Six Months Wasted by Keith Lewis part 6 This is the beginning of a series I am calling Collector’s Choice. I asked each collector ‘What is your favorite piece of jewelry in your collection? And how do the qualities reflected in that piece describe something about your whole collection?’ One of the first to answer […]
Collector’s Choice Read More »
My favorite tool is without any doubt the ‘mouth-blowing torch’ or ‘blowpipe torch.’ I am always fascinated by our extraordinary capacity to turn stiff and solid metal into something fluid. It is somewhat reminiscent of the alchemical process. Sometimes when I solder, especially with the mouth-blowing torch, I feel that it is like a meditative
In a continuation of the series called Maker’s Tool I asked a group of jewelers to talk about their preferred tool. Mah Rana, my next choice has contributed to the AJF blog in the past and is an articulate and thoughtful maker from London whose transitional moment may have impacted her timeless choice.
What is my preferred tool? Well, perhaps not such an easy ask, trying to chose one from a collection that has grown over the years. I first thought about choosing the ‘safety back’ needle file, sometimes known as a barrette file. Why? Because that and the round tapered needle file seem to be the only needle files that I rely on when I am making jewelry, which I’m sure reflects some insight onto my working practice – but let’s leave the analysis of that revelation for another time.
At the moment I am without my own workshop and have been for two years now. Moving house and waiting to have the garage rebuilt into a new workshop has meant that the majority of my tools and equipment are stored away in boxes and will be for a while. A difficult adjustment to make at the beginning, but I bought a large tool box on wheels – the sort you buy from a hardware store – and made a careful selection of hand tools to go in it. So currently my workshop is on wheels and I am able to do whatever the jewelry term for ‘couch-surfing’ would be. (Perhaps it’s ‘bench-surfing.’)
Karl Fritsch’s bench Amongst all the tools that I love there are two that are my most favorite. I can’t work when either of them is missing. One is the little knife in the middle of the photograph, which I have used for placing stones ever since I learned stone setting. With the knife and
The National in Chistchurch, New Zealand, was founded in 2004 by Caroline Billing to raise the profile of New Zealand jewelers. She is currently showing work by a really imaginative jeweler named Octavia Cook. I love artists who make up myths or narratives about their work and Octavia is one who does. The jewelry itself
Patti Bleicher and Eileen David started Gallery Loupe in Montclair, New Jersey, United States, six years ago. They show a roster of both established and emerging international artists and are interested in furthering the dialogue that contemporary jewelry evokes. In February they asked Kiff Slemmons, an established American artist, to show her most recent work in an exhibition called Huesos. I caught up with Kiff and asked her a few questions about her work and her interests.
Susan Cummins: Kiff, I know you have been working with artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico for the past ten years and that these paper pieces represent work you did with them. Please tell me something this project and the resulting work.
Kiff Slemmons: These pieces emerged from an art residence at Arte Papel Oaxaca. The artist and members of the atelier did the work together. Early pieces referenced African jewelry with discs built up into sculptural bead forms. Later pieces exhibit the techniques of folding, cutting and hollow-punching, rolled and formed paper pulp. The atelier is dedicated to ‘reviving the pre-Columbian tradition of making paper from natural fibers.’ The result of this project is a collection of paper jewelry, which is highly sculptural and utilizes indigenous plants, fibers, natural and synthetic dyes.
Talking about paper in Oaxaca involves countering assumptions about the material, its fragility versus strength, the metaphoric implications of paper in this regard, in relation to books and the culture at large. What paper meant in pre-contact culture in Mexico, its magnified significance after conquest and its current place in culture today. How I came to work as I did there means looking at my previous work, how it might have led to such a project which involves a kind of world view through jewelry and writing. My work is really not technique determined, even with the paper. It’s ideas that interest me first and the possibility of being poetic in a visual language.
Mike Holmes and Elizabeth Shypertt of Velvet da Vinci in San Francisco, California Deb Lozier, Brooch, 2012, De Patta stones, 6 x 3.5 inches
The De Patta Project Read More »
Bruce Metcalf, Installation at Snyderman Gallery Gijs Bakker, Jablonec, held in 1968 in the Czech Republic
Original Design Redux Read More »
Nancy Worden, Initiation Necklace, 1977. Silver, rhodonite, copper, pills set in epoxy, and plastic hair curlers, 27 x 3 x 1 1/4 inches. Tacoma Art Museum, Gift of the artist. Photo: Doug Yapple. Finding Favorites in the Collection Thinking about which work in Tacoma Art Museum’s collection of studio art jewelry is my favorite brought
During the month of February the Galerie Rob Koudijs is featuring two outstanding exhibitions: Tobias Alm: Traces of function and Terhi Tolvanen: Introduction. Tobias is a younger emerging artist and Terhi is a well-established maker but showing for the first time with this gallery. Rob is very articulate about their work and his gallery. Read on.
Susan Cummins: How would you describe the kind of contemporary jewelry you represent?
Rob Koudijs: Here’s what it says on our website: ‘The gallery specializes in contemporary art jewelry which communicates ideas, has sculptural qualities and an innovative use of materials. The gallery represents a very motivated group of jewelry artists who produce work challenging the borders of the applied and the fine arts.’ This still hold true for what we are aiming for and both exhibitions live up to this goal.
Have you represented the two jewelers you are featuring in this exhibition for a long time?
Yes, I’m pleased to say we both picked them when they graduated. Terhi Tolvanen when she had just finished her master-education at the Sandberg Institute (connected to the Rietveld Academy) here in Amsterdam; Tobias Alm at the time he made his bachelor exhibition at Ädellab (Metal Department), Konstfack, Stockholm in Sweden in 2009.
Tobias Alm: Traces of function and Terhi Tolvanen: Introduction Read More »
Cherry Lebrun Susan Cummins: How the relationship between Valentines Day and jewelry get established from your perspective? Cherry Lebrun: Jewelry is often considered to be a romantic gift. Valentine’s Day is a romantic holiday. I think the two fit together very naturally in that Valentine’s Day is a celebration of romance and jewelry is often
Happy Valentine’s Day Read More »
Brooke Marks-Swanson, Pink Form- Brooch/Pendant, 2012, copper, acrylic, 18K gold, 22k gold leaf, cobaltoan calcite, 4.25x2x.5” Susan Cummins: How long have you been represented by Taboo Studio? Brooke Marks-Swanson: I was first invited to be in a show in 2008 and then Jane saw my work at the AJF Geography show this past summer
Color and Form: Brooke Marks-Swanson Read More »
