Art Nouveau Retro

Wheat Pendant
18k, 22k and tanzanite

I recently completed a special project for a special client- that would be my Mom. I wanted her to have something very special and as she loves Art Nouveau style, I went in that direction. It is also a style that complements the gemstone that she gave me to use and the yellow gold that she requested. My mother has a very good sense of what she likes and is easily able to articulate her preferences, so the design did not take too much discussion to settle upon.

Wheat Pendant rendering
gouache on vellum


I really enjoyed making something one of a kind for her, and I also enjoyed the process of rendering it in gouache. The hand-rendering of proposed designs also harks back to an earlier era in jewelry history. The major jewelry houses still employ master renderers to create paintings of new and custom designs, but the computer has become a more common means of presenting new designs to the customer. That method has its own benefits and drawbacks, but I will always prefer hours with a brush in hand to hours in front of a screen.

Show Applications

Brocade Garland Collar
blackened silver and 18K

When I first started my jewelry collection, I had only the faintest idea about craft shows. One of the first shows I visited was the Philadelphia Museum Craft Show. I had heard that this was one of the premier shows in the country, so I talked a couple of my students into taking the Chinatown bus to Philly with meto check it out. Looking at the show, I realized just what standard I had to seek in my work. My students were adamant that I belonged there, but I knew that I had a lot of work to do, and knew that they were just a little bit biased.

That was in 2002, and I have applied every year since. At first I had a huge amount of optimism, and was crushed when I didn't get in. As I got to more more and more people in the craft world, I realized that this is a show that even the best don't count on getting into. Instead of getting down about it, I used this as a motivation to keep pushing my work. I told myself that I would make work that it would be impossible for the jury to ignore.

Well, the results of the jury were e-mailed yesterday. I was astounded to see that the title of the e-mail in fact said "Invite Notification". What!?! Yes, I have gotten into the show!! It is not until November, but I am already thinking excitedly of all of the fantastic pieces I am going to make for the show. Collectors beware, I am marshaling all of my creative energies to entice you....

Shows in NY

Right now, there are a few shows in NY that I really want to make it to. Hopefully I will be able to go the WIENER WERKSTÄTTE JEWELRY show at Neue Gallery later this week. I would also like to see the Rubin Museum's display of Newari Sculpture and Painting. Also on the list is the Guggenheim exhibit of Cai Guo Qiang , known for using gunpowder in live explosion events. While looking at the Guggenheim website, I came across this jewelry. Hmm.. it always seems that the artistically/architecturally adventurous set has not caught up with the jewelry cutting edge. Compare to this and this.

No, I don't think it is just Tiffany's fancy photography of the Gehry collection that makes it so blah. When the line first came out, I thought that critics were embarrassing themselves by talking about how revolutionary and groundbreaking the collection is.

Back to the topic at hand! The other show that I should have a look at is the Rococo Show at the Copper-Hewitt. I am not so interested in the early Rococo excess, but I am interested in the part of the show that deals with later interpretation of the the style. I most defintely place myself into part of this lineage.

Ring Around Show

Didi Suydam
aquamarine and topaz

I have just added another gallery show to my schedule for summer 2008. This show is focusing on rings and bracelets. From the wild and unconventional, to the beautiful and elegant. It will take place at Didi Suydam Contemporary in Newport, RI.

Didi Suydam
sterling silver

I have long admired the work of Didi Suydam, so I am very pleased to be invited to show in her gallery. Her work first caught my eye as she is one of the few jewelers to incorporate holloware techniques into a jewelry collection. These techniques involve taking a flat sheet of metal and hammering it over a variety of steel forms to actually compress the sides into a rounded form. It is possible to get a shallow bowl form from pressing the metal into an indentation. However, to get a deep form, such as the piece above, it is necessary to do some very precise hammering. Most people give up after making one piece with this technique.

I am expecting to send some of my new Wrought and Brocade series works to the show, including a couple of new pieces. I promise to get a photo posted as a preview before I send them off to the show.

