Friday, April 27, 2012

Modular Art Jewelry: How to Create and Connect Unique Component Jewelry

I'm obsessed! I now know where the term "dumb blonde" came from. These days I fit the profile to a "T"! Anyone sitting across from me on the Metro, or at a cafe table would come to the same conclusion - vacuous stare, mouth slightly open, oblivious to noise and visual input, no visible "plugged-in" paraphernalia - yep, she must be a dumb blonde...........duh, not! I'm deep in my head, connecting and reconnecting components, creating focal elements, stringing, attaching, dangling, embellishing, engineering, designing and composing. I should be sketching these things out then people would know what's happening, but I don't have time - these ideas have been percolating, gestating for a long time and I can no more stop the flow than the tide!!!

Over the next couple of weeks I'll present individual components and connections and then we'll play around with variable arrangements and compositions. I'll give you a look into my "dumb blondeness", ie. the process that leads me to these ideas since this, to me, is the essence of creativity - the "process". I much prefer NOT knowing what I will end up with when I start. It can be very disconcerting, at times downright painful, but the reward comes as the piece evolves and you see your own creative process unfolding before you. My process working with polymer and metal is remarkably consistent with that inherent in my abstract paintings (see http://www.vickieturnerart.blogspot.com/). Input and comments are always welcomed.

Meet Wendell. I never thought I could be a sculptor, but Leslie Blackford showed me differently. Thanks to her, the name emerges first, becoming the structure upon which the personality grows, followed by the physical features. Wendell is shy, a bit geeky, like me, blinged-out with pearls and a swarovski crystal (tastefully, of course) clutching a precious find, a sterling hoop, a secret treasure to bring back to the lair to explore and delight in, to ponder, to create with. Christi Friesen's quirky dragons lay eggs that hatch in my imagination with curious regularity, testimony to the fact that part of me will always dream of mythical sagas, of adventure and mystery, imagined creatures and universes, more creative material. Wendell becomes the first creative part of this process. His hoop directing the next line of creative thought.

WENDELL - PART 1