Adeline Mar

After learning to bead from her grandmother at an early age, Adeline Mar did not begin a dedicated beading practice until adulthood when she moved from her hometown of Iqaluit, NU to Minnesota, USA, where she currently works as an Emergency First Responder. After beginning with earrings and then expanding to necklaces and a rings in a distinctive twisting style, Mar recognizes her jewellery making as both therapeutic as well as an important link to home. “This is my way of connecting back to my roots while living in the US and still adjusting to everything,” she reflects. [1]

Inspired by powerful Inuit artists such as Tanya Tagaq, Mar expresses a spectrum of emotions through her work, with netted beaded necklaces being her favourite pieces to produce. In the future, she would like to develop her work in a way that includes organic material such as sustainably sourced fur and leather as well as gemstones into her carefully crafted jewellery and accessories, but has faced challenges accessing animal products such as sealskin in the United States where it is currently banned.

This Profile was made possible through support from RBC Emerging Artists.