Monica Wickström (Finlanda)
MONICA WICKSTRÖM
Biography:
I like to work on different levels of art, handicraft and design. I mix materials with conceptual content, especially from everyday life. I am a helpless collector of most everything, trash and wasted things but also material from nature, especially stones, shells and pieces of wood. The shape, condition and colour are significant and therefore a thing must very often wait for the right moment to be explored and developed because I want to have a message or a story in my jewellery.
A piece of jewellery touching the body and meeting the soul affects the thought.
That’s my goal in my work.
Collection Concept:
1. COVID-19 RINGS BY MONICA WICKSTRÖM, FINLAND
The two rings, Doctor and Dance, are my homage to the healthcare workers around the world. When most of us have got the vaccine we can be more social, dance and give a big hug to friends. I mostly work in a conceptual way using ready-made items and trash from everyday life as symbols. So this time I chose the material and technique from a medical and chemical point of view. Eggs are very often used in producing vaccines. In Covid-19 it isn’t the case, but an egg is a very strong symbol of life in all of its meaning. I have used a mixed technique using eggshells, chemical resin, gold leaf, silver and LEGO® objects.
2. MULTIFUNCTIONAL JEWELLERY, 1 – 5 all from 2004.
Material: Silver 925, plastic, pearls and founded objects.
Techniques: Silversmith work; sawn, forged, pounded, hammered, soldered.
THE CONCEPT OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL JEWELLERIES
My fascination in functional design has always been very important. I can’t deny that when a beautiful piece of art can be used in more than one way it is much more interesting than two or three separate pieces as a wine cup and a piece of jewellery, which is a ring and a bracelet at the same time. When nobody is wearing it you look at it as a sculpture. That is multifunctional art.
3. FOR RICH AND FOR POOR
“For Rich and for Poor” is a series of jewellery, which invoke common sense. All of them are related to injustice in our society. The two rings, “The Golden Meal” and “The Golden Egg”, are pointing out the growing cleft between rich and poor. The golden meal is food, when it becomes luxury only for the gourmet elite of our society. The Golden Egg is targeted at the question; when is it enough? The jewellery “Alone or together” is a bracelet, ring and a wine cup, all in one piece. It’s for private pleasure, which invites you to share the cosy and sparkling moments, which are for the poor only a dream.
Ring, Elk dropping, shellac, silver 925, gold, 24k gold leaf
Ring, Eggshell, chemical metal resin and hardener, gold leaf, silver, LEGO object
