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.

Out on the Web, on my Hand

Today I was e-mailed by Marta in Barcelona. She writes a blog in Spanish about contemporary jewelry. I have never come across most of the artists that she is featuring. While looking at her site, I discovered a link to a great site called The Carrotbox All rings, almost every day! I love the idea and I admire the blogging discipline. Again, many new (to me), artists mixed in with the ones that I have encountered in the US.







I have also begun to collect rings by other jewelers. So far I have an Ananda Khalsa,

(This is a miniature painting under hand ground glass, set in silver)

two by Dahlia Kanner,

(Textured silver rings with blackened details)

and another by Todd Reed.

(Silver and 18K ring set with rough diamond cubes. Todd's signature material)

I would like to get a ring by my good friend Deborah Harrison Miller soon. This is the one I have in mind:

(18K ring with diamond accents and a mint green tourmaline)

The best thing about having a ring collection is that I can enjoy looking at the rings on my own hand.