Education: 2009, BFA, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY 2012,
MFA, Towson University, Baltimore, MD
Lives/Works: In a home studio in Baltimore, where she'll be teaching for the MICA Fibers Department in the fall. She also travels, giving workshops and lectures.
What is your work about?
Metamorphosis, mutation, otherness, comfort and building a place to belong are concepts that are prominently featured in my work. I primarily show these ideas through unconventional adornment. Many of my works include vibrant colors and low-brow materials like craft glitter and spandex. These ideas and materials are powerful ways of creating a spectacle and creating perceived value. Both the objects and the wearable pieces that I create allow both the viewer and the wearer to step into my place in this world. I use both humor and irony in order to create a push-pull feeling between the viewer and the pieces. In my current work, I try to show how our experiences can consume and change us into something that we never knew we could be.
What are you looking forward to most about Amsterdam?
I'm really looking forward to seeing what the European art jewelry market is like in person. (Photographs just aren't the same as the real thing.) I'm also looking forward to talking with other people who are knowledgable about art jewelry.
What artists inspire you?
Otto Kunzli, Manfred Bischoff, Ernesto Neto, and Caroline Broadhead
What's the best advise you were ever given about being an artist?
In the first art class I ever took in college, the professor looked at us on the first day of class and said, "If you can do anything else, be an accountant or something, and do art as a hobby, then leave now, or stay and change your major. This is one of the most difficult careers you can choose and most of you won't make it." About half of the class got up and left.
Any final thoughts on Sieraad?
Jillian and I have put a lot of hard work into this: the planning, curating, campaigning, organizing, finding a place for all ten of us to stay together, etc. I am really excited to see this happen after all of our hard work. I'm so happy that our group members are stepping up to help out -- we never expected our group members to help out but we did hope that folks would. I'm really excited to showcase what Jillian and I feel is an enormous range of art jewelry that is happening in the US right now, and I can't wait to exhibit a new body of work that I currently have in progress.
Rachel is one of the masterminds behind out fundraising campaign. She helped design the Jackalope logo, and did the digital work for the 3D printed thank you brooch. Check it out here! Thanks Rachel, for all your hard work and for participating in the interviews!
Check back next week, where Rachel and Jillian will talk about their curating process and how this whole idea came about!
No comments:
Post a Comment