Makers at the Manor

Award-winning artist Ted Stewart celebrates Ontario’s birds and wildlife through woodcarving and painting. His individually carved wildfowl reveal natural wood grain or exquisite painted detail, capturing birds in quiet repose or poised for flight. An original Rideau Lakes Studio Tour artist, Ted has served as an Artist in Residence in several national parks and judges regional woodcarving competitions. His work reflects an enduring fascination with nature’s beauty, character, and quiet presence, shaped by decades of observation.

Maggie Stewart is an Indigenous artist, teacher, and advocate from Kashechewan First Nation in Northern Ontario. Taught by her mother, aunties, and kookum, she creates beadwork, wearable art, traditional moccasins, and mittens. Now living in Newboro, Maggie shares her heritage through workshops and community gatherings. A founding member of Three Sisters, she supports Indigenous women and allies, celebrating traditional making as a source of healing, belonging, cultural connection, and stories carried through every careful stitch.

Diana Kemp first discovered stained glass in the 1980s, when she enrolled in a class in Petawawa shortly after she was married. She loved it immediately. Although family life and raising children sometimes drew her away from the studio, stained glass remained part of her life through gifts for family and friends, personal projects and occasional commissions.

After moving to Rideau Lakes, Diana began returning to her art with renewed purpose. For some time, she hesitated to call herself an artist because stained glass pieces often begin with a pattern or reference image. A conversation with another artist helped her recognize how much creative interpretation her work truly requires. Diana chooses the colours, textures, movement, composition and structure of every piece, transforming raw glass through her own artistic vision. Today, she proudly describes herself as an artist.

Diana’s creative process often begins with an image or idea that remains in her imagination until she is ready to bring it to life. She develops a pattern, chooses the glass and carefully cuts, grinds and shapes each section. The individual pieces are fitted together like a puzzle, cleaned, wrapped in copper foil and joined through soldering. The completed work is then cleaned, polished and prepared for display.

Every stage requires patience, skill and close attention. Diana is especially drawn to the colour and movement within glass and to the way natural light transforms a finished piece. Sunlight passing through the glass can fill a room with reflections, colour and small rainbows, allowing the artwork to change throughout the day.

Her work includes decorative stained glass pieces, thoughtful gifts and personalized commissions. Each creation carries the time, care, and problem-solving that went into its making. For Diana, one of the greatest pleasures is giving someone an object created entirely by hand and seeing the joy it brings.

Teaching has become another deeply rewarding part of Diana’s artistic life. Many participants arrive at her workshops feeling curious but intimidated by stained glass. Diana guides them carefully through the process and takes great pleasure in seeing each person leave with a beautiful finished piece and a new sense of confidence. She believes creativity belongs to everyone and that meaningful art can grow from many different forms of inspiration.

Diana creates because she loves the work itself. She finds satisfaction in every part of the journey, from imagining and designing to solving technical challenges and seeing the final piece illuminated by light. Through White Heather Glass Creations, she continues to grow as an artist, share her knowledge and create stained glass work that brings beauty and joy into the lives of others.

Caitlin Burke has been creating art since her teens, exploring colour, pattern, and design. Her love of flowers and gardens connects her to family and inspires her work in watercolour, acrylic, and mixed media. An art teacher for over twenty-five years, Caitlin continues to discover her own artistic voice. She brings that curiosity to her teaching, welcoming experimentation and mistakes while helping participants find joy, connection, and well-being in the creative process.

A fine jeweller from Merrickville, Kenna reveals the natural works of art held within stone and transforms them into distinctive, wearable forms. A trained lapidarist and silversmith, she has cut gemstones and created copper and silver jewellery for more than 20 years. Her work has a profoundly Canadian focus, celebrating Canadian gemstones and the ancient landscapes from which they come. Guided by the individual colour, markings, and story of each stone, Kenna creates every piece with care, allowing the gemstone itself to shape the final design. Her commitment to ethically sourced materials, thoughtful processes, and one-of-a-kind or limited-edition work places TerrAdore Art Jewelry firmly within the slow fashion movement. Her jewellery has appeared in an international art and fashion magazine and received a Global Excellence Award from a UK luxury goods publication.

Lisa Paddle brings a lifelong love of wool to her felted creations and welcoming fibre classes. An avid, self-taught knitter, she explored sewing, crochet, and weaving before finding her passion for felting more than twenty years ago.

With degrees in Nursing and Public Administration from Queen’s University, Lisa brings curiosity about wool’s history and science to her artistic practice. In recent years, she has had time to study with accomplished fibre artists and deepen her skills.

Lisa celebrates the joy of making by hand, encouraging everyone to embrace imperfection, be brave, and discover the fulfilment of creating something beautiful.

Margaret Martin has drawn and made art since childhood, inspired in part by her mother, an amateur watercolourist, and her paternal grandmother, an accomplished oil painter. Encouraged by her father to study art seriously, Margaret graduated from the University of Guelph’s Fine Art program, specializing in visual art, and later earned a degree in Education from Queen’s University. Following a career teaching children, youth, and adults, she now devotes her time to painting, writing, and supporting the creative community of Rideau Lakes. She is a longtime member and current co-president of the Rideau Lakes Artists’ Association and is also the author of the poetry collection From Inside to Outside.