MELANIE PARSONS
aka Savage Rose Designs
Rooster feathers, Horse hair, Rabbit fur, Jingle cones, Swarovski Crystal, Dentalium, Copper chain, Glass beads, 2017
Melanie Parsons is a proud Cree-Metis woman. She has lived the majority of her life in Calgary, Alberta; traditional lands of the Blackfoot Nation. Her mother is a member of the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation in Treaty 6 Territory and also has family ties in Ile-a-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan. Melanie established Savage Rose Designs in 2010 after learning jewellery-making skills abroad. Savage Rose is named in honour of her late Grandmother Elizabeth 'Savage' Ahenakew and her Mother Sandra 'Rose' - being beautiful, hard-working and resilient!
Melanie uses beads, chain, feathers, leather, shells, horsehair, porcupine quills and other natural and man-made materials in her art. Savage Rose began as a hobby and has since grown into a way of healing for Melanie and a way of honouring all women, Indigenous craft and jewelry-making. Her work is well known for being unique as each set is specially made. She loves to create designs that are as special and unique as the women who wear them. Melanie chooses to honour the values she was taught and speak to those values and ways through her creative jewellery artwork.
Savage Rose earrings represent the contrast that exists in the world. Mixing dark with light colours, soft with hard textures, and natural with man-made materials, she wishes to showcase the differences that make up each one of us and the importance of balance.