Being grounded

What a lovely conversation and truth to our world and connection to the earth.



Ruudt Peters is fun and so observant, and of course his work is amazing.
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Maker.Jeweler Profile: Brittany Nicole Brisson

I haven't done a profile in a long time and it's apt that I do one on my good friend Brittany Nicole Brisson.  Brittany is having her senior exhibition tomorrow night at Art Avenue and I'm just so proud of her, she's one of the hardest working students I know!

Isn't her poster fun? ECU Alumni and illustrator Alice Holleman designed it!

Brittany is not only a BFA candidate in metals but also Art Education, which is a hard juggling act.  Students getting a degree in Art Ed have a much heavier work load as well as get a dual degree in a specialized program, such as metal design.

Brittany and I became friends 2 years ago and she's helped me cast in the studio, assisted for the Aurelian Nights Fashion show and just hang out.  I truly admire and respect Brittany, she juggles work, school load and creating awesome pieces.  She's an innovator and loves to play with all kinds of materials.  Here are several of her pieces that do just that!

GeoJane Necklace

2013

Brass. Powder Coat.
Fabricated.

Bolo Tie for Joe Bova

2014

Sterling Silver. Copper. Enamel. Photo Decal.

"Don't Hug Me" Brooch

2014

Brass, Enamel, Beta Sand, Sterling Silver.
Die-pressed, Formed and Fabricated.

Sugar Skull for Theresa Holtz's Clothing Line for 2014 AIMO Fashion Show

2013

Necklace.
Steel. Enamel. Photo Decal. Powder Coat.

You can view more of her work here.  Thanks for reading!
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Trying to fit in

We all go through it in our lives, wanting to be accepted as part of the group.  And even in my mid 30's I still sometimes have the urge to want to be accepted into certain groups.  I realized this when I applied to be part of an exclusive jewelry collective.  I was rejected and as I wrote back I had a revelation; that I didn't know at the time that I was trying to fit into 'art jewelry'.  And that I've been in a bit of a limbo, applying for perhaps the wrong shows because I wanted to be accepted into art jewelry.

See for the general public, and the average consumer they don't put jewelry into categories but in our field there are many.   While I was in school I was taught by 'art jewelers' (I put these in quotes because I do feel that it is an internal definition) and I learned all sorts of methods of jewelry making; enameling, casting, fabricating, stone setting etc.  In the academic environment there is a high placement on quality and creativity, I think I excelled somewhat at these but looking back I could've worked harder at being more creative. 

My personality and characteristic is that I love immediacy and am a bit impatient, I think that is why I work better doing small collections twice a year.  Thus, in conclusion of this post and from being rejected from certain shows that perhaps I don't fit into that niche of art jewelry but more of fashion jewelry.  Really I do hate these categories and part of me wants to just throw them out the window and focus on making jewelry that I love aesthetically and that pleases my eye. 

I'm learning more and more about my style and where it fits, sometimes it's so hard to gauge the right audience but I think I'll get there.  Thank you for reading!

Deer antler brooch, 2010.  Cast from a starfish, tube set cz's, sterling silver. 

Ring, 2010.  Cuttlefish cast shank, tagua nut and black coral from Panama.

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Epona revisited

Several weeks ago, I did a mini photo shoot with my photographer Aileen Devlin.  We were shooting my new collection Valkyrie, however the overall images didn't come out as I'd planned.  We will reshoot the collection, however I snuck in the Epona necklace, I made way back in 2011.  I'm so glad I did, Madison, my model rocks it!

The necklace has made somewhat of a resurgence, interest by press has surfaced and I've now been commissioned to make a second necklace.  It's got me thinking that I need to make several more statement pieces; especially in preparation for my trip to Italy for the Origins fair.   I will keep you posted on these pieces.  Now, all I need to do is find the time to make them!

Epona Necklace, 2011, owned by Nan Lapata.  Sterling silver, steer antler and steel.

Photo by Aileen Devlin. Model Madison Schiller

As always, thank you for reading.  

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Golden Success

So it's been about two weeks since the fashion show and Art Avenue is reaping the results! I'm quite pleased.

It was such a whirlwind evening; considering I had to fly out the next morning for Panama! It was such a great event, what I was most pleased with was having such a diverse crowd of attendees to see a mixture of clothing and jewelry from all stages of their career.

The Daily Reflector full page article about the show!

The East Carolinian piece.

Some photos from the pre-event and the night of the show.  

The vinyl was an added bonus, looks so great on the Art Ave window!

The crowd could barely be contained.

And my new jewelry display cases, FREE! 

For more photos of the event visit the Art Avenue facebook page!

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Jillian Moore demo at the ECU Making Marks Symposium

I'm going to kick off my blogging of the ECU Metals Symposium: Making Marks with a bang of color and dive right into the best part or shall I say one of my favorite demos of the weekend, was Jillian Moore's demonstration of how she makes her awesome freaky sea creature (in my opinion) jewelry!

Before I delve into Jillian's demonstration, I'll start off by saying that she is one of the most approachable, open, patient and self-effacing artist I've met.  When you attend conferences and symposiums like SNAG or Yuma, it can be intimidating and scary to talk to your artist crushes, but Jillian is authentic and very true to herself and I really enjoyed that about her.

Okay, so here goes...she makes her sculptural jewelry out of foam and then coats it in several layers of resin! And she paints along the way.   there are certain brands and specific types of materials she uses but that is not for me to reveal.  

Like many other jewelers and metalsmiths fresh out of schooling and training, Jillian didn't have all the resources and tools she had in school which led her to be very inventive in how she started making her creatures.  With lots of experimenting and trial and error she landed on her current pieces and method of constructing them.  Something else that I found refreshing about Jillian was how open she was about her process; it can be very difficult in our industry to share knowledge because it is often abused.  But in the end I think if you are confident in yourself and those that support your work; the public will see and know which is authentic and which isn't. 

Jillian Moore specimen

Close up of a Jillian Moore piece

Several of Jillian's done pieces.

Foam, carved and ready for dressing (aka resin)

Attendees enjoying Jillian's demonstration.

Jillian is speeding up the process of the foam pieces

Jillian and Nick Mullins working at the foam station.

Jillian, coating her foam in resin.

I will be posting more about the ECU symposium - so come back and visit my lil' blog in the future, kthxbai!

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Mobile Gallery

I'm so impressed with how jewelry artists and galleries are creating new ways to share their exhibitions in innovative ways. 
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