Mary Ambrose
Hand Made Jewellery & Art
There’s Something About Mary
Rubber Stamp Madness Magazine, May/June 2006
A talented artist gives stamping her own spin.
By Susan Williamson
The first time Toronto artist Mary Ambrose was at a stamping demo, she was blown away. "It was magic," she recalls. "I rushed right home and started making Christmas cards." Since that day four and a half years ago, Ambrose has branched out to incorporate stamping into assemblage, doll making, altered books and journals. Along the way, she’s amassed an impressive collection of red rubber, and carved over 500 of her own stamps.
"My philosophy is: Be not afraid and just go for it," says Ambrose, adding that she allows her natural enthusiasm for life to take her wherever it wants her to go. She’s taught belly dancing, gained a diploma in private investigation, learned to spin and weave, and designed and built a 24-room doll house that almost reaches to the ceiling of her studio.
Even after the birth of her now twelve-year old son Hayden, Ambrose didn’t stay idle. She spent her maternity leave painting landscapes, and then had a show in her home. It’s easy to get the impression that free-spirited Ambrose creates on the fly. But she says nothing could be further from the truth. “I’m a front-end loader,” she explains. “I have to plan everything out first.”
After graduating with a B.A. in archaeology from the University of Toronto, Ambrose went to work as an archaeologist for the Northern Yukon Research Program on early man. Here she honed her ability to analyze, research and plan. For the last 15 years, Ambrose has been a senior policy advisor for the Ontario government, and she finds the skills she needs on the job help her when it comes to making art: “I like to develop a project and see it through, even when it changes drastically along the way.”
Working with a theme and thinking outside the box always guide Ambrose in her creative pursuits. For her “Eikon” book (Greek for icon), Ambrose researched and collected pictures of the religious imagery that fascinates her. She also decided that she’d bind her pages in some way to a Korean spoon rest that appealed to her.
Ambrose started by cutting her pages out of mat board with a craft knife. Then she set to work painting, stamping and collaging them with decorated papers and pictures of religious icons from around the world. Since Ambrose loves to use interactive features in her books, she chose an archway stamp from Ornamentum, and cut a doorway the reader can open. When finished, Ambrose created a unique binding by wrapping copper plant tags around the slats of the spoon rest, and then attaching them to the mat board pages with paper fasteners.
Each project Ambrose undertakes is a showcase for her inventive nature. For example, she transformed a spool that once held boat cord into her version of the Taj Mahal. To give it another story, Ambrose added a circular piece of mat board, put in dowels for columns and then topped it all off with a rusty finial she’d found in her garden. Finishing touches included blue cord trim, and beaded wire that travels up the structure like vines growing on a building. But what impresses people about the “Taj” are the multitude of different images used and the intricate paper engineering. “I was actually inspired to do this by a class on pop-up I took with artist Lia Lim,” Ambrose recalls. In total, the “Taj” includes over 80 stamped images including her “signature,” Uncle Enos from River City Rubber Works. “I like to use it whenever I can in my work because it reminds me of my husband.”
Ambrose describes her husband Andy as “incredibly supportive. Artistic himself – he was a cartographer for thirty years before retiring to be a gardener – Andy thought it made good sense to turn their light-filled master bedroom into a studio for Ambrose. “I try to work here every night for a few hours, and off and on all weekend,” she says. “I’ll warm up the seat a bit, and then start working on a project I’ve already planned out in my head. Sometimes, though, all I do is purge my stuff because I’m already running out of space.”
During the summer, Ambrose and her family spend weekends and holidays on their 37-foot boat, which is berthed in Honey Harbour on Georgian Bay. “When it comes to stamping and boating, my mantra is: Travel light, think big,” says Ambrose. “It’s forced me to make art happen with what I have because I can’t run a heat gun or use glitter.” Ambrose figures out everything she needs for a project in advance, and packs it into a case that tucks neatly into a corner of the salon. When they’re at anchor, Ambrose works on a foldout table, or up in the fly bridge.
The inspiration for one of her boat journals began when Ambrose found an old law book and removed the pages. When folded, her collection of Mi Tintes pastel papers fit into it perfectly. So she packed her paper, oil pastels, collage material, acrylic paints, inks and dozens of stamps, happily spending part of the summer responding to nature and playing in her journal.
“To do the backgrounds, I scribbled on pastels. Next, I layered washes of paint, scraping them back with a plastic paint spatula to expose the pastel texture underneath. Then I stamped away – Staz On works great with acrylics – and collaged. When Ambrose finished her journal, she used double-sided tape to join each folded page together devising a ribbon binding to affix everything to the spine. The jacket itself is covered with brocade fabric, and decorated with rusty washers and dangling charms. Ambrose’s son Hayden finds the rusted washers that his mother loves to use in her art in their boatyard.
Ambrose has been collecting antique charms since her university days, and she recently started a jewellery-making business incorporating her vast collection into funky necklaces and bracelets. She also loves to share her lover of art with others by teaching work-shops on altered books, artist trading cards and acrylic backgrounds.
“While I think it’s important that art have meaning, what I try to get across is that it doesn’t have to be wonderful and deep,” she says. “Just do it and enjoy it – who knows what you’ll come up with? And try to finish what you start. This not only makes you feel good about yourself, but it always makes you want to continue on.”
Susan Williamson is a regular contributor to Rubber Stamp Madness Magazine. She lives in Brampton, Ontario.