Archives October 2009 : Jeweler of the Month

Jeweler of the Month:
Atlanta Contemporary Jewelry Show Artists

To keep you on your toes, this month we're doing this section a little different. Usually we focus only on one jeweler. But, this weekend is the Atlanta Contemporary Jewelry Show and because we have all this great talent coming to Atlanta, we thought it would be a great opportunity to focus on the jewelers in the show!

*this event has already past, however, the 4th anual ACJS show will be November 5 & 6, 2010

Bio
The Atlanta Contemporary Jewelry Show - fostering an understanding and appreciation of artist designed and made contemporary fine craft jewelry in Atlanta through the presentation of work by the country's most accomplished jewelry artists.

Founded in 2007 by jewelry artists Leigh Griffin and Debra Lynn Gold, the 3rd Annual Atlanta Contemporary Jewelry Show presents 25 world renown jewelry artists and their masterful works on November 6th and 7th at the Defoor Centre. Each artist is selected for their creations of unique, wearable art jewelry representing a wide range of styles, materials, and techniques. The work ranges from elegantly traditional to edgy, sculptural, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Don't miss this opportunity to attend the show and meet these artists from across the country here for two days ~ at one incredible show.

A Meet the Artists Wine Reception hosted by the Spruill Center for the Arts takes place Friday evening from 6 PM to 9 PM - included with admission.

Please visit the website for more information about the show and about each one of this years participating artists
www.AtlantaContemporaryJewelryShow.com

Location: The Defoor Centre, 1710 Defoor Avenue NW, Atlanta,
GA. 30318
Hours: Friday, November 6th 10 AM to 9 PM
(Meet the artists at a wine reception from 6 PM to 9 PM sponsored by Spruill Center for the Arts)
Saturday, November 7th 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Tickets: $5.00 at the door

Archives September 2009 : Jeweler of the Month

Jeweler of the Month:
Amy Rowe

Bio
Amy graduated from Auburn University in 1992, and put her Aerospace Engineering degree to good use at McDonnell Douglas. She was a diligent worker, but Amy soon discovered her passion was creating things, not calculating coefficients. After leaving the aerospace field, Amy began her own custom home building company at 22. As a top builder in the Atlanta market, she honed her creative skills while helping her clients express their personalities through the design of their living spaces.

While searching for additional ways to nourish her creative spirit, Amy discovered silversmithing, a medium that combines problem solving and artistic expression. Her first class was at Spruill Center for the Arts with Helen Blythe-Hart. Amy doesn't sketch or plan out her designs before she fires up her torch. Instead, she lets the materials guide her in the creation of each piece. This spontaneous and organic approach results in very special designs that are never repetitive.

The signature rolled edge of an EllaKay piece is only one way in which Amy's work is unique. Her use of a variety of metals and stones ensures that each and every item she creates is more than just striking jewelry.

What was your first piece?
Her first piece of jewelry was a ring with purple glass that she still keeps and wears often.

What is your creative process?
I start with a stone and make a bezel with burned edges. There may be a total of 50 bezels made up with stones and from there I put them together to make large statement necklaces, pendants, cuffs or rings. I really enjoy working with sterling silver and have added bronze,copper and gold to some designs because of the warmth that it adds to the piece. My favorite part of jewelry making is putting the pieces together and coming up with a harmonious design. When the colors come together and they flow this is most exciting.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
The most favorite part of my jewelry are the juicy Nancy Antley Creation's stones. She has the most beautiful, bright, bold unusual stones.

Who are your jewelry heroes?
My jewelry hero is Helen Blythe-Hart because of her boldness in design and her attention to detail.

What is on your bench now?
What is on my bench now is a gorgeous necklace with bubble gum pink stones mixed with these crazy brownish pink graphic stones. I am anxiously awaiting an order of hot pink topaz to put with this piece.

Where does your design inspiration come from?
My inspiration comes from travel and shapes and colors in nature and architecture. One of my favorite architects is Gaudi from Spain and much inspiration was drawn from a 2 week trip with a girlfriend to Spain. Also, I enjoy the Southwest and the beach as well. After arriving home from a trip I go straight to my studio and start punching out ideas that have come from the awakening of the spirit that the trip has evoked.

What is your most indispensable tool?
The most indispensable tool is a difficult question as these tools are all so wonderful and every time I go to JFF Dallas introduces something that is even better than the last. I would have to say that I love the mini torch though. It is so fun and liberating to fire it up and start sculpting.

Jeweler of the Month:
Heather Trundle

Bio
In April of 2001, a fateful trip to the Georgia Renaissance Festival awakened a creative fire that has been burning ever since....

My name is Heather Trundle and I am a wire jewelry artist. I grew up an Army Brat and have spent my life traveling from place to place...living in different states and different countries. I have always been creative, but focusing mainly on threadwork and yarns. Seven years ago, a trip to the Georgia Renaissance Festival ended with a trip to a craft store for my first set of pliers and a coil of cheap aluminum wire. I soon found out that wire is an extension of thread and yarn and the ability to create a beautiful piece of wearable art came naturally.

During the day, I wear a lab coat and am the Senior Research and Development Chemist for Plaid Enterprises, Inc. During the evening, after the children are in bed and night has fallen, I am a wire jewelry artist. I learned my art through videos, books, and trial and error with a lot of scrap wire. After one year of creating jewelry, I realized that I need to stop making jewelry or start selling it...Moonlight Creations was born. In 2009 I decided I needed a facelift and re-branded myself as Moonlight Wrapture - Expressing Your Wrapture in Style.

I design unique wire sculpted jewelry using Sterling Silver and 14kt Gold filled wire. My creations incorporate stone cabochons, faceted gemstone, pearls, shells, and any other item that I believe can be fashioned into a unique piece of jewelry. I create pendants, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and more.

Not only do I have the pleasure of creating and selling my wearable art; but for the last three years, I have had the satisfaction of teaching my art to others.

What was your first piece?
The first piece I ever created was a pair of earrings from the cheap gold colored aluminum wire that I bought with my first set of round nose pliers.

What is your creative process?
The muse hits me at all times and places. My ideas come from every aspect of my life and the world around me. I have an accordian file full of personal drawings and pictures. If I ever get blocked...I just rifle through my creative file and new ideas come to mind. I was at a stop light the other day and there was a white truck in front of me with black scroll work designs on the tail gate. I loved the look and quickly sketched out a similar pattern that should look great in wire...maybe for earrings or part of a necklace.

There are times that I can sit down with a stone cabochon