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Bayoush Mengesha draws inspiration from nature

North Vancouver artist showcases work in Eastside Culture Crawl
Bayoush
Bayoush Mengesha will open her studio at 908 Odlum Drive during the Eastside Culture Crawl.

Eastside Culture Crawl: A four-day visual arts, design and crafts festival featuring more than 475 artists in their studios across 78 buildings in an area bounded by Columbia St., First Ave., Victoria Drive and the waterfront (culturecrawl.ca).

Bayoush Mengesha sees art in everything.

“I could take a visual cue from a piece of fabric or a pattern from a fabric and make something out of that, so it’s really from whatever captivates my senses.”

In her new studio on Odlum Drive, in the culture-rich Strathcona neighbourhood, she’s crafting art for the conscious consumer and getting ready to open her space to the public for the 20th annual Eastside Culture Crawl.

The North Vancouver artist draws her inspiration from esthetics of the 17 different countries she has travelled to including Bali, Guatemala, Colombia and Ethiopia.

Through her self-founded art collective, Devi Arts, Mengesha has connected her love of travel with her passion for ethically sourced materials by meeting with artisans from around the world.   

“I started making jewelry quite a while ago and I didn’t really know where my materials came from. I realized I had the opportunity to put my values and my ideals into my pieces as well,” she says.  

“My parents have always made me aware of some of the struggles other people go through in different parts of the world and how the impacts of consumption. … affect other people.”

Originally from Ethiopia, her parents fled during the civil war and landed in Swaziland, Africa where she was born.

Removed from their extended family, her parents named her Bayoush, meaning “if only they can see you” in Amharic the Ethiopian national language, as an homage to relatives still living in their home country.

Her name’s meaning is reflected in the jewelry she creates with eye catching stones like amazonite and rainbow fluorite that shine in a “special but functional” way.

The majority of the stones she uses in her pieces are ethically cut, meaning that they are mined and processed in safe working conditions and involve no child labour.

Mengesha travelled to India in 2014 and met the family that produces many of the precious stones featured in her work.

“I had the opportunity to witness the talent that envelops this generation that works together, there’s nine brothers and sisters that work together collectively,” she said, adding that the family has been in business for three generations.

Well paired with her appreciation for conscious and sustainable consumerism, is the inspiration she draws from the environment.

Mengesha incorporates birch bark into one of her signature lines of jewelry,  and hammers out metal to texturize it and make some of her pieces look like tree branches.

“I had this concept in my mind and I’ve always been fascinated by bark. I get it when it’s peeling, it’s under the seasons changing, and so when it peels and it drops I was thinking what can I do with this? It’s so beautiful and I want to preserve it somehow,” she said.

She glues the pieces of bark to copper or brass and finishes them with a special sealant, a process that took her almost a year to perfect.

A new endeavour that Mengesha has started experimenting with is fabric dyeing. She has been experimenting with Shibori dyeing techniques and has turned the fabric into pillowcases for a line of home decor.

“When I was travelling I worked with some talented block printers and fabric weavers and along the way this inspiration has also inspired me to dive into a new form of artistry,” she said. “I’ve really had a lot of fun getting my hands dirty.”

Mengesha has been at her studio space in Strathcona since August and is basking in the ability to separate work from home.

“My passion outgrew my space,” she said. “So I decided to get my own area so I can work comfortably and kind of have a nine-to-five space.”

She’s excited to be included in the Crawl, now that she’s part of the Parker street studios, and the opportunity to showcase her labour of love to the thousands of people who come through the annual event is a dream come true.