), followed by a year-long residential silversmithing program at Bishopsland Educational Trust, Oxfordshire, UK (2021). Upon returning to Canada, Sorrel continued to develop her practice during the nine-month airCraft residency at Centre for Craft Nova Scotia, with the support of a research and creation grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Currently a Kjipuktuk (Halifax) based artist and educator, Van Allen exhibits nationally and internationally and is represented in private and public collections, including the Nova Scotia Art Bank. Selected awards and honours for Sorrel’s work include the Chiltern Hills Art Society Silversmithing Award, Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council Paul Podolsky Gold Award, winner of the 17th National Student Competition at L.A. Pai Gallery, The Micki Mackenzie Craft Education Award, the Society for American Goldsmiths Educational Endowment Scholarship.
Drawn to the wild and whimsical, Sorrel creates functional and sculptural objects through the exploration of pattern, color, and texture. Her work finds inspiration in textile patterns, botanical specimens, and architectural ornamentation. Using a palette of precious and base metals, vibrant pigments, and Keum-boo (attached gold), Sorrel experiments with simplified organic and geometric forms, carefully hand assembling design elements, in a similar method to origami, to create playful jewellery collections and contemporary compositions for the home.
