Skip to main content

narrative jewellery: tales from the toolbox book launch

For every piece of jewellery I make there is a story. It can be simple, just a note on the “why?” that led to the forms and textures, or the feeling that I want to remember.

Sometimes the single idea that could become a piece, conceived way before the act of making, can become so over-whelming that I need to write a whole new reality for the jewellery to exist within. That’s how it was for “Pull”, the first piece of jewellery in a body of work that became the ReFind Collection*. It caused me to look at materials in my home, especially the things that were routinely thrown away, very differently. It was like waking up to realize I just hadn’t been paying the right kind of attention to all the “stuff” in other areas of my life; realizing that maybe jewellery could be linked to something as obscure as industrial-scale food-processing and packaging—if I allowed my mind to receive the information, differently.

I am very honoured that my necklace has been included in Mark Fenn’s new book, Narrative Jewelry: Tales From The Toolbox, to be released on October 28, 2017. There is a website for the book, and all of the contributing artists and their web-sites will be listed there. The book is available for pre-order from Amazon.

Not surprisingly, I can’t wait to read my copy… For all of the reasons that a piece of jewellery becomes special to us—why we fall in love with one thing, but not another, for the stories that we hear from makers, and the stories we will make-up for ourselves, as wearers.

*The ReFind Collection is still under development, and has not yet been shown publicly. I am seeking an appropriate exhibition opportunity that would allow me to present the full installation of source materials, intermediate jewellery forms, and finished work  - please contact me for further details.


Details from the official web-site for the book: 
http://www.narrative-jewellery.com
Narrative Jewelry: Tales from the Toolbox
Author Mark Fenn
Foreword by Jack Cunningham, PhD
Published by Schiffer Publishing

Featuring 450 full-color photos and 241 of the world’s foremost narrative jewelry makers, this book showcases the best of what today's makers, ranging from newly graduated students to the luminaries of the jewelry world, have to offer us: jewelry that's designed to evoke a range of thoughts and feelings. 
Do you have a piece of jewelry that offers a story? 
What story does the jewelry we own or desire tell?
Why are you attracted to some pieces, but repelled by others? 
The answers unfold in this contemporary compendium, also featuring a foreword by jewelry professor and expert Jack Cunningham, PhD, and text by artists Jo Pond and Dauvit Alexander (The Justified Sinner). 
The makers and images selected for this book are a broad representation of the genre of narrative jewelry, and offer a fascinating look for anyone who wears, collects, or has an interest in jewelry or design.

ISBN: 978-0-7643-5414-4
Size: 9" x 12" - 
Illustrations: 450 colour images
Pages: 304
Binding: Hard Cover
Guide Price $60.00 - £46.37 



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

will you...?

Artists write stories about their work all the time, and the greatest joy is when that story becomes important to another person.  This project was about creating a piece of fan-art for a client (DP) based on their love of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter stories. DP approached Jeff de Boer because he needed to commission a very special golden snitch sculpture: the body would become an opening engagement ring-box. DP had a very special proposal in mind, and the snitch was to play a key part. Jeff and I do not usually make snitches. Jeff is a renowned metal artist and teacher, famous for creating armour for cats and mice , and collected world-wide. Jeff also has an ever-increasing body of large-scale public art projects (…with lots of news to come in 2016!). His web-site is a magical place, full of stories made real. I am an emerging metal and clay artist whom Jeff is mentoring - particularly in the skills of chasing and repoussé - and these skills were to be at the core of makin...

thanks for all the fish

It already feels like ages ago but Rainbow Trout has only been up since June 1, and the “Making Of…” video is now ready to share - hope you enjoy it. I think it is fair to state that all makers will understand the challenges of the average day in the studio: we design/make/fix/modify tools all the time—and we learn to accept that is really the entry level of committing to a life of making original work—it’s all about problem solving. And the bigger the work, the bigger and more costly the problems! But that’s where a talented team really shines - I was second camera on this project and it was a privilege to watch the many highly skilled professionals who contributed to building Rainbow Trout. As Jeff notes in the video, we won’t always be able to say what we mean clearly to someone else, and there will inevitably be different solutions to the same problem… It’s how we remedy our problems, in this case with humour and grace, that really sets the tone for success. Thank you to e...

come meet the herd!

I will be riding off to Bluerock to join sculptor Kindrie Grove, painter Jennifer Mack, metal artist Simon Wroot, and equine jewellery maker Simone Schlichting to present “Meet The Herd!” at Bluerock Gallery in Black Diamond, Alberta. We will be presenting equine art and artist demos over the weekend of July 16 and 17, 2016. Full details here: http://bluerockgallery.ca/blogs/events/meet-the-herd-july-16-17-2016 I love making equine-inspired art but it is usually a fairly private obsession as I mainly create commissions in clay - I will have new clay horse pieces, and chased metal pictures available. There will also be new ceramic work for Bluerock - large porcelain platters, small vases and covered jars, some porcelain sculpture, and a few bright bowls to gladden hearts and tables. Pieces are all hand-built and finished by me at my home studio—it takes a long time to make and fire the work, and I am now starting to build an inventory of my favourite forms alongside my vases at ...