The maker
Meagan McQuade
Wife, mother of three, registered nurse.
Some treasures are found. Others are carefully gathered over time.
Every piece starts with a shell. A scallop, an oyster, a sand dollar, each one already shaped by the water long before it reaches her workbench.
Many of them come from two stretches of coast that matter to her family, the shores of Cape Cod and Juno Beach. From there it is decoupage and gold leaf edging, pearl accents, hand sculpted clay and heavy body acrylics. Her husband builds the wood frames in their workshop.
Most of it happens late, in the hours left after a shift at the hospital and a house full of kids. Her words for it: art has always been her way of slowing down.
Because no two shells are alike, no two finished pieces are either. On the one of a kind work, the piece in the photograph is the piece that ships. On the rest, yours is made for you and will differ a little, which is the point.
Everything is packed and mailed by the same hands that made it.
The Salty Birch · New Hampshire