Kimberley Price is a Toronto-based artist producing prized beadwork jewellery.
Kimberley grew up in Port Perry with a mother who owned a highly respected antique business, parents whose folk art collections are found in the likes of Canada’s Museum of Civilization and two brothers who respectively pursued creative culinary and acting careers. Given her background, Kimberley’s passion for art and fine craft is understandable.
Indeed, Kimberley has followed a remarkable fine craft journey over 30 years producing and selling decorated leather purses in grade school, fimo polymer clay items in high school, beaded jewellery in university, and internationally recognized beadwork along with semi-precious stone and vintage bead jewellery for the past 15 years.
After graduating from the University of Toronto with an honours degree in art history, Kimberley studied silversmithing, casting and engraving at George Brown College. Her work blends classic materials and techniques in a contemporary manner.
Kimberley’s creative style is inspired by the art found in other cultures, and shaped by the aesthetic expression of artists such as noted Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. For example, Kimberley may use antique beads from the Turkoman of Northern Afghanistan strung with Venetian beads traded into Africa during the 19th century. Kimberley’s beadwork and small beaded sculptures also take inspiration, in part, from Native North American and African bead workers.
Kimberley’s work has been featured in numerous bead and jewellery related publications over the past ten years, including a recent cover Profile in “Step by Step Beads” and a number of pieces in the recently released “The Beader’s Color Palette”.
Kimberly creates jewellery comprised of different styles worked individually or in combination. She is attracted to tribal patterns employing unique silver and glass beads which demonstrate brilliant colours, geometric patterns and cultural relevance. She creates an international souk of design through the use of such unique materials.
Though Kimberley is inclined to resist standing before a crowd, she lives to stand out from the crowd – which explains her admiration for the likes of New York socialite Iris Apfel who trial blazes new paths in wearable art.
Kimberley’s favorite charities include:
• The Hospital for Sick Children
• The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
• Princess Margaret Hospital
• The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art
• The Royal Ontario Museum
