This week, browsing through the internet, I stumbled across the work of the UK based jeweler, Frasier Hamilton. He works primarily with wax castings of hands and faces and "uses the body as a landscape". In his artist statement he writes that the hand is a symbol of creation and discovery, this being a recurring motif in his work, it is often shown by a hand clutching onto and uncommon cut of gem. I was quite excited to come across his body of work since is has some similar themes to the current project I am working on, that focuses on themes surrounding touch, hands being at the center of that narrative.
Correlating along with my current project, I am trying to create more of a cross over between my jewelry work and my continuous love affair with photography. I aim this semester to make it a goal for myself to do more research on the history of the relationships between jewelry and photography. Upon my first online deep dive I came across an article on the met museum webpage about an inside look into sentiment of photographic trade literature. Starting mainly with the daguerreotype, as soon as photographic technology was created, jewelers were creating wearable objects that included photographs of loved ones. I plan to take advantage of the access I have to the on campus library and check out a few books that relate to this topic.
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For this semester I would like to focus on my own personal growth with my metal smithing practice. Over the course of the past 3 semesters enrolled in Jewelry and Small Metals, I've been able to grow my general knowledge of the tools and techniques. However, I haven't really had the chance to 'perfect' what I've gotten to know. I find that what I tend to struggle with the most is my accuracy and final execution of my metal designs. Creating projects that are maybe too complicated for my current skill set is a blessing and a curse. Through the process I learn a lot, but my end product tends to always be a little rough around the edges. As a personal note I think that pulling back and simplifying my designs could be really beneficial to complete something with metals that I'm really proud of.
When breaking down my mind map a few key techniques and design elements kept servicing. I came to realize that I tend to lean towards using copper and brass as my main materials because of their warmer tonal range. I also really enjoy repeating hammered textures, I find that they do the best job at emulating the many texture we get to see everyday within nature and our environments. With my metals works I am to create pieces that are deeply sentimental and honor the moments within our lives that go unnoticed the most. It's the small things in life that really make living worth wile. In correlation with that, I would like to try to implement more hidden mechanisms within my body of work as I think it will speak towards that sentiment. List of techniques/design qualities: (Copper, Brass, repeating hammered textures, texturing stamps, heat patina, hidden mechanisms) I must say I am deeply impressed with myself for the outcome of this final design. For this being really only my second metal course taken, I am so stoked on my ability to create the wearable designs I visualize in my head. Enameling is not easy but after multiple layers and lots of patience things really do come together! The entire enameling process is no joke! Although I was working with a somewhat simple form I still ran into quite a few hurdles along the way. More specifically with the process of enameling and firing both sides of my metal without marks being created in the enamel. I now realize that a different trivet, one smaller and more fit for my pieces, would have potentially solved this problem. I'm not absolutely in love with how these are turning out, but really proud of myself for working through and learning from this process. Enameling is no joke! Throughout my sampling process I was continually humbled by the difficulty of getting enamels to fully fuse to their service and flow evenly. However, through this I was able to learn a lot about the mistakes I made, how to fix them and how to just be patient with the process. The more layers of enamel I added to my samples, allowed for the things to naturally come together. Campleve SampleEnamel Samples Using Different Techniques1st things 1st, counter enamel the backs of the pieces. This prevents the metal from warping when enameling the front sides of your piece. This is also the only time you really wanna pickle, to clean off the bare metal on the front. Pickling isn't really needed after this, unless you're dealing with a real bad dirt problem.
