Inspiring Artist - Iviva Olenick

I have been writing, creating, reading, dreaming, and breathing about love these days.
My jewelry designs for the past year have all been inspired by some sort of love.
falling in or out of love,
embracing love,
pushing love away,
trying on love,
trying to offer others my most loving self,
remembering to love myself.
The results in my jewelry designs have been big, bold, with twists and curves, lots of intricate details, sudden ups and downs, asymmetry, with a loudness and a subtlety at the same time.
I have been pleased that each one is a story on its own and that each story has so many possibilities.
I decided that I would search on Etsy to see what other artists are doing with the inspiration of love. So I searched love, and love stories, and love letters. You can imagine all of the cliched pieces that I found, lots of hearts, swarovski crystals, and bluebirds. Not my thing.
Then I stumbled upon work by Brooklyn based artist Iviva Olenick and completely fell in love with what she is doing.

Iviva creates narrative embroidery. Each piece she creates is rich with honest passion and has a delicate blend of heartache and hope. She has a blog www.wereisobesotted.blogspot.com where she too talks about love and how it influences her art. If you feel any connection to her work from these pictures that I've posted, be careful on her blog. I got lost for hours reading and connecting with her artfully sewn life.

Here to Stay 2009
"You camped out in my head for months. You'd start to leave and something would tug you in" "It looks like I'm here to stay" "Even now I find myself talking to you on good days and bad days as if you're standing beside me"

What's Missing 2010
"He wants me to fill what's missing in him. I can't. I can't believe I fell for him either."

Mine Again 2009
"He didn't like sweatpants, or my green fleece bathrobe. I got rid of the sweatpants and kept the bathrobe. He liked to make fun of a pair of high-waisted, "grandma" underwear. When he left, I embroidered curlicues on my underwear, and strode around the apartment in it. I had to learn to make everything that had been ours mine again."

(All work credited to the very talented Iviva Olenick)

Trash The Dress

It is time for some confessing. I love pretty dresses. I really really love them. Sometimes when I am feeling blue I will go into Betsey Johnson or BCBG and hug the dresses. Of course buying one of them would make me feel much better, but hugging them gives me some satisfaction as well. I can spend hours looking at dresses online.....I mean hours. I just get lost in the possibilities. I could also spend hours watching "Say Yes To The Dress". I could watch women trying on wedding dresses all day long if given the chance for such indulgence. I love watching the process. I love seeing how each dress fits them differently, and when the sales consultants wade into that back room and all I can see are rows and rows of pretty white dresses I feel a little bit of bliss. I also will even admit that I get all welled up when they find "the one", and I'm not really a welled up kind of girl.

This past week I had the pleasure of finding out about photographer Jennifer Partington. Jen recently placed 7th in the Trash the Dress international photography contest . I had never heard about Trash the Dress before. I LOVE it! I love that women are bold and daring enough to trash their freaking wedding dress! How very cool is that. I love wedding dresses, I appreciate that we spend big money on them and that we could keep them for years of memories with hopes that our future daughters will happily wear them one day.
But why not trash it and get stunning photos of ourselves being brave, bold, and fierce?
Here are Jen's fantastic photos. I would love to see other great trash the dress photos, so if you know of any send me a link. Enjoy!

Sometimes you just have to let everything fall apart.....

Sometimes you just have to let everything fall apart.

I have been reading Pema Chodron lately.
I can read her words
over
and over
and over again
and still get moved
to stillness by their meaning.
There is beauty in pain.
There is beauty in the most difficult times, our most desperate feelings.
It takes such great strength to sit with these feelings, to own them, to not try to cover them up and to be sober through them.

" Usually we regard loneliness as an enemy. Heartache is not something we choose to invite in. It's restless and pregnant and hot with the desire to escape and find something or someone to keep us company. When we can rest in the middle, we begin to have a nonthreatening relationship with loneliness, a relaxing and cooling loneliness that completely turns our usual fearful patterns upside down."
-Pema Chodron

Falling Apart Ring
Silver, felt, pearls, syn. pink tourmalines
Patsy Kay Kolesar 2007

Filling Me Up

I have spent the last 5 days reading your love stories......how divine.
It is filling me up, inspiring me, and and touching me in ways that I couldn't have ever imagined.

From reading all of these beautiful love stories I have learned that there are so many of us who choose to give love even though we have endured heartbreaking sadness.
There is still time to tell me your love story, contest closing date is May 7th.

