# Nadia Myre Turns River Junk Into Beads

> An Algonquin artist found broken clay pipes in the Thames and built a whole new body of work from them.
- Title: Nadia Myre Turns River Junk Into Beads · House & Home
- Summary: An Algonquin artist found broken clay pipes in the Thames and built a whole new body of work from them. Pay attention to what you keep picking up. Myre's…
- Keywords: art, indigenous art, ceramics, beadwork, canadian artists, Nadia, Myre, Turns, River, Junk, Beads, House & Home
- Source: House & Home — https://houseandhome.com/decorating-and-design/artist-file/artist-nadia-myre
- Author: Chelsea Dolan
- Published: 2026-09-08T15:04:57+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: art, indigenous art, ceramics, beadwork, canadian artists
## Material is the message
Nadia Myre works with identity, memory and belonging, but she gets there through process and touch rather than statement. The making is the argument.

> With a focus on material and process, Nadia Myre creates intricate works that explore identity, memory and belonging.
## Wampum as a thread
Born in Montreal and an Algonquin member of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, she moved from sculpture and installation to beadwork and weaving. Wampum shell beads tie the work to history and storytelling.
## A serious career
Camosun, Emily Carr, then an MFA at Concordia. More than 25 solo shows in a decade, work in the National Gallery of Canada, and pieces running roughly $15,000 to $85,000 through Blouin Division.
## Fragments in the Thames
In London she kept spotting small ceramic pieces on the riverbank and collected them. They turned out to be remnants of clay tobacco pipes, and back in the studio they seeded a new body of work.
## Between artifact and abstraction
She liked that the fragments read as familiar but not quite nameable. Over time they started behaving like beads, sliding into the visual language she already had.
## Elongated pixels
So she began making her own ceramic beads, which she calls elongated pixels. Handmade elements gave her control over scale, texture and composition, pushing past traditional beadwork.

> elongated pixels
## Pigment in wet clay
Each bead is made by hand with colour worked into the clay while it is still wet. Marbling, striations and tonal shifts give every one its own character.

> I'm always exploring different processes in the studio and, in doing so, uncovering something new.
## Glow, glaze and horizon
Jewelled and dusky tones, terracotta and warm gold, hint at landscape and horizon lines. Glossy and matte surfaces catch and absorb light, giving the pieces a sculptural presence off the wall.
## Key takeaway

Pay attention to what you keep picking up. Myre's biggest shift started with pocketing fragments off a riverbank.