Why Do I Make Jewelry?

It's that time of month again... The Etsy Metal Blog Carnival!

This month's question is "Why Do I Make Jewelry?"

I have a BFA in sculpture and did metal sculpture and some jewelry in college, a long long time ago.    
But, I've made art all my life. I've made lots and lots of different art... printmaking, calligraphy, sign painting, clay, silk painting, metal sculpture, photography, drawing, ... 
I don't really think I have a choice, I have to make something.

So about 10 years ago I ventured back into working with metal and enamels and making jewelry. And I felt like I had come home. I absorbed everything I read and learned in workshops and it stuck. It was as if I already knew all of this stuff, I had just forgotten. 

It was different than making something to hang on a wall. Jewelry is more alive: it moves; it's 3-dimensional; it's noisy; you are allowed to touch it, as a matter of fact you have to touch it. I have a hard time going to a museum or a gallery to look at paintings and sculpture and not being allowed to touch them... I do it anyway!

 The other thing that appeals to my ADD nature, is that just about any art that you can do, you can do on jewelry, like painting, drawing, calligraphy, small sculpture, photography... so I feel like I'm not missing out on anything.

Why do other Etsy Metal members make jewelry?

 Cynthia Del Giudice 
 Laura Jane Bouton
 silentgoddess 
 Beth Cyr 
Peculiar Forest 
Tosca Terán 
 Nodeform 
Mary Anne Karren
My Precious Studio
 Deborah Lee Taylor
Anne Walker
Andrea Ring 
Gracebourne Design  
 Danielle Miller 
 Inbar Bareket 
 Jewellietta 
 Abella Blue 

Artist's Work That Has Influenced My Own

Etsy Metal Blog Carnival - July 11, 2011


The first thought that comes to my mind is Andy Warhol. What I love most about him is the idea that you should be who you are. And... I love 'pop art.' I love movies-particularly B-movies, and TV, and comic books.

Photo Booth Ring

Photo Booth Strip

Photo Booth Box

Pendant of My Mother

 I was inspired by his work to use photo booth pictures and shinky dinks to create narrative jewelry about myself and my family. 

I was a teenager and in my early 20's when things started getting crazy. Pop art, conceptual art..., what is art? It wasn't just visual art that influenced me, but at that time music was very influential and was just turning from 60's, early 70's anti-war, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Joni Mitchell to Patti Smith, the Ramones, Elvis Costello. Very edgy, rebellious, questioning everything, I guess you could say maybe a little paranoid! 

Heavy Metal Ring

How I feel that this has affected my more current work is that it is rebelling against high end, finely made work. Not that there is anything wrong with that! It just never fit who I was. My style is the opposite of that with fat welded seams and metal where there should be a stone. I like to think of it as working (wo)man's jewelry, meant to be worn every day.


Please check out where other artistic influences lie by going to these other Etsy Metal sites!!

1. Theresa - http://tkmetalarts.blogspot.com 
2. Kate Jones - http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com 
3. Fluxplay Jewellery (Maria Whetman) - http://www.fluxplay.blogspot.com 
4. 2Roses - http://www.jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com 
5. Elizabeth Scott - http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog 
6.Andrea Ring- http://www.amuckdesign.blogspot.com 
7. Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com/ 
8. Beth Cyr http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com 
9. Inbar Bareket http://www.inbarbareket.net 
10. Cynthia Del Giudice: http://cynthiadelgiudice.blogspot.com 
11. Evelyn Markasky: http://markasky.blogspot.com/ 
12. AdobeSol - http://www.AdobeSol.com/blog 
13. Quercus Silver http://quercussilver.blogspot.com/

Is There Life Outside of Metal?

Etsy Metal Blog Carnival -- February 7, 2011

Tell us about other kinds of art and craft you do. What other media do you work and play with? How often do you get to create? Does it relate to or inspire your metalworking?


I've always wanted to open up a store where I would sell art and craft items and have workshops that would teach different media. That way I would have access to everything. It would also satisfy my need to keep buying art and craft items! My house sometimes feels like that store. Over the last 20-30 years, I've tried every media I possibly could.


Lately, metal has definitely taken over my life, it's so easy to combine other media in metal that it seems to satisfy most of those other needs. Adding enameling, I can paint and draw on metal, I can punch holes and sew metal together, I can cast it and use it like clay. I can create small sculptures. I have to say that I'm totally obsessed.

                  

Encaustic Self Portrait

Encaustic Photo Booth

I teach an art class twice a week to disabled and able-bodied teenagers. In creating lessons for the class, I look at other mediums and find myself thinking that this is fun! I need to do more of this. But I usually, only do it in the class. One thing that carried over was working in encaustic, painting with wax. 

From the encaustic you can see two of my other obsessions, self-portraits and photo booth pictures. I have about 40 or 50 strips of photo booth pictures from when I was in college, about 30 years ago (and it only cost $.25!). My friend and I used this as our art medium, our teachers weren't quite so sure about it. I've always done self-portraits, drawing sketching, painting and I still do them on occasion. I have Photo Booth on my Mac (I was very excited to see that!!) and I do use it frequently, with a cache of pictures waiting to be made into something. The pictures don't look quite as good, I guess that's because I'm 30 years older and that camera seems to pick up every detail! The encaustic self portrait was from a picture using Photo Booth.

Metal Photo Strip

My photo booth pictures have totally inspired my metal work. I have used them many times as inspiration. As a matter of fact, I have a whole story about it on my website:       www.evelynmarkasky.com/Site/Photobooth.html


The other thing that I do at least 2-3 times a week is sketch. Of course, that is mostly for ideas for my metalwork. Yes, I am obsessed!!


Please check out the other blogs in the carnival and see how other artists answer this question:


1. kate jones - http://www.katejonesdesign.blogspot.com
2. kathryn cole - http://www.kathryncolejewelry.blogspot.com
3. 2Roses - http://www.JewelryTutorial.blogspot.com
4. Twigs and Heather - http://www.twigsandheather.blogspot.com
5. Erin Austin - http://www.metalmusing.blogspot.com
6. Thomasin Durgin - http://metalriot.blogspot.com
7. Nodeform - http://nodeform.blogspot.com
8. Beth Cyr - http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
9. stacey hansen - http://wildflowerdesigns.blogspot.com
10. Nina Gibson - http://ninagibsondesigns.blogspot.com/
11. elizabeth scott - http://esdesignsjewelry.com/blog
12. Evelyn Markasky - http://markasky.blogspot.com
13. Amanda Conley - http://amandaconley.blogspot.com
14. Jenny Baughman - http://ridgeschool.blogspot.com/
15. Catherine Chandler - http://catherinechandler.blogspot.com/