Notes from the Studio: Experimental Brooches in Progress

It feels good to be back home but still on holiday. I’m looking forward to next year, and I plan to experiment in the studio a lot more. Continuing on the theme of experimentation, I decided to update my artist website with all the multidisciplinary work I’ve been doing instead of just focusing on my jewelry work. After much soul searching, I decided to embrace the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary aspects of my art practice.

With that settled, I felt free to just follow my intuition, explore my materials and concepts, and make art. This morning I was thinking about materials that keep calling to me: the recycled coffee grounds, the bones, my hair, and milk skins that form when I have my morning coffee. I wondered how I was going to use these materials. I decided to just go to my studio and experiment and see what happens.

I started with coffee grounds because I’m drawn to their rich, brown color and their rough, grainy texture. The idea of using recycled materials appeals to me too. I mixed in some polymer and kneaded the mixture into a freeform organic shape. I embedded dried avocado seeds in the first object and covered it with glue (top image). I formed another organic shape and made a concave impression in it. Then I looked at the thick, rubbery texture of the dark brown skin that had formed on the café au lait I’d made earlier. I decided the skin was too interesting to discard. I wanted to do something with it. I knew from my earlier experiments with milk skins that the skin wouldn’t mold when it dried but would turn into a hardened layer.

I don’t know what my next step will be but that’s the exciting thing about the intuitive process. You just have to go with it and trust your instincts.

Update: 5 PM

Here are the brooches in progress again. The glue has dried. Now I’m researching materials like aqua resin and low-fire enamels to use over the coffee grounds. I need something that will keep the grainy texture of the coffee grounds but will not be as fragile as the coffee grounds. All of this serves to remind me that one of the most interesting parts of the art making process is problem solving. Speaking of grainy, these images are so grainy and blurry because they were shot with my iPhone. I really need to get some batteries for my digital camera.

Until Next Year

I’m on hiatus until January 2010, at which time posting may will begin again. Then again, I may surprise you and post sooner. Until then, check out the new Flickr group Conceptual Art Jewelry. Happy Holidays!

Infinite Possibilities: The Circle is the Line

We see the circle and the line as different forms, but what if they are the same? What if the circle is the line? A circle is a line drawn back upon itself. It is movement that makes the circle complete. We see the line as having a beginning and an end. But, the circle is also a created thing with a beginning and an end. I don’t know where I’m going with this thought, but apparently, I thought it was important enough to jot down at 1:00 AM. Going back to sleep.