(Photo contributed)

There’s two notable ways you might have encountered Izzie Collier, a new-ish resident in Lunenburg County, this past year – biking around the area with her mini schnauzer Scout strapped into a milk crate, or promoting her impressive custom architectural embroidery skills.

Izzie’s art practice received much deserved recognition on Facebook last month as she showed off her embroidery of (in)famous buildings like the Lunenburg Academy, the Wedding Cake House and the Mariner King Inn.

(Photo contributed)

Six years ago Izzie found herself moving from small-town Ontario to Nova Scotia to study architecture. Her career brought her, her fiancé Sam and Scout to Rhodes Corner in 2021 when Solterre Design, an architecture firm based in Halifax, opened a Lunenburg office.

Her passion for architecture goes beyond her day job. Izzie realised she could combine her love of drawing homes with her skills in embroidery to make “house portraits”. Ornate Victorian buildings and bright colourful homes create a never ending source of inspiration for her work.

Since hosting a pop-up at the space above the LaHave Bakery in summer and sharing her designs online, Izzie has opened up commissions to make house portraits of other’s favourite local buildings.

“Houses and buildings hold so much meaning and sentimental value and are the backdrop for so many core memories so it’s nice to be able to capture that for people in a small piece of art,” says Izzie.

Embroidery isn’t the only art practice Izzie does. Like any good crafter, her home is filled with materials for knitting, sewing, rug hooking, watercolouring and more. I can’t think of a more appropriate way to support the escapades of a fellow Lunenburg crafter than to follow along as she embroiders her way through Lunenburg County.