Whether she’s creating an intricate work in stained glass or carving a bas-relief on driftwood, artist Pauulet Hohn (and yes, that is the correct spelling of her first name) approaches each piece with a sense of wonder and delight. "I feel like I’m 16 again, and just so excited!"

While studying at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Hohn originally focused on commercial art - but set it aside to marry her beloved and very supportive husband, Rob, and raise their three children. (In a strange twist of fate, she’ll be returning to ACAD in January, where her work will hang in a retrospective show of work by former students.)

Shortly after their move to the Coast, Pauulet discovered a huge extended family (renowned artist and aunt June Malaka lives just down the road) and rediscovered her love of art. As she and Rob built their dream house with its breathtaking view of Earl’s Cove and the Sawtooth Mountains, she plunged into creating the unique stained glass transom windows that surmount each door opening off the warm central "great room."

"I tend to get really focused when I’m working," Pauulet noted apologetically. Understanding her drive, Rob takes over chores, does all the cooking, and built her new stand-alone studio building - when he wasn’t operating a busy tugboat company. Pauulet says "he makes me feel like Cinderella!"

Glasswork, Pauulet notes, is "very labour-intensive." She can spend days working out a design (putting her insomnia time to use). Drawing it is one thing; making the finished product match the vision is another. Once all the pieces are cut and joined within the wood or brass frame, cleaned and hung in the light, the artist experiences the Moment of Truth.

After receiving a set of carving tools from an aunt, Pauulet plunged into carving driftwood. Feeling driven to release the spirit from the wood, she often finds herself carving a bas-relief tree into her first piece. "I can’t really stop myself; I just have to do a tree. Then I can move on, find a figure in the piece. But first, in every session, I have to free the spirit of that tree."

Within the pieces of driftwood she’s picked up at Secret Cove, her artist’s eye and skilled hands have discovered and released mermaids, a dancer, a Madonna and child, and - yes - lots of trees.

The next logical step for this carver is to work bigger, and release even more spirits from the wood by creating a totem pole. "I think Santa’s bringing me a chainsaw!" she enthused.

Pauulet will be offering classes in stained glass work at her new studio when it opens early in 2005 (date to be announced in Going Coastal’s Calendar of Events) with free instruction for students from Pender Harbour Secondary. With plenty of recycled glass and scrap materials to hand in the bright, spacious new building, she looks forward to teaching.

Opening a working studio to the public is a big step for Hohn, whose work has been on display at the Harbour Gallery and the Paper Mill in Madeira Park, and on her website at www.glassdesign.ca. "I tend to be very private about my art," she says. "Not many people in the community know I do this."

Pauulet Hohn
Wood, glass and mural arts
604.883.9464
Madeira Park BC
phohn@dccnet.com
www.glassdesign.ca