Self-reflection

Wrought Inlay Ring

blackened silver and 18k

This last month has been one of deep self-reflection. The trials of travelling left me in a state that allowed me to break through all of the busyness of my usual routine to take a good look at what direction I want to take in many aspects of my life. I think this is something I should do more frequently, but since it had been postponed so long, it was particularly protracted.

It always surprises me how long it takes to get back into the creative mode after the intensity of the shows. I am usually on fire with ideas and energy before the shows, but it takes a good month to really get fired up again afterwards. I have been challenging myself to balance these extremes. Creativity manifests itself in many various ways and I wonder if creative people have to accept and work with their own ebb and flow, or if it can be manipulated.

On another note, I have another show coming up this summer. For those that have known me for a while, show usually means retail craft show, but actually, these shows are gallery shows. It is a different way of presenting my work to an audience, one that may be better suited to my new work. The latest confirmed show is at the ARTspace Gallery at the Kohler Art Center. The show does not yet have a title, but it is "an exhibition focusing on works that incorporate objects, paintings and jewelry using highly decorative, rococo-inspired techniques in a contemporary manner".

I also found out that I will be in a touring show next year that I am very excited about, but I cannot share the details quite yet. I will post an update when I can.

Re-Inhabiting

My new booth, and also my home for most of the past month.

Excuse me while I sweep away the tumbleweeds that have blowing through here the last month while I have been away. If there are tumbleweeds here, then you can just imagine the cobwebs forming at the bench as I have been on the road for the last month.

I went to the shows in Philadelphia and Baltimore with a great amount of apprehension, as I was introducing an entirely new line of work. Fortunately, it seems as if I have really been able to present something unique to the world of studio jewelry, yet maintain a continuum of design that carries over from previous work. Both new and previous galleries went with me on this transition. I also was the recipient of attention from many of my colleagues, many of whom had never encountered my work before. As could be expected, my bracelet was the star of the show.



The vitrine with my new bracelet-the star of the show

Upon arriving home, I found out that I am the runner-up for the AJDC New Talent Award, to be presented this summer in New York. That is quite an honor to me. The recipients are selected by members of the organization and they are the star lineup of American jewelry design.





I then travelled to a show in Philadelphia, and with only a brief 36 hours at home, I left again for the SNAG conference in Savannah. While studio jewelers such as myself often feel a bit estranged at this conference, due to it's more academic and conceptual focus, I felt that many of the young college professors were very curious to hear about my experience as a full time maker. While some of the students expressed a distaste for craft shows and those that exhibit in them, they were curious to hear some of my insight into that world.



I was impressed by the high level of work that the students were doing, despite the presence of a few clearly derivative bodies of work. I would like to bring them into the fray and encourage them to join the full time makers. The more of us that exist, the healthier the whole field will be. They have the energy and enthusiasm, and that counts for a lot.



Besides the new clientele that I have gained at the shows, I have potentially been chosen for some exciting opportunities. More on that as they become finalized. In the meantime, I am trying to re-familiarize myself with being a New Yorker (after the charms of Savannah, I forgot that the cabs here WILL run you over!), and with the tools in my studio.

The new gold reality

Lions and Tigers and 900 gold, oh my!

It is sure that the runup in gold has reached the ears of most people by now. For those of us in the business of making our work in gold and silver, the recent runup in the precious metals market has given us a deep sinking feeling. Unlike the so-called "goldbugs", who are using a buy, hold, sell approach to gold as an investment, jewelers are much better off when the price is more stable.

Basically, we have to raise prices to keep pace with the market, and that means that just in the past month, that is a 10% increase. Believe me, we don't use this as an excuse to extract more from customers. It is necessary just to keep ourselves from becoming insolvent. If we sell something at an outdated price, we wouldn't be able to replace it with another piece because the amount taken in is less than the cost of making a new one.

Not only is it gold, but silver and platinum as well. I expect that in this year, a great number of jewelry designers and makers will be making very petite designs. The challenge will be to get a more substantial look without a substantial use of metals. I am sure that people involved in jewelry making in the early 80's have some insight into this.

