Barbara McFadyen - Plus One Collective
Barbara McFadyen
USA
Designer biography:
Barbara McFadyen is a metalsmith and enamelist who has been designing jewelry in gold, silver, and enamel for nearly five decades. Barbara received her MFA in Metal Design from East Carolina University and BA from Eckerd College. Her award-winning work is nationally recognized through exhibitions with the American Crafts Council, the Smithsonian Institution, SNAG, and the Enamelist Society, and numerous gallery exhibitions, such as the Craft Council of British Columbia’s Excellence in Metal Technique. Barbara’s work is found in the collections of The Enamel Arts Foundation, the Mint Museum, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, the Crocker Museum, and Yale University Art Gallery.
In addition to her love of metalwork and enameling, Barbara finds inspiration through teaching others, and has led workshops at fine craft schools throughout the US, including Penland, Arrowmont, Haystack, and John Campbell, as well as teaching in Japan and Italy. Currently, Barbara serves on the Board of Directors for The Enamelist Society. She maintains her studio practice in Chapel Hill, NC. on a farm where she enjoys the practice of Beekeeping and raising chickens with her husband Douglass Phillips.
Collection concept:
Inspired by the time-honored tradition and secret language of jewelry, I find delight in exploring the design challenges and many techniques of metalwork and enameling. My inspirations are nourished and deeply connected to the mystery and beauty of the natural world with its intricate details and captivating patterns. The solace one can find in nature is a profound, universal experience and truth. I believe the sense of awe and power observed within nature can help one find renewed meaning beneath the hectic layers of every-day life.
For as long as I can remember, I have been deeply stirred by Japanese art, the floating world of Ukiyo-e prints, and the aesthetic of shibusa, which expresses a simple, subtle beauty and connection to the flux of nature, with details and textures that balance simplicity with complexity and a fine quality with economy of form and line. Through my work, I seek to transform inspirations of nature’s raw beauty into timeless moments of tranquility held within treasured objects of adornment.
Brooch “Tender Remembrance” - Vitreous enamel on copper, Limoges China paint, Sterling silver & copper embossed leaves, hand fabricated setting.
“Rose Faded Memories” - Vitreous enamel, sterling silver, French Jet antique beads, 2017: Necklace; sifted and laser etched enamel
Necklace - “Tulpenmanie” (Tulip Mania) - Vitreous enamel on copper, Limoges China Paint, handwrought chain in sterling silver, pink Tourmaline
