Remix Magazine

Page 40 of New Zealand's Fashion & Pop Culture Magazine Remix featured my Hand Hinge Bracelet with multi-colored rings with a little blurb about my work:

(click to enlarge)

And of course I'm thrilled to share the page with my dear friend, the talented Kate Cusack who makes the amazing zipper jewelry.

page from my sketchbook

Still working out my ideas for the same sex wedding ring set and holding box for the POP craft exhibition, but I think I'm getting closer to narrowing down what I have in mind. The problem I'm having now is that there are so many different directions I could take the piece in, (in terms of materials and form) but for the purpose of meeting my deadline for this show, I need to just choose one and go with it. I'll share more pics as the piece progresses. Stay tuned!

Pearls of Wisdom

Pearls of Wisdom Tooth Pendant © Margaux Lange

This pendant was a custom commission for talented artist Amy C. Evans from Mississippi (a fellow MICA alum!) It's made of sterling silver, resin and pearls that were gifted to Amy from a friend of hers, Florida oysterman, A.L. Quick.

Because of the toothy-looking nature of the pearls, we decided to go with a quirky, tooth-themed piece. I'm pleased with the results and Amy was too! Check out some of Amy's fantastic paintings below. Her most recent work can be seen at the Koelsch Gallery in Houston, and you can find even more on her flickr page, her etsy shop and follow along on her wonderful blog Made in Mississippi. Many thanks Amy!

Louise Kept Her Favorite Earrings © Amy C. Evans

Fanny Kept Sunglasses © Amy C. Evans

Fallen Princesses

Snowy © Dina Goldstein

Sleeping Beauty © Dina Goldstein
(the socks & sandals are a particularly nice detail on Prince Charming! )

Cinder © Dina Goldstein

Belle © Dina Goldstein

Dina Goldstein is a Vancouver based photographer. I really love the staging and dark ironic humor of this series entitled: Fallen Princesses. About the work, Goldstein says:

"I began to imagine Disney's perfect Princesses juxtaposed with real issues that were affecting women around me, such as illness, addiction and self-image issues."

Check out more in the series and her vast portfolio here: www.dinagoldstein.com

Palace Costes Magazine from Paris ran a wonderful spread about my work on page 137 of their June issue:

Many thanks to Lucie for the feature!

The Embrace

This necklace is a recently completed custom piece for a client in Ireland entitled:

The Embrace

(in this last shot you can see the matching custom clasp)

Thanks Jessie, for inspiring this one-of-a-kind piece.
I hope you love it as much as I do!

Conceptualizing a new piece…

I was invited to participate in the upcoming exhibition Pop Craft: Absorbed and Filtered at the Society of Arts & Crafts in Boston, MA (opening August 8th) and have been doing some research and sketching out my ideas for the special piece(s) I'll be making for the show. I thought I would share a little bit about my thought process thus far…

As stated in the show prospectus:

"The best of Pop Art draws from and comments upon popular culture, its commerce, visual poetry and follies. Never shy, Pop Art is typically bold and brash and sometimes political or at least subversive. The exhibition POP Craft seeks to discover and present the ways in which the lessons of Pop Art have been absorbed and filtered by contemporary artists working in ceramics, fiber, glass, metal and/or wood."

I wanted to make a piece that incorporated Barbie or Ken of course (duh, a no-brainer pop reference) however I also started thinking about: what is relevant to popular culture these days? One thing that came to mind was same-sex marriage. It's an issue that's finally gaining some momentum in this country. It's timely, it's controversial, and I think a perfect starting point for my piece for this show in Boston. (Particularly since Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage - an appropriate homage to a historical time.)

So I've started sketching ideas for two "wedding ring" sets, one is a barbie & barbie faces in profile set, the other a ken & ken faces in profile set. I'm envisioning the rings housed in a display or some sort of "sculptural resting place" to safely house the works and make them as interesting off the body as when they are on. They will be spaced and arranged as if the two faces are about to kiss.

After drawing it out, I realized the kissing faces in profile resembled a Rubin's vase, you know, the optical illusion where you see both the vase and the faces:

So I did a wiki search about Rubin's vases and this particular paragraph really stood out for me:

"The illusion generally presents the viewer with a mental choice of two interpretations, each of which is valid. Often, the viewer sees only one of them, and only realizes the second, valid, interpretation after some time or prompting. When they attempt to simultaneously see the second and first interpretations, they suddenly cannot see the first interpretation anymore, and no matter how they try, they simply cannot encompass both interpretations simultaneously- one occludes the other."

(now at the risk of sounding totally Art School…) I kind of love this as a metaphor for the current state of acceptance and the perceptions of gay marriage in our country. So I'm going with it. But now I need to figure out how I'm actually going to make it! (particularly the sculptural display.) Hmmm… stay tuned. So that's where my head is at these days. I'll try to share some process pics of sketches and whatnot as the idea develops.

I've always enjoyed optical illusions. Here's a couple more illusion/perception images I grabbed for inspiration (the second image is a photo I took at the entrance of the Exploratorium we visited while in San Francisco last year.)

Parasol Magazine

I was interviewed for an artist's spotlight for online magazine: Parasol this month! Check out the full interview along with other amazing artist spotlights and interesting features right here. Many thanks to Yasmine for the wonderful opportunity.

Kristyna Milde

Valpincon bather after Ingres © Kristyna Milde

(Ingres painting)

Recently I was made aware of artist Kristyna Milde's work (thanks to art jeweler Kristin Beeler.) Milde created, staged and lit detailed dioramas based on famous historical paintings using Barbie dolls which she then photographs. These are works from her "c U M E N I" exhibition at The Pavilon Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic (March 27 - April 16, 2008.)

Femme Nue after Gérôme © Kristyna Milde

(Gérôme painting)

In her own words…

"In this project I critically examine how modes of representation distort our perception of women. The Barbie Doll plays the role of historical icons in familiar paintings."

"With cUMENI I want to inspire contemplation and reconsideration of the visual culture and its impact on the formation of identity and gender relations."

- Kristyna Milde

Sleepers after Courbet © Kristyna Milde

(Courbet painting)

For more images of Milde's work and the concepts behind it you can check out her full flickr set here.

Oryx Magazine

Oryx, a Qatar Airways in flight magazine, has featured my work in a two-page spread for their June issue. I'm really pleased with the layout and overall look of this one! I think it turned out great. Click the image to read the full interview.

So, if anyone is flying to Dubai anytime soon… can you snag me a hard copy from the plane? hehe, just kidding (sort-of.)

American Craft

My Giggles Bracelet is featured on pg 18 of the June/July 09 issue of American Craft magazine, as part of a wonderful article about Facéré Jewelry Art Gallery in Seattle WA. Congrats to Karen Lorene on the wonderful press for her and her gallery. I'm happy to be included in the article and honored to have been represented by Karen's amazing gallery for 7 years and counting!


One of the first major press spreads I ever received was in American Craft's "Portfolio" section, Oct/Nov 2004. It's interesting to think back to how far I've come since that feature five years ago…