Congratulations to Claire Dansereau, winner of the Beginner category in The Stuff of Legend Challenge! Her winning piece, Queen Yaa Asantewaa, is a sterling silver pendant with accent gold. It will be a gift for her sister, who is a scholar and professor of African studies.
Claire was inspired by the legendary Queen Yaa Asantewaa, a strong leader who led her womenfolk in a rebellion to protect her country’s Sacred Golden Stool from invaders. The Golden Stool, symbol of her kingdom, was never found by the invaders. She was exiled from her land, the Ashanti Empire which is now Ghana, to the Seychelles where she lived the final twenty years of her life. She and the Golden Stool are important legends in her country and for women everywhere. In this pendant she is sleeping and dreaming of the baobab forest and its critters who are protecting the precious Golden Stool.
“The theme of this challenge inspired me to participate and to search for a suitable hero to immortalized in silver,” says Claire. “Queen Yaa is little known outside of West Africa and I would not like her, and her fellow warrior women, to be forgotten. She fought for her people’s pride when their men were willing to give in to an invading power. In a way, she won; even though it took decades for her people to regain their independence, their Golden Stool was never sat upon or found by the colonizers.”
“I had in mind to create a beautiful African face that could sit comfortably on a golden stool. but the legend is clear that no king or queen would ever sit on the Golden Stool; they would sit on another stool nearby. So, I decided that she would be dreaming of it while sleeping in exile. I made a face in polymer clay using a mold, which I then built up with more polymer clay from which I made a second mold. Using the second mold, I made a new face in silver clay. I then spent hours carving and adding/removing more silver.
“The back was built separately using the Cool Tools Tree of Life texture also known as the baobab tree, a tree found throughout what is now Ghana, the land she was fighting for. The stool is painted with Cool Tools accent gold. I had trouble figuring out how to make a path leading up to the Stool if it was to be 3D, but hiding the base and other of its sections solved the problem and also fit with the story I wanted to tell.”
Claire’s Metal Clay Journey
“I discovered a love for silversmithing in my early twenties. but being the mother of a young child, I did not think I could provide for us as an artist. Instead, I became a scientist and then a bureaucrat. Over the years I would set up a bench somewhere in my home and make a few pieces here and there but could never find the time to focus on anything but work and my family.
Once I retired, I took a few refresher silversmithing courses through which I discovered metal clay. It blew my mind! I thought it was alchemy, it couldn’t be real! I researched it and to my great surprise not only was it real, but it had been around for a couple of decades. A new passion was born. “
“I continue to test myself by taking on increasingly complex projects, taking more advanced courses in metal clay, stone carving, wood carving. I mostly create by myself in my home, there is no real metal clay community in my town. Wherever and whenever possible, I take courses at conferences and workshops. For now, my community is mostly on Facebook.”
About Claire
Claire lives in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. She is a retired senior public servant. Find Claire on Facebook at facebook.com/claire.dansereau.
