Art Smith... Made me over!

I become interested in Art Smith's jewellery because he used forging techniques in his work. It was described as Linear Undulations and I related to those words. Linear meaning created by lines and undulations meaning wave like in form and motion. I think these work explain the look of my work and this ring. It creates a wave like motion formed from soft rounded shapes. There is the illusion of movement to go with the movement of the body.

The setting really intrigued me. The rounded shapes also serve a function of setting a stone. Form follows function. I liked the cleverness of the design. It still keeps that rythmic flow flow yet serving a function.

Bare Exhibition

I was invited, along with some of my classmates to exhibit at Bare in Morningside Durban. I said yes but didn't know how I was going to manage doing everything(work and exhibition). I think it was a good thing because I had to push myself and came up with some interesting things. Lets not forget that I became a zombi afterwards but that is a story for
another day.

I found paper in my journal that I had stuck in and forgotten about. I drew on the patterns on the embossed paper and found a shape which became the bases for some of my new jewellery. The obvious leaf shape, I found interesting because of it's simplicity and yet organic connetations. The simplified lines of the shape which still have strong reference to a leaf lead me to forging earrings and rings. I also found myself returning to the old mussle like shape that I used last year and using enamel(in the picture above). The multiple finger rings seem to have stuck with me. I would like develope the one in the picture above by adding to it colour by using stones, enamel or other media.

Forging on

The way things look may not be the way they are. I have felt that there are many pitfall to being a young, black South African woman. One is that there are many people waiting to decide who are what you are before you can. I am previously disadvantaged, submissive, can not possibly be accomplished. The impending series of rings is an expression of the frustration I feel about feeling that others have decided who i am or should be, so i don't make decisions about the rings until I'm making them. They still have the quality of not making sense until worn. I am intrigued by this quality.