As for myself, I am working on a very new collection of work. I will most likely be recycling some heavy gold pieces into work that has gold accents with silver. Trying to use this challenge to stretch my design skills seems to be the best approach.

For anyone with old gold or platinum jewelry that is not worn or is broken, etc, it would be a really good time to think about selling it off for the precious metal value. Keeping in mind, of course, that gains from small amounts are offset by the refining fee.

Hit the ground running

Here I am, just a few days into the new year and I am already running up against sleep deprivation. Well, not that I didn't know it would happen. As most of my work is found in galleries and stores, I participate in two shows in February that cater to stores and galleries that feature handmade work. So, on February 13th, at the crack of dawn, I am off to Philadelphia to show my work. On the 18th, that show ends at 3Pm and I have to be in Baltimore by 8PM, ready to do it again. I am still waiting to see if I will get into the retail portion of the Baltimore show, which would mean 11 straight days in my booth, with the last 3 being open to the public.

I also got a call from the organizers of the Germantown Show, also in Philadelphia, that I have gotten into he show, off of the wait list. That will be the weekend after Baltimore. Then, the following weekend....the SNAG conference! What a month I will have.


I might have bit off more than I can chew, but I am going to be showing almost all new work at the show, as well as a completely redesigned booth. In the meantime, I am working on a new website, which will reflect the new work that I have been doing. My last website is from 2002, and while the photos have been updated, I don't feel that the overall site has kept pace with what I am doing.

So, the blog will be maintained to the best of my ability. I will try to post some sneak peaks at the new work.

And the Clock is Ticking

I was locked out of my blog for a while this week, while Google made sure I wasn't a spam blog. In the meantime, I am getting everything together for pre-holiday shipments. I have been making a special pair of cufflinks, a couple of custom rings, and a last-minute group of work for a gallery. There is a lot to do, but it is the gallery owners who are out of breath when I talk to them on the phone.

Wrought Massive Bracelet One
blackened silver

In the meantime, I figured out a strategy for photographing my newest bracelet (above). I bought a tube of white stage makeup, and applied it to my arm. Since I fit the bracelet onto my own arm as I made it, it seemed appropriate to use my arm as a photo prop. I have a new appreciation for makeup artists, as I has to apply the makeup four or five times to get a reasonably even color. Now, I am thinking about other pieces that might benefit from this photo treatment. After all, the jewelry comes alive when it is worn as intended, not when it is sitting on a sheet of white paper.

A little thing that means a lot

Pendant of a unified Iraq

I heard this story in the spring, many months ago. It struck me, because sometimes in the middle of my frenzied jewelry making, running to the post office, making sure all of my bills are paid up, I start losing the connection that jewelry has for the people that wear it. For all of the brave Iraqi women wearing this pendant, you are in my heart, I think of you as I work.

A very new bracelet

This bracelet was completed just a few short hours ago. I haven't figured out how to make the photograph convey just how dimensional it is, and of course, I will never be able to show all of the sides at once.

The material is blackened silver, and the name has yet to be decided. I have a simple hinge on one side, and the bracelet stays closed by means of two tabs that stay in place through the tension of one part of the bracelet on top of another. It is a heavy piece, but I think the weight can give one a feeling of power and confidence.

I am going to experiment with more photography for this piece and will post the results when I finish.

Washington Craft Show: Karin Worden

Phlox Brooch
gold, blackened silver and rubies
by Karin Worden

Although I won't be at the Washington Craft Show in person this year, I wanted to highlight the work of one jeweler who will be showing. This is one of the best craft shows in the country, with a small group of jewelers, making mostly one of a kind pieces. It is from November 30th through December 1st.

Lotus Boat
18k, blackened silver and ruby
Karin Worden

Karin Worden makes small poetic pieces, including many brooches. She uses a combination of fresh flowers with twigs and other elements such as small boats. The piece above has a tiny boat near the bottom of the twig. Her work is very sculptural, with a lot of contrast in color and texture.

Flowers and Leaves Brooch
18k, blackened silver and mixed sapphires
Karin Worden

Last year, she had a series of brooches like the one above, with a variety of colored flowers, such as one with flowers of pink gold, which happened to be my favorite. All of these pieces are one of a kind, so those that fall in love with one, but decide to think it over for too long, will likely be disappointed to find that "their " brooch has sold.

