The theme for this week’s Self Representing Artists in Jewelry Design blog challenge is the concept of recycling. We were asked to have “the overwhelming majority of your piece be from repurposed items, found objects, etc. …to push the recycle, reuse, repurpose angle …From subtle repurposing (taking beads from old jewelry and making them into a new piece) to extreme repurposing (taking something that would normally be thrown away and transform it into a piece of wearable art).” Continue reading →

The theme for this week’s challenge on the Self Representing Artists in Jewelry Design blog is the concept of “Kintsugi.” Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery in a way that not only embraces the breakage, but highlights it. Rather than trying to make the repair seamless and the broken piece look like new, the pieces are re-joined using gold dusted lacquer resin that makes the break a new design element. Silver or platinum dust are also sometimes used in place of gold dust.

I don’t have any broken pottery in need of repair. I also don’t keep gold, silver, or platinum dust on hand. Luckily, I’ve learned I don’t have to be quite so literal in my interpretation of these design challenge themes. Not that I didn’t briefly entertain the idea of smashing up a plate or cup so I could use it for this challenge. Breaking things on purpose is cathartic.  Continue reading →

This week’s Self Representing Artists in Jewelry Design blog challenge is to create jewelry inspired by the paintings of French post-impressionist painter, Henri Rousseau. If you’ve been following along this month, you know I have very little prior art history knowledge and have been researching each painter as I go.

I was somewhat familiar with Rousseau’s style, but I didn’t know it was called “naive” or “primitive.” I just knew I liked the colors and themes, which include lush jungle scenes, often with tigers, and sometimes lions. I immediately saw leafy green jewelry for this theme. The challenge was finding the right beads and coming up with a design to fit what I see in Rousseau’s art. Continue reading →

This week’s jewelry design challenge for the Self-Representing Artists in Jewelry Design blog is to be inspired by the iconic paintings of Leonid Afremov. Afremov is a contemporary artist who uses only a palette knife – no brushes –  to create his stunning oil on canvas impressionist paintings. Continue reading →

Modern abstract necklace.

The “iconic painter” for week two of the July challenges on the Self Representing Artists in Jewelry Design blog is Piet Mondrian.  I had a difficult time getting started on last week’s theme, Pablo Picasso, because abstract art is not “my thing.” But as I read and learned more about cubism and the evolution of abstract paintings, I finally found inspiration for a few Picasso-ish designs. Continue reading →

The theme for July’s challenges on the Self Representing Artists in Jewelry Design blog is “iconic painters,” starting with Pablo Picasso this week.

This was the toughest theme for me thus far. Partly because I struggle with being overly literal in interpreting a theme, and had no idea how to do cubism or abstract art with beads and wire. And also because I have never studied art – formally or otherwise – or spent much time in art galleries. So, getting into the theme took a lot more research than usual. Continue reading →

This week’s “exotic location” for the Self Representing Artists in Jewelry Design challenge is the Marble Caves of Chile.  Located in a peninsula of solid marble on a remote glacial lake in the Patagonia Andes, these caves have been carved by more than 6,000 years of water erosion.

I chose to use semiprecious gemstones to represent this naturally beautiful place. Which doesn’t mean I don’t have ideas for polymer clay swirling around in my head, or scribbled all over my design ideas notebook.  I will likely revisit the colors and patterns of this place in the fall when the temperatures are more conducive to playing with polymer clay. Continue reading →