Alchemy Exhibition

I wanted to share a couple of my favourite pieces that are currently in the exhibition "Alchemy - Transformation in Contemporary Enamels". I received the exhibition catalogue in the mail a couple of months back and danced around with excitement while looking through it. My Wedding Cake Ring is included in this exhibit and is in the company of some amazing enamelists!

The Alchemy Exhibition is put on by The Enamelist Society. Averill B. Shepps the President of the Enamelist Society opens the catalogue stating "The exhibitions are integral to the Society's principal purpose to promote and encourage enameling because they represent much of the best work that was done in the medium in the last two years. The Board recognizes the importance of producing the catalog because it represents a permanent record of current work in enameling in any given year."

Alicia Boswell - USA
Ossify
Brooch
Champleve. copper, enamel, sapphire, paint, stainless steel


Jessica Calderwood - USA
Conceal
Wall Panel
Limoges. enamel, copper, laser-cut steel, brass, resin


The Alchemy Exhibition Schedule:

• September 9 - October 29, 2011 at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN.
  
• November 14, 2011 to January 13, 2012 at the Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
  
• March 9 to June 3, 2012 at the Metals Museum, Memphis, TN

You can feel the past in precious metal......

Jewelry has a history. It has a past. It has experienced love and hope. It has experienced heartbreak and painful endings.

I often have people asking me if I can make something old into something new. I get it. We have jewelry that once was and now is not. We have jewelry that just sits somewhere dusty.

I appreciate the desire to turn it into something we actually want to wear. But I also appreciate the history of a piece of jewelry. You can feel the past in precious metal, it has an energy. Even the pieces that ended in heartbreak once experienced the energy of great love. And heartbreak also has a painful honest pure energy that is beautiful.

So, I'm mixed about turning our history in jewels into new pieces.......

Here are two pieces of my history in jewels. These are my two earliest memories of jewelry. They were both given to me by my Nana and Grandpa, who lived in Australia. The brooch was the first piece of jewelry I ever got. It is hand engraved. It is not perfect, which makes me love it that much more. The bird necklace is enameled, some of the blue enamel in the middle of the bird has chipped off, but I would never try to fix it because that chip is part of my history.

If you have something to say.........

I've been playing this song on repeat these days. that's what I do when i don't know what to do. i find a song that reaches me and play it over and over again. there is something soothing about it, like rocking in a rocking chair.