Cleveland jeweler, Ariella Har-Even creates works that explores the link between what she writes as "the archetypal nature of jewelry and the placing of physical objects on the body, which serves as a bridge between the nonphysical self and the physical world." Through this she uses her creations as a way of storytelling. In her series included in the photographs above 'Let Me Count the Ways' the artist uses enamel on copper, fine silver, copper and nickel silver to create broaches that are inspired by 18th and 19th century Lovers Eye jewelry. She uses this source of inspiration to create commentary about the collection and displays of personal connections within the 21st century. Traditionally in Lovers Eye jewelry a loved ones initials are often inscribed on the back on the piece, so in that honor Har-Even includes a unique screen-name that symbolizes each individual broach. In the work shown below 'Altar/Alter' Har-Even creates a funerary mask, inspired by the decorated skeletons found in the Roman catacombs, along with the contemporary modification of the body via plastic surgery. She creates this piece with enamel on copper, gold foil, sterling silver, fine silver, pearls, and false eyelashes. She pokes fun at the inherit nature most of us have to obsess over, alter, and prod out bodies, "praying at the altar of our physicality". You can see more of Ariella's work on her website www.ariellahar-even.com/
French Canadian artist Aurélie Guillaume is a jeweler, enamelist and illustrator. She embraces the longstanding tradition of storytelling that enameling has and creates characters that embody the same emotions, colors and textures that inspired her as a child. I included a video link below with an interview with the artist where she goes a bit more into detail about this. She describes that when she was young she moved to the island Martinique, which had a huge influence on the way she saw the world. and the way she created her art. In her artists statement she writes... "Using traditional techniques, my work revives the medium through a contemporary context fueled by street art, comics, Pop art and counterculture. Employing a combination of jewelry techniques and illustration, my work mixes high and low art, while transporting viewers into a world more colorful and dreamlike than our own. Through the process of enameling, my illustrations transcend the two-dimensional realm of paper and are given new life in the physical world as wearable objects. With this work, I am reviving the traditions of enameling, as well as bringing sculpture and illustration into the context of contemporary jewelry." Most of the work I have included here and what she mostly works on to-date are champlevé broaches that utilize the wet packing enameling technique. Her pieces are emotive, vivid and extremely imaginative. I especially appreciate the attention to detail throughout the entire piece. Even the back side of the broach is given their own uniquely enameled design, that seems to be maybe stamped on? There is a great level skill that has been developed here, for sure! After enameling then the piece is attached to a wire backing with a clasp that mimics the form of each character. Guillaume's jewelry 'characters' have seemed to just have popped right out of an animation, the ability for the artist to tap into the imaginations of her audience is powerful and incredibly dynamic. I would personally be thrilled to potentially see some of these funky lads a bit more in action on the big screen! Tickle your imagination and check out more of Aurélie Guillaume's work on her instagram @mlleguillaume What intrigued me so much about the Spanish artist Yael Olave's jewelry work is the conscious use of plastic waste in their pieces. As well as their illusive-ness towards the process of creation, in particular with the body of work titled Hábitat. On the artists website's page for this collection, under the list of materials used for the project Yael writes, "Guess what the pieces are made of and write to me". So that's exactly what I did. Now, we did have a bit of a language barrier. Yael lives in Barcelona, Spain and primarily speaks Spanish. However, this is 2021 and with some help from google translate we were able to communicate with each other via email. Within the span of about 7 hours, Yael writes back to me. She states to me that the main keys to their work lye within her artist statement... "My proposal is based on reusing and recycling: once the object loses the meaning for which it was made, I take it and appeal to the intuitive transformation of its artificial materials already discarded. I keep the traces of the object's previous use, its form , to what it reminds us, and, at the same time, I highlight the added value of the work done by hand. It is the dialogue and the delicate and respectful treatment of the materials that asserts the artisan's trade, and this work is translated into a unique piece, object, or a tangible design with a DNA of color and diversity. " Yael contusiones to then inspire me to take note of my observations within our world, especially towards the waste that is created from single-use plastics and the surprising natures of their designs. What can be reused from those products to then create a new and very valuable treasure? Along with this she reminds me to also be extremely aware of what the effects on the environment might be when I am in the processes of experimentation with these items. That there is no "Planet Earth B". Now, out of respect for the artist and curiosity of the viewers, I am not going to share the exact materials used for these pieces but instead give you what my guess was... The material used for top layer/center focus of each of these pieces is hazy, opaque and slightly pearled. I believe it is some form of single use plastic, maybe those little round plastic containers you would get a toy in out of a quarter machine? That has then been carefully and consciously cut and adhered together. Each piece also has it's own variation of pastel hues. Blues, pinks, purples, hints of yellow and orange. How that exactly happened I am still pondering myself... The top layers of these pieces are bulbous and puffed, they emerge from the body. The plastic top layer then seems to have been prepped with drilled holes and then riveted into place to fit a uniquely made bottom layer. Most of which seem to be metal smithed, altered wire that highlights the rounded nature of the top layer. They are then made into valuable and very stylish accessories. For instance the photo above, a ring band was made and stamped with the artists name and then soldered together to what I imagine is a bottom layer of wire or sheet metal that was riveted to the top layer of plastic. Each piece is quite honest with the way it's made, there seems to be no hidden mechanisms as a majority of the pieces are hallow. These pieces bring me back to my childhood, and more specifically the early 2000's fashion trends of large, colorful, and rounded pearl like jewelry. The feminine nature of those times is emulated through these pieces for me. However, in a way that has adapted and evolved for the times we live in today. Promoting a conscious nature to be had towards the many things we tend to toss in the trash & giving those treasures a new life. These are only a handful of the beautifully recycled jewelry that Yael creates. Please continue to inspire yourself through their creations by checking out the artists website Yomisma-Design & following her on instagram @yomismadesign.
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