Drummond Creek presents itself as a dense, compact object that is heavy in both material and implication. The ring does not aim for refinement or visual resolution. Instead, it reads as something assembled under pressure, closer to a fragment or remnant than a polished adornment.
The structure is angular and asymmetrical. Rusted steel defines the form, its surface pitted and flaking, carrying visible signs of oxidation and exposure. The metal has not been cleaned or stabilized into neutrality; it remains active, unstable, and visually coarse. The ring shank is thick and industrial, functioning as a load-bearing element rather than a discreet support. Its scale anchors the piece on the hand, giving it a weight that feels deliberate and unavoidable. Kroeger’s background in environmental and avalanche science is not illustrated here, but embedded in the way the object behaves: compressed, layered, and resistant to ease.
Contained within this rigid frame is a soft, domed textile surface. Hand embroidery in cotton thread fills the cavity, densely stitched and richly colored. Greens, pinks, and muted earth tones cluster and overlap, suggesting vegetation, topographic shifts, or ground cover without becoming illustrative. The embroidery foregrounds labor and duration. Each stitch reads as an action repeated over time, in contrast to the steel’s implication of force and permanence. The relationship between these materials remains unresolved. The steel does not cradle the textile so much as restrain it. The embroidery appears compressed, held in place rather than harmonized. This tension that is between hard and soft, industrial and domestic, exposed and protected is what drives the work. Kroeger allows these oppositions to remain visible, resisting any attempt to smooth them into a single visual language.
The materials carry symbolic weight tied closely to Kroeger’s engagement with landscape as a site of work rather than spectacle. Rusted steel evokes tools, infrastructure, and the physical demands of outdoor labor. The embroidered surface introduces another mode of knowing, often associated with care, repair, and slow observation. Together, they point to landscapes shaped by repeated human interaction, rather than untouched or idealized nature.
The title situates the work geographically, but the ring functions less as a marker of place than as a vessel for accumulated experience. Within the Lost and Found series, Kroeger treats jewelry as a form of record-keeping. Objects hold memory through material choice and construction. Drummond Creek compresses terrain into something wearable, carrying traces of time spent moving through and working within unstable environments.
Despite its mass, the ring is intended to be worn. This matters. When placed on the body, the object collapses the distance between landscape and wearer. The ring does not decorate so much as assert itself, bringing weight, friction, and texture into constant contact with the hand. The body becomes part of the work’s system rather than its endpoint. Drummond Creek resists sentimentality while remaining deeply personal. Kroeger constructs an object that feels simultaneously held together and precarious. The ring suggests that relationships to place are layered and contingent, shaped by repetition, labor, and exposure. Experience, like landscape, leaves residue, and this piece is built to carry it.
References
Kroeger, Jamie. “Jamie Kroeger.” Accessed October 1, 2025.
https://www.jamiekroeger.com/
Alberta University of the Arts. “Jamie Kroeger.” Accessed October 1, 2025.
https://www.auarts.ca/about-auarts/faculty-and-staff/jamie-kroeger
Salt Spring Arts. “Jamie Kroeger – AIR 2024.” Accessed October 1, 2025.
https://saltspringarts.com/air-artist/air-2024/jamie-kroeger/
Mapplebeck, Cheyenne. “In the Outside: Jamie Kroeger.” Accessed October 1, 2025.
https://cheyennemapplebeck.com/in-the-outside-jamie-kroeger
Emma Collaboration. “Jamie Kroeger.” Accessed October 1, 2025.
https://www.emmacollaboration.com/artists/jamie-kroeger
Galerie Lewis. “Jamie Kroeger.” Accessed October 1, 2025.
https://www.galerielewis.com/jamie-kroeger
Galerie Lewis. “Jamie Kroeger, Drummond Creek Ring.” Accessed October 1, 2025.
https://www.galerielewis.com/product/jamie-kroeger-drummond-creek-ring-bague/629
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