“I’m exploring my connection to The Contemporary Art Jewelry™ World via methods of connection, building into and around perhaps some of our most maligned materials.

This work began while in grad school I came to terms with how alienating I found our niche little field. My energy shifted from studio art to focusing on ‘products’ while engaging in more academic work about representation. I’m now re-exploring my relationship to contemporary jewelry– the diversity within our field is beginning to expand and I am starting to feel a sense of connection with it again.

This body of work first started when I began to explore more production-type jewelry as a grad student in art school. I received feedback from my mentor that was offensive and insensitive about why my new work wasn’t ‘louder’ and more ‘gaudy’. I created some rage pieces with hot glue and glitter and diamante chain and Swarovski and emojis and weed leaf imagery, etc. (Naturally, the pieces ended up being well-received and so basically I’m not sure if I failed or not.)

Several months ago, I was invited to participate in a show in which the curator insisted I send over ‘whatever [I] want’. I was in A Mood™ and decided to revisit my glittery rage. This time, I embedded mass produced chain and findings in the hot glue. I’m lucky I sent backup work because the glitter shitshows weren’t exhibited.

Since then, I’ve had a post-it on my wall that reads ‘Make glitter shitshows valid,’ as in, valid in the eyes of the contemporary jewelry world. The intention was to revisit these exact pieces, retrofitting from mass produced chains and findings embedded in hot glue to more Noble and Acceptable methods of connecting to the body. Naturally, this meant more metal work– more silver, prongs, patina, and general presence of the hand. Make them brooches, because what is more respected in the contemporary jewelry world, what is a better way to connect back, than The Brooch?”