Metchosin artist carves invisible emotions into driftwood sculptures<\/p>\n
Published 5:30 am Sunday, April 5, 2026<\/p>\n
A young Debra Bernier sat on a pebbled beach on a golden evening when the sun was setting, creating figures with shadows on the beach. She was digging up clay at the beach and would collect it in the many baskets she had. She would later shape the clay into little people, and eventually these clay people would fall apart because there was too much sand in them.<\/p>\n
Now, many years later, Bernier is sitting in her art studio, filled with carefully carved work that amazes visitors.<\/p>\n
Bernier, a mother of two, lives and works in Metchosin surrounded by forests and the ocean. She collects driftwood and natural elements that are already shaped by the tide, wind, and sand.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I find I\u2019m never without a starting point. It\u2019s never a blank canvas because every piece of wood already is a sculpture shaped by Mother Nature,\u201d Bernier told Goldstream Gazette.<\/p>\n
Her creativity, she explained, sharpened watching her mother, who worked as a healer and a counsellor. Growing up, she watched the emotional weight of that work and was encouraged to freely explore creativity.<\/p>\n
\u201cNature is my constant inspiration and the quiet presence that guides my work. From this space, forms emerge that speak of love, motherhood, grief, healing, strength, and belonging,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Bernier tries to carve invisible human experiences such as love, grief, trauma, motherhood, healing and belonging into something visible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like my life\u2019s calling really is to make art that is tangible for feelings that we share. Something like childhood trauma is, I think, to different degrees something we can all relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the discussion, she often referred to the concept of wabi-sabi and kintsugi, a Japanese practice of repairing broken objects with gold, as metaphors of honouring emotional fractures rather than hiding them.<\/p>\n
After Bernier started selling her work at local markets in Victoria, a pool of admirers who could connect to her art was created. Today, she ships her sculptures worldwide through a fulfillment centre in the United States, reaching customers in 52 countries. She has been receiving thousands of messages from buyers who said the work speaks directly to their lives.<\/p>\n
As much as those clients\u2019 remarks are rewarding, managing the business as an artist has been challenging, Bernier explained. She, however, has been successful in supporting herself as a full-time artist for 15 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes a lot of confidence that sales will come through sometimes, especially during slow seasons like right now. So just the financial aspect has been difficult, but it\u2019s also been rewarding, and I\u2019ve been living as an artist full-time for 15 years now, and I\u2019m just so grateful for that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bernier emphasized broader support is needed for artists, musicians, and arts education, which she believes are an essential part of a healthy society.<\/p>\n
She also highlighted paying more attention to emotions, children and nature that inspire most of her artwork.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so important and in schools, unfortunately, often the first program to be cut is art or music, and I think it\u2019s something we all share and deeply need more of. There\u2019s so much abundance in the world, so whether it\u2019s needle felting or painting or sculpting, just get in there and try something new.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Metchosin artist carves invisible emotions into driftwood sculptures Published 5:30 am Sunday, April 5, 2026 A young Debra…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-584630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}