Karin will also be in New York next week to show her work at the new Couture Jewelry Award and Sale, which is December 8th at the Pratt Mansion, across from the Met.

Inspiration from the neighborhood

As I previously mentioned, my new Wrought and Brocade collections were inspired by the wrought iron I see around my neighborhood. Here are a couple of favorites that I snapped pictures of on my way home one night.


In the case of the red doors, I am glad to see that some people aren't afraid to go with bold colors for their entrance (although, this might not be allowed a few blocks over the the historic district). The red contrasts nicely with the tracery of the wrought iron gate in front of it.

This door is my favorite so far. The wrought iron is nice and heavy with some tapering. The other highlight is the addition of the stars into the iron with more stars on the bottom of the doors. With the warm colors in the vestibule shining through, this looks like a very inviting place to come home to on a cold November night. Below is a close-up of one of the window panels.

Below is a new piece in the Brocade collection, which incorporates details derived from wrought iron decoration. The curls overlaying the gold pattern are not symmetrically covering the entire piece, but it is intersting to compare it with the photo above.

Brocade Oval Large Pendant
18K and blackened silver
2007

Guild Show

This weekend, the catalog and internet art retail company, called The Guild is hosting their first retail show in NYC. I have some work that will be in display and will be at the show for some of the hours that it is open.

The above photo was taken when I was preparing some work for the show. For my small petal-shaped stones, I use a thin strip of silver, fit it around the stone, solder it to a sheet of silver, and then cut it out into all of the little bezel pieces. This is what appears in the photo. All of the cut out bezels lined up in a row next to their corresponding garnets or peridots. These are the styles of earrings I made with these bezels and stones:

Persian Vine Earrings
sterling and garnet

Streaming Flourish Earrings
sterling and peridot

Philly Museum Show

I didn't end up spending as much time as I would have liked to at the show. While there, I spent a good deal of time discussing this situation. That left less time for choosing some favorite pieces by various artists. Of course, since I was not exhibiting in the show, I was freely able to walk around and talk about the state of craft today.

Judith Kinghorn
Penta
Sterling and 24K gold

I have long admired Judith Kinghorn's brooch/ pendants made with a combination of sterling and 24kt gold. I had only seen them in print before, and after having the chance to hold one in my hand, I can say that print pales in comparison. The pieces really look flatter and larger than in reality. The delicacy of this piece above is astounding. The size is only about 2" across. That means that each of those flowers is nearly as delicate as a real flower. The flowers are arranged into a mound as well, so it is very dimensional.

Joanna Gollberg
Feather Rings
Sterling silver

I also had the chance to meet Joanna Gollberg in person for the first time. She has written a number of jewelry books, including The Art and Craft of Making Jewelry , which includes some of my work. Her work includes a lot of movement and some new pieces that have perforated panels. She is another younger generation jeweler that I am glad to see in both the Philly Museum show and the Smithsonian show this year.

Biba Schutz

Congratulations to Biba Schutz, a renowned jeweler, who won the award for Best Fiber at the Museum show for her sculptural baskets. The way that Biba's work ranges from simple earrings to elaborate bracelets and now, these baskets, is really inspiring.

47th st

NY Diamond District

Here is a little window in to the New York jewelry world, mixed in with a story of economics. http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/11/05/diamond_futures/I wished that they had more audio of the "we buy gold diamonds", guys.



I do shop in the NY jewelry district, although I use diamonds infrequently. There are also colored stone dealers, stone cutters, precious metal dealers, engravers, appraisers, stone setters, casters. You could pretty much make a whole jewelry line come into being by just shuffling from one specialist to another. Oh, and make sure to bring along a lot of money too.



I sometimes love the jewelry district for it's old fashioned way of business, but it is also such a hustle and before the holidays, it can be a hockey match, with everyone pushing each other out of the way...time is money after all.