"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering". Nicole Krauss - The History of Love.
For details on the Love Story Necklace Contest please read the post below.

The Love Story Necklace Contest

I am so excited to be announcing.....
The Love Story Necklace Contest

The Love Story Necklace, just like any great love story is complicated. It has twists and turns, highs and lows, and has been hammered and polished.
It is the perfect necklace for a bride who has been through a lot but who has always believed in finding her true love.

The idea for the Love Story Necklace came to me when I realized that my favorite love stories are often complex and drawn out. I spent a weekend doing research. I watched all of my favorite romantic movies, the ones that have shaped my ideals of love, and I became inspired to create unique pieces of art that honored the curving, unique path that relationships can take us on.

The pieces that resulted were intricate, bold and highly original. Constructed from sterling silver, colourful enamel, and freshwater pearls, each Love Story Necklace, just like the story it was inspired by is truly one of a kind.

If you think that a Love Story Necklace is perfect for you, and you want to wear one on your wedding day, here’s your chance – all you have to do is tell me your love story in a maximum of 800 words.

My creative team and I will read the submissions and choose the one we feel most inspired by, and I will create a Love Story necklace based on it. The winning love story will receive a custom-made Love Story Necklace valued at $450, and the story will be posted on my blog. Good luck!

Contest details:

To enter please tell me:
1. Your love story in up to 800 words
2. Your wedding date
3. Please include a photo of you and your fiance

Submissions will be accepted until May 7th 2010.
Winner will be notified by May 21st 2010

Please send submissions to info@pkkdesign.com



Jewelry - Patsy Kay Kolesar Design
Photography - Abbye Dahl
Model - Jen Ryley JK Models
Hair Stylist - Natalia Pectu
Make-up Artist - Meagan Davidson

The Love Story Necklace........

The Love Story Necklace contest will be announced tomorrow.......................
Please sign up for my newsletter on the side if you would like to be the first to know about it.




Jewelry - Patsy Kay Kolesar
Photography - Abbye Dahl
Model - Natalie Standke
Hair Stylist - Natalia Pectu
Make-up Artist - Meagan Davidson
Dress - Oleana

Take The Plunge Necklace

The Take The Plunge Necklace was made for a plunging neckline or a plunging lifestyle. My inspiration for this necklace came to me on a day when I was feeling bold, alive, and certain. I knew what I wanted and I was ready to dive right in. It is the perfect necklace for a bride who has no hesitation and knows with all of her heart that she is ready to take the plunge.


Jewelry - Patsy Kay Kolesar
Photography - Abbye Dahl
Model - Lauren Sundstrom
Hair Stylist - Natalia Pectu
Make-up Artist - Meagan Davidson
Dress - Urbanity

Wedding Cake Ring

This is my Wedding Cake Ring. I made this ring when I was contemplating the meaning of connection. I was thinking about what it meant to connect with another person for a lifetime. I was thinking about doing it. I was thinking about weddings, and delicately decorated wedding cakes. I was thinking about all of the traditional elements of a wedding that make my skin crawl. I was thinking about all of the traditional elements of a wedding that make me cry in an instant. The Wedding Cake Ring is made of two layers of enameled copper. I silk-screened the enamel to achieve the delicate patterns. I have riveted the enameled disks onto a textured band of sterling silver.

Grassroots Wedding Fair - Video Clip

This is a short video from the Grassroots Wedding Fair, that took place in January. There is a neat little bit that shows me putting a She Said Yes necklace on a lovely bride. It is very sweet. I didn't even know I was being filmed!

The Grassroots Wedding Fair from Michael Rendulic on Vimeo.

The Things That Really Matter

I hope that everyone is having a lovely Easter weekend, shared with people that you love.

I am very thoughtful this weekend about the things that really matter. My family and my friends and the deep connections which I share with them are what fuels everything in my life. They are ultimately my inspiration for every piece I create. I create out of love and passion. I have the ability to feel love and passion because of the amazing people who surround me. I feel so honored to be sharing a life time with such beautiful people.

My Carrot & Beet Brooches were inspired by the summers I spent in the garden with my Dad when I was growing up. He would always grow these big amazing vegetable gardens. I loved to help him pick the carrots and pull up the potatoes. Being with him in our backyard garden on a hot summers day is one of my most cherished childhood memories.


Carrot & Beet Brooches
sterling silver, 14k gold, freshwater pearls
Patsy Kay Kolesar 2008