AMI Member Profile

 

---

Jadia Lorraine (Gordon) Ward - 1-9-55. Now half a century young! Born on the most southern island of Florida, one can say that this Key West Couch's love of the ocean and art pours through her veins and soul. Even her name derived from "Jade"… taking the "e" off and adding "ia"… was made up by her aunt Millie to have an exotic sound for a future artist born of the tropical Keys.

Having lived up and down the east coast with her parents, two brothers and a sister, as the oldest child, Jadia loved an adventurous life. In 1966 the family relocated to Portland, Oregon and embarked on making the Northwest their permanent home. The diversity of the NW area allowed Jadia to explore and expand her creativity in various art media and subject matters.

Jadia's formal education continued from high school into a Physical Education major with a love of sports. At Willamette University she won first place in 1973 and 1974 Women's Collegiate Fencing Championships and awards in Collegiate Softball. Jadia won awards on Speech and Debate Teams… and then moved into snow skiing and sailboat racing. Art, singing and playing guitar are Jadia's passions in downtime.

"Roses For Mom"

The passion of learning new things has kept the blondish/red-haired 50 year old very young at heart… with the help of the BOTTLE… that is, of course, the hair-coloring bottle… filled with an extra four ounces of humor. Various employment as styling salon owner, singing messenger, veterinary assistant, health & fitness counselor, activities coordinator for community organizations, graphics consultant to construction, advertising and art industries has led Jadia back to her own business in executing design and artistic formats. Jadia and Michael Ward co-founded their company called Bright Eyes Creations®.

In the evening, on February 5th, 2004, while touring Vancouver, Washington's Art Walk, Jadia chance to meet Gerry and Marlene Laddusaw at the Blue Bond Gallery. While sharing each other's types of artistic flair, Gerry invited Jadia for a lesson in Marquetry. With Valentine's Day was less than a week and a half away, she still had no idea of what type of gift to buy or make for her husband. Jadia ask Gerry if the first piece she could make be of a sailboat. Her husband is the GM for Schooner Creek Boat Works, a company that builds and repairs boats; Jadia and Mike share a mutual love for various types of marine vessels. She really wanted her first Marquetry piece to honor their mutual love of sailing. Mike was the one that taught Jadia how to sail… and it open up more adventures and a bond that she never knew was possible.

"Sailboat Wave Cresting"

On Valentine's Day 2004, Jadia presented Michael with his gift… she swears that the Englishman made more of a fuss over that inlaid sailboat than anything she had ever given him before. He continues to encourage her towards doing more pieces… especially since he has almost completed machining out her new scroll saw to their collaborated design specifications. THANKS BUNCHES GERRY & MARLENE LADDUSAW (… it's your fault for Jadia's Marquetry Bug-bite)!

April 2005 marked Jadia's one year anniversary date with the Columbia River Chapter of the AMI... she enjoys the demonstrations at club meetings, writes the CRC news for the AMI Newsletter and is co-chairwoman of the advertising committee for the up and coming AMI-CRC 2005 National Exhibition. Jadia's passions for graphic design, photography, painting, motorcycling, snow skiing, sailing and scuba diving are having to make room as she is diving into Marquetry with both feet (Yes, Michael believes there is an anchor chain attached to his neck and wallet… so as to drag him into Marquetry… HEAD first.) Jadia looks forward to sharing more of her work on the AMI web site and her own web site. She openly extends, to marquetarians and artists interested in selling or just displaying their work, an offer of posting pieces on her company's web site.

The sea born, green-eyed artist looks forward to exposing anyone to Marquetry. Passionately, Jadia seeks to aid the Marquetry Revival and keep this rare art thriving… to the point of this Rusty Blonde's remark: "Marquetry is an exquisite art-form and gift that should be shared with future generations… it starts with each of us picking up a spark and then sharing it…carrying forward a flame to pass on… infinitely!"

 

Editor's Note: To learn more about marquetry artist Jadia and view more of her artwork, click on the link below.