molliemade design: doing benchwork

A quick post to illustrate my progress on this piece. Some of the parts have been colored, but there is still work to be done before I can call it finished!

The post below contains images of my current piece in progress to show detail of it's hollow construction, etched brick wall and hand cut, silver lace bottom It will become an iris garden cuff bracelet that is one part of my 2nd stackable wearables: Home Is Where The Heart Is This post contains images of Home Is Where The Heart Is still in pieces and in it's natural copper state. I will shoot more professional photos when the piece is completed. 1st in my stackable wearables: Tower Of Joy shown stacked and apart to illustrate bracelet, brooch and ring

I wish there was a way to say this without having flashbacks to my 6th grade attempts to keep a diary. Though, please note that I always made it a point to refer to it as my journal . I have never known who to address my entries to and I always, always fail to update on a consistent basis. My apologies to anyone out there who is disconcerted by the nine month time lapse between entries; life and university have kept me in constant motion lately. I am working through my last year in the MFA program at KU. Which means, that I have been completely focused on my thesis work and teaching Intro to Jewelry & Metals for the fourth time. I continue to love introducing new concepts and techniques to my students in the studio. I am glad to report that my work has taken some exciting new directions lately! For now, I will leave explanations up to the images.

Here are a few snapshots of what I am doing on the wall in my studio and in my sketchbook. This wall is ever changing and helps me to work through ideas. I continue to examine ideas about the garden, home & myself.

This is a preliminary image of the latest piece in my cameo series. After silhouettes became a part of my design palatte, my research lead me to discover the great and moving work of Kara Walker (look her up!). I also took a History of Photography class, taught by KU professor John Pultz, where I learned much about how mankind's desire to capture the exact, physical lines of their loved ones lead to the invention of silhouette machines. Prof. Pultz was kind enough to let the graduate students do extra projects in place of the exams. For my replacement project I made a brooch series inspired by the photograph's history. In the series I used a photo that was taken of my paternal grandmother, Anna Maye when she was teaching grade school in Austin, TX. First as a silhouette. Second in color with facial details. (ink & watercolor on mylar) Thirdly in a photomontage with part of the original photo and a photo of the live oak in her front lawn. All of the brooches are made of...

“Nothing is more the child of art than a garden” Sir Walter Scott In my most recent work, I am fabricating wearable pieces that utilize garden imagery as metaphor for the connection between human beings and the natural world. The garden references place and the inclusion of garden walls imply that these are safe locations, set apart from the overwhelming chaos of the world. It is an environ of peace that nurtures the life inside of its walls; a haven where one can retreat to observe the cyclical nature of life. Literary critic Robert Haas once stated, “The first fact of the world is that it repeats itself.” I believe in the interconnectedness of all life and to translate this fact through the medium of jewelry, I employ repetition in form and visual elements. Although my work utilizes repetition in formal aspects each piece remains one of a kind, just as we human beings do. Circular constructions are fabricated to se as framing devices fo...