Hey Beautiful People! Here's my latest work--jewelery! Can you dig it? Even though I received a degree in metalsmithing/jewelry at Oregon College of Art and Craft, this is my first real attempt at making wearable work. Mike Holmes of Velvet da Vinci finally pushed me to do it for their upcoming show "New West Coast Design," which is a group of exhibitions held in different venues throughout San Francisco focusing on specific developments in the craft and design fields. The Velvet da Vinci exhibition highlights "some of the most exciting new designs in jewelry and metalwork currently to transpire on the West Coast." 
I made a dozen neckpieces with small pairings of my sculptural forms which usually adorn the walls, not the body. They clasp in the front, with magnets embedded into the pieces. I'm really excited about them and hope to make the time to continue exploring this new format. I feel like I have so many creative irons in the fire this year, but I suppose I'd rather be over-stimulated than bored to tears!
Here is more information about the show, from the Velvet da Vinci website. You might want to visit them on the web, since there are some wonderful images there of other works that will be in their show. Velvet da Vinci had a color catalog printed, and you can contact them to purchase a copy. 
"The impulse to exhibit and celebrate objects designed and made by West Coast artists resulted in a series of efforts including the California Design exhibitions at the Pasadena Museum from the 1950’s to 1970’s, Designer Craftsmen of the West curated by Elizabeth Moses in 1957 at the de Young Museum and the thirteen California Design events sponsored by the Baulines Craft Guild in San Francisco from 1988 to 2004.
"West Coast architects, designers and studio artists continue to create unique work. Public interest and recognition is increasingly focused. There is a strong West Coast presence in important private and museum collections, pioneers of the West Coast contemporary craft and design movements are bringing record prices at auction. An increasing number of books documenting the movements as well as the work of individual artists and designers are available.
"As the next step in the evolution of the concept, we have embarked on a project entitled New West Coast Design. The various participating museum and gallery venues will show fresh, daring and experimental works in traditional and new materials by artists working in California, Oregon and Washington."Participating Venues:
New West Coast Design: Jewelry + MetalworkVelvet da Vinci Gallery
showcasing 80 West Coast established and rising metal artists and jewelers, this exhibition opens Wednesday, January 16 with an artist reception on Friday, January 18 from 6-8 pm. The show will be on display until February 17, 2008. Participating Artists: Jill Allen • Lois Anderson • Alison Antelman • Shana Astrachan • Agelio Batle • Brooke Battles • Lilyanna Bekic • Barbara Berk • Harriete Estel Berman • Michael Dale Bernard • Elisa Bongfeldt • Deborah Boskin • Lynn Christiansen • William Clark • Petra Class • Alana Clearlake • Andy Cooperman • Susan Danis • Rebecca Deans • Christine Dhein • Sue Ann Dorman • Dana Driver • Sandra Enterline • Adrianna Fie • Hilary Finck • Gabrielle Fitzgibbon • Angela Gleason • Joan Hammond • Maj-Britt Hilstrom • Tom Hill • Sarah Hood • John L. Jensen • Lucia Hye Yoon Joo •Toshi Kawai • Maya Kini •
Aaron Kramer • Birgit Kupke-Peyla • Judith Selby Lang • Kirk Lang • Katie Leong • Cheri Lewis • Kim Eric Lilot • Rachelle Lim • Micki Lippe • Sarah Loertscher • Theresa Lovering-Brown • Deborah Lozier • Grayson Yeager Malone • Jane Martin • Wendy Maruyama • Valerie Mitchell • Heidi Nahser • Emiko Oye • Frederick Park • Sarah Peterman • Hilary Pfeifer • Maria Phillips • Laura Prieto-Velasco • Suzanne Pugh • Margaret Realica • Patti Reilly • Michelle Ritter • René Roberts • Midori Saito • Carol Salisbury • Monica Schmid • Sondra Sherman • Kristin Mitsu Shiga • Eric Silva • Helen Shirk • Steven L. Smith • Susanna Speirs • Marten Stone • Boline Strand • Melissa Tolar • Cynthia Toops • Julia Turner • Mariah Tuttle • Niki Ulehla • Hazel Vera • Lynda Watson • Sarah Wilbanks • Greg Wilbur • Anne Wolf • James Yonts
New West Coast Design - Contemporary ObjectsJanuary 18 - April 27, 2008
The exhibition, curated by Ted Cohen and Kathleen Hanna, includes everything from furniture and lighting to outdoor sports gear by fifty architects, designers and studio artists.
San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design
New West Coast Design – Books and Book Arts
January 25 - April 25, 2008, reception January 25, 6-8pm
San Francisco Center for the Book
Curators: Kathleen Burch and Mary Austin
New West Coast Design - Is it a Fiber Show?January 4 – February 9, 2008, reception January 4, 6–8pm
Bucheon Gallery
New West Coast Design - The State of the Art Quilt
January 10 – February 28, 2008, reception January 24
New pieces by nine artists who use quilting techniques in their work
Curator: Kathleen Hanna, Designer: Ted Cohen
Art Works Downtown
“C” Change: Craft in Our FutureRecent Graduates from the California College of the Arts
November 1, 2007 – January 27, 2008, reception November 1, 2007
Textiles, glass, ceramics, wood and metal arts by recent CCA alumni selected by faculty chairs of CCA as representative of the future of craft.
Museum of Craft and Folk Art
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9 comments:
Hilary,The necklaces are fantastic! I want to see them on a body!!! Keep going, Bunny with a
Tool belt! Dannie
Thanks Dannie! I want to see them on a body as well. I had to take these photos lickety split and send the work down to San Francisco so I didn't have time to do just that. At some point in time I plan to make a second batch and photograph them properly. I did love the way the filament curved so nicely, adding a line element to these photos. That was something I didn't expect.
These are fantastic...are they heavy to wear / did you use different materials that you do for your wall pieces?
Thank you Anne! These necklaces are extremely lightweight and I had to test a bunch of magnets before finding ones that would stay clasped when wearing under normal circumstances. They are made of the same thing as my sculptures--wood and the occasional mixed media found object under all that paint.
Fantastic!! Told you so!
What a great idea to wear one of your sculptures! I can also see them in a more elaborate form, covering more of the body, not merely a choker at the neck. Let us know how they do at the Velvet show.
Yes, Blanche, I know that for several years you and other people suggested that I make jewelery. In many ways I'm also surprised that it took me this long. I also know that the reality of being an artist is that other people are always telling you what they think you should do and you have to take it all with a grain of salt and follow your own gut instincts. I'm glad I finally got to this place, but it just had to happen in its own sweet time.
Thanks for your positive feedback. Not all of these neckpieces I made for NWCD hang high on the body and I plan to experiment more with how clasps can work to enable different combinations and sizes. It's hard to carve out time in the studio for experimentation--I have to make a living, and this year my time is especially precious with my Natural Selection show looming in the distance.
How about a show called "Back Braces and Other Aids," exploring the arcane braces people used to have to wear and reinterpreting them as body jewelry using your sculpture?
Sorry, I'm just so excited to see these pieces.
I'll be needing a back brace come August!
Hi Nice Blog .Over the last 10 years there are so many things that have changed in the Jewelers Point business, some of them for the good of the industry and others to its detriment. The internet has accelerated the transference of information and made products readily available.
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