Materials: Copper, Brass, Acrylic
Dimensions: 12"x7"x2.25"
This necklace is comprised of two forms created by soldering individual ovals in rows. The rows were manipulated as the forms grew and eventually tapered inwards in order to connect to a hollow tube, formed from a flat sheet of copper.
Photo credit: Elizabeth Lamark
Rachel Arday
Webster, New York. USA
As a contemporary artist, I synthesize information from the world around me and create work based on connections I see between civilizations throughout time. I am inspired by the differences between past and present and wish to fuse information from various cultures with that of my own to create relevant and modern pieces of art. On a personal level, each piece of artwork I create has a particular attachment to the person I was when I created it, what my life was like at that time, and reminds me of how I have changed. While they draw from my past experiences and present familiarity, these pieces also propel me forward onto my next work. During the early stages of creation, an inherit meaning is instilled by the processes and methods I utilize. Often meditative, compulsive, and cyclical, I work to introduce meaning at the infancy of creating these works.
The human condition and its effects are the driving force of my work, specifically, different responses or rituals pertaining to death. Each piece of artwork I create derives from a funerary custom or object utilized within a specific culture to serve as coping mechanisms within communities. I aim to emphasize the idea that all civilizations have been plagued with the same quandary and have instinctively responded in a visual manner. My process, paired with a use of repetitive patterns and forms, points towards the cyclical or recurring nature of life and death. Colors utilized in my work hold different subtexts that allude to the opposition of life and death, whether they be muted pastels or dark rich tones with subtle discrepancies. I mean to point out the stigmas and varying perceptions of death and mourning processes seen throughout cultures while maintaining personal connections to each work.
The exhibition explores metal works whose primary theme is color embraced as their primary visual focus, whether that be using colored materials, exploring creating colored surfaces, or encasing the object in color.
As the world's largest jewelry related internet site, Ganoksin strives to develop exhibitions showcasing work from around the world. This exhibition was open to all metalsmiths, professional and amateur, advanced and beginner.
In total 303 artists contributed 814 show pieces for the permanent online exhibition.
The exhibition was curated by Beth Wicker, President of the North Carolina Society of Goldsmiths in the United States, and Adjunct Instructor at Northeastern Technical College in South Carolina. Director of the exhibition is Hanuman Aspler, founder of The Ganoksin Project, the world's largest internet jewelry site.
Hue is one of the primary properties of color, it refers to the place the color occupies on the visual spectrum. Humans have used hues throughout time, to create cave paintings, to decorate themselves, their clothing and their housing.
Different hues have taken on different meanings throughout time. Gold traditionally has been a color of purity - the metal gold is relatively unchangeable, and the hue of gold has come to stand for gods and goddesses, for royalty, for durability and for purity. Red has often meant love, or passion. Hues often reflect the meaning of the seasons, with pastels referring to spring and the burst of new life after the pale hues of winter. Summer is reflected in vibrant, deep hues, followed by the browning of hues in the fall as plants go to seed and die, and the land turns fallow.
The worth of a hue has often been tied to what is necessary to make the pigment that creates the hue, and the expensive involved in the process. Often created from crushed stones that had to be mined and carried by caravan over thousands of miles, or from fermented roots of plants only grown in certain areas, or the carapaces of rare insects - the creation of hue in a way that could be used by man was an involved and generally expensive process.
In today's world metalsmiths have access to perhaps the widest range of materials and hues in the history of man - and in some of the most affordable ways ever.
This exhibition celebrates hue - color - as an integral, inherent element of the work. We talk of the "richness" of color, and examples of this abound here. One expects hues from the colors of gemstones used in metalsmithing, but we also have hues from some less expected places. Glass enamels are an ancient way of adding color, as are a variety of patinas. Today's artists also use synthetic man-made materials to add color in ways that didn't exist a century ago.
We invite you to enjoy this celebration of hue, and the ways hues and their use have changed over time.