My inspiration often comes while I am sleeping. Many times, a clear piece of jewelry pops into my mind just by observing the world around me, looking at a picture or just watching several forms of my daily life. I may see a simple line, a luminaire or a building full of curves and immediately imagine it in a jewelry form. I am very much inspired by nature and its organic materials. What nature offers cannot be done by human hands.
Read MoreBarbara’s ongoing commitment to conveying her knowledge of technical, traditional and experimental enameling techniques in combination with appropriate and necessary metalworking for jewelry is evident in her innovative and researched teaching. “I believe that in depth visual and technical investigation along with experimentation provides increased expertise, continual discovery and aesthetic development.”
Read MoreAlina Carp has been attracted since childhood by the artistic field, that’s when she started to create the first objects and adornments for her mother. Although she studied medicine, her passion for painting and art creation remained alive, so she opened in Bucharest, in 2005, a first personal exhibition, with decorative objects and jewels. This event was followed, over the years, by other personal or group exhibitions, which had on display either paintings or jewelry.
Read MoreWith a degree in Classical Studies, and strongly influenced by ancient history, surrealism and goth/steampunk imagery, Christine works to create jewelry that challenges one’s perspective of adornment. Christine is inspired by movement, by abstract shapes, by themes of whimsy or darkness. She works with simple tools and time-honored traditions to bring life to the metal, paying homage to the artisans of long ago who inspire her work.
Read MoreEvery piece that I create is unique and has its own story. They are all manufactured, each part of every piece is processed separately and then combined with the other parts, as a whole, by soldering and riveting. I wish that my pieces be worn by those who see in jewelry more than an accessory, but rather a way of expressing themselves.
Read MoreMy design is influenced by the raw materials surrounding me. I create new worlds from the limited resources and find tremendous wealth in the soil, the rotting logs, wasp's nest, branches of the trees, broken objects, old plastic bags, it can be anything. I refer to the material and not to the object, study it, understand its properties and use it to create small but complete scenes of staged nature, ex-wild. I believe that through design - as a tool - I can make a change, make a difference, affect people.
Read MoreI aim to imitate the crumpled tinfoil material, through natural gestures, similar to those of a child playing, and making jewelry out of chocolate tinfoil wrapper. Moreover, tinfoil is a metaphor for life’s hardships, which “crumple” us, make us wish to give up on any hope of going on, but, through the right technique, it can become a piece of jewelry.
Read MoreWoman, so not human. Mature, so not young. Not too beautiful, but not too ugly. With a sense of humor so a survivor. Otherwise a little lost. With higher medical education, not really for nothing because it helps me treat the common cold in my family. Great craftsman since young, but also fond of painting and dancing. Therefore, the trilemma: what would I be when I grow older? A trilemma that I am trying to solve now, when it’s almost 10 years since I’ve met David hidden in a corner of Dalles Gallery, tinkering with his hammers and files. It was lucky meeting him. Since then I learn, I try, I stop and I learn, I try and I stop again. Everything is a great joy, but not so much when I stop.
Read MoreJewelry has always mesmerized me, as a form of expression that is integrated in all the other arts. When I create, it’s a playful process. I play with the matter and ideas…I invent. I improvise…
The base of the design is the idea that a piece of jewelry is a functional work of art. A form that inspires, creates emotion, memories and feelings.
TingTing Chen & Xiyu Chen’s work has been discussing the relationship between jewelry and people. They believe in making is thinking. With the fast pace of life in today’s society, people often ignore the reflection on the relationship between each other, leading to people’s confusion about marriage, social loss or even loss of hope. TingTing Chen & Xiyu Chen’s work is like a stimulant that encourages people to keep thinking and no longer be confused.
Read MoreMulti-disciplinary artist Lynne Speake combines sculpture, ceramics, photography and written word to create visually arresting work. Organically driven by her materials and directly influenced by color, texture, pattern and form, Lynne creates work that always has an environmental core.
Read MoreThe motifs that I most often use in my artwork are derived from natural plant forms through stylized drawing of the bird’s eye view of a flower. I believe, when plainness and symmetry of the motif combines with textured and colored metal, it creates objects that connect history to modern day.
Read MoreWhile still referencing my interest in industrial remnants, these works, created in 2020 are a fresh view and exploration with an emphasis on color. I am always seeking a way to invoke a sense of industrial history through form and material but have chosen to soften the edges with a whispery palette of pastels and sensual surfaces. I use liquid enamels over copper and various mark making techniques to achieve the graphic surface designs. My work references African Mali beadwork and Aboriginal repetitive mark making as a way to place emphasis and pay homage to the enslaved, marginalized and indigenous peoples who have contributed to the rich and vibrant African American craft culture of today.
Read MoreProvoked by an interest in material fiction, Melis’ work examines loss, desire, and the notion of burden that individuals carry from their relationships. Her sculptures and jewelry objects explore the unseen tether of the physical and emotional weights that affect individuals in how they perceive their connection to others, their bodies, and space.
Read MoreMy work is greatly informed by my surroundings. I seek out texture and pattern in the natural and man made environments in which I find myself, and these elements inform my work. Finding their way into pieces directly or abstracted. I intend for the viewer to glimpse just enough to trigger their own memory and enact a sense of nostalgia or familiarity. I continuously flow between jewelry, vessels, sculpture and drawing with each process informing the others.
Read MoreHarlan W. Butt is Professor Emeritus at the University of North Texas. His work is represented in the collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Art & Design, the National Gallery of Australia and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Read MoreI have taken a series of photos of the institutional buildings of a former mental asylum Grangegorman, Dublin, and transformed them through enamels into a small series of brooches, trying to convey the images of the building on a brick framework. I want to capture the fragile nature of the buildings before they were demolished or rebuilt. The decaying and unstable buildings were comparable to the crumbling minds of its former patents.
Read MoreFor several years, she searched for a link between jewelry and graphic design and thanks to enamel, she found this link. She can paint with the powders, the colors, the transparencies with a technique she learned in Idar-Oberstein (Germany). In the beginning, she searched for the boundary between art and kitsch. By combining several materials (raw stones, wood, silver…), she retrieved the balance.
Read MoreWhen I was little, my mother had a custom ring made in Craiova, while she was attending high school. It really fascinated me and I admired it throughout my childhood. This was. perhaps, the spark that made me want to learn jewelry design. It was quite the challenge, but eventually I turned from a jewelry consumer into a jewelry maker. Later on, between 2017 and 2019, I graduated several courses from Assamblage Jewelry School.
Read MoreThrough my creations I translate my experiences, subtleties and dreamy vision into forms and structures. I like to discover, in general to experiment with different materials, unconventional or conventional, precious metals, various elements of nature, wood, leather, paper. Most of the time nature is what inspires me and that is why I am grateful for the things that are ethical, environmentally friendly, for recycling. Accuracy and detail, harmony and effervescence are things I love. I favor a certain removal of uniformity from jewelry.
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