After time, one can develop friendly relationships with people on the street and it can be pleasure to see them from time to time. However, when I first went to the district, it was a very intimidating place. People asked me if I was a student, and right off the bat, I knew they didn't take me seriously. I have since learned to have a poker face when something is far more expensive than I expected, pretending that it just doesn't quite suit my needs rather than exclaiming that I couldn't possibly buy something that expensive.



I would say that an out of towner that decides to buy an engagement ring from the diamond district is either very brave...or very foolish.

Philly Museum Show: Christy Klug

Every year, the Philadelphia Museum hosts what is considered one of the premier craft shows in the country. It is one of the five shows that everyone that does retail shows hopes to get into in their career. It is coming up this weekend, staring on Thursday the 8th of November, running through the 11th.

There, of course, are many booths filled with well-known artists with long lists of accomplishments. I get excited, however, about the artists that are closer to the beginning of their careers that get the chance to show for the first time.

Christy Klug and I are friends, dating back to the first ACC show in Baltimore for both of us, in 2004. Considering her history, her progress in her work and achievement is really remarkable. She has art training in her background, but it wasn't until she became a divorced single mom that undertook the making of jewelry as a career. As she recalled to me, she made five pieces, had them photographed, and got into the Baltimore show on the first try!

When she arrived at the show, she fast dumbstruck by the fact that she was showing with so many renowned people. Luckily, she had her friend with her to man her booth and take orders, while she wandered around wondering what she was doing there. She even got an order from a gallery that she used to frequent in Boston when she lived there.

Fast forward to today, and it is obvious that she has really risen to the top. I am hoping that she will find a great number of new admirers at the show in Philadelphia.

What I appreciate the most about Christy's work is the way she has taken the one technique of sawing in so many directions. Her style has remained very true to the first collection she showed in 2004, except that it has included so many dimensions and forms along the way.

SF recap

I had a great time in the bay area last weekend. I had the chance to pack in lots of visual interest and wide-ranging conversations in the few days I was there. To top it off, I even got three seats to myself on the redeye back to NY. The only unfortunate thing is that I did not bring my very good digital SLR camera and relied on a point and shoot that did not give me many usable photos. Fortunately the galleries I visited both have excellent websites that are always updated with many photos from all of their artists.

Velvet da Vinci

The opening was very nice and I got to see their larger space. It is possibly the largest jewelry and metalsmithing gallery that I have been in. I had the opportunity to meet some of the local artists that had come for the opening. I also really enjoyed meeting Elizabeth and Mike, co-owners of the gallery. They were extremely hospitable to me during my visit, which I really appreciated!

I have poured over the book by Lark called 500 Earrings. Many of my favorites were in the show and I delighted in seeing the earrings in person. It came as somewhat of a surprise to see that many of the earrings were much larger or smaller than I had imagined. For example, the earrings on the card, by Beate Klockmann, were much larger than I expected. The outside of the spheres also had an interesting texture that resembled cast iron that I hadn't detected in the photo.

The earrings below, by Rebecca Hannon were one of my favorites in the book, and also one of my favorites in the show. I tried them on, and the rainbow refractions from the CD "gems" added a life to the design that can't come across in the photos. Her use of recycled objects in the context of a classic earring shape is very appealing to me.

Rebecca Hannon earrings back view
Rebecca Hannon earring front view

Velvet da Vinci also shows sculpture and metalwork. The artist Diane Komater is showing her wire sculptures concurrently with the Earrings show. Her work has several levels of viewing, with the distant view giving a strong linear impression, but then you move in closer, and there are many tiny details that reveal themselves.

Sculpture by Diane Komater

Another featured sculptor at the gallery is Thomas Hill. He is currently making a variety of bird sculptures and here is one of them surveying the scene from the window of the gallery.

Thomas Hill sculpture

Revere Academy

Alan Revere was the juror for the 500 Earrings book and he owns a jewelry school in San Francisco. After meeting him at the opening, he invited me to come to his school to talk to some of the students there. His school is one of the only places in the US that offers a comprehensive training in the technical skills that are needed to work at the bench. Students have diverse goals; working at a jewelry store in the workshop, designing and making their own line, etc. I enjoyed the chance to look at the school and talk with the staff there, particularly Christine Dhein and Ronda Coryell.

Revere has all sorts of programs that are detailed on their website. I really liked this wall display of sample projects from all of their classes.

I also stopped at the Asian Art Museum and saw, specifically, the Stylized Sculpture show, which features contemporary Japanese fashion.

Junya Watanabe Comme des Garcons
Polyester and cotton with metal rods

The exhibition was unusual in that they decided to forgo the usual label system. The mannequins were set in a dimly lit room with small halos of light around each one. it was only after I had carefully looked at each garment in turn that I realized that there was a brochure that detailed the designer and materials of each garment. After having absorbed the exhibit visually, the written material really did provide a whole other layer of meaning. That is really the way it is supposed to be, but how often do we (as hard as I try to resist, this includes me), walk up to a work on display and zoom in right away on the label.

I also love the way they have displayed their carved stone collection at the Asian Art Museum. Many pieces are hung on a plexiglas wall in the middle of the gallery, so that you can see the carvings from both sides. The inclusion of Bhutanese art and textiles is also a plus. I haven't seen that anywhere else. And of course, I would pretty much like to have their entire bookshop on my personal bookshelf!

Visibility is a double-edged sword

As I make my work and develop designs, having a great number of people see them is very important. I have to count on a great number of people I have never met, to enjoy my work enough to exchange their money for something I have made. So, in service of that, I try to have my work visible to as wide an audience as possible. The internet gives all artists such a wonderful way to reach so many people.

And then one day, a forwarded e-mail from a colleague arrives in your inbox and there it is, a company in India claiming to make your designs and have them available to order. I received that e-mail last week before my trip and decided to talk about it before I got on to the delightful things that I saw in San Francisco.

above: Flourish Earrings
copyright Natasha Wozniak
made in the USA

Not only were images of my work used falsely by this company, but so were the images of other designers. I immediately recognized this necklace by Sydney Lynch (below).

There were also images that I am sure were taken from other designers webpages, I just don't happen to know the designers. Is there anybody out there that can tell me who made the jewelry in the following images?

Here is the e-mail that accompanied the images:

Dear Sir/madam ,
�
We are the leading Manufacturer and Exporter of Sterling Silver, Gold and Diamond jewellery from last 25 yrs. We are the 100 percent export oriented company with the workforce of 350 artisans, who are working under the trained & skilled supervisors who are having good experience to serve the overseas market with the quality products and time bounded delivery system.
�
Kindly�go through our website http://www.vedansh.com// and let us know your feedback.
�
If you have any other query, please feel free to mail us.
�
Looking forward to hear from you.
�
With warm regards
Marco

So, two things about this made my blood run cold. First, there is the possibility that they will get an order for my designs from this e-mail. I could walk into a store in a year and see a cheap version of my carefully designed and made work. The other reason I was so upset is that I am adamant about the fact that I am making this work right here in the US. I participate in craft shows that are for only those that make their work in the US. This e-mail threatens the credibility that I have among my peers.

at left: Foliage with Dew set
copyright Natasha Wozniak
made in the USA

San Francisco bound

Hanging Fronds
18K, sterling, tourmaline

I am off today to the beautiful city of San Francisco. Tomorrow night (October 19th), I will be attending the opening of the 200 Earrings show at Velvet Da Vinci from 6-8PM. You can see a number of images from the show on their website. The earrings above are a new pair that I made to replace the earrings that were featured in the book 500 Earrings, as those had been sold.



I will also be stopping at the studio of Diana Fayt (no, not a jeweler, I know), and checking in with Rena Tom from Rare Device. She is opening her San Francisco store on the 25th of October. She has had a store in Brooklyn of the same name for a few years, which is where I discovered the talented jeweler Abigail Percy. Hooray, managed to tie jewelry into that one.



If time allows, I also intend to visit DeNovo in Palo Alto, which has a great collection of jewelry.



Next week, I will have to rant a bit about a couple of issues that have me really riled up, but for now, I have to get my suitcase zipped up and be on my way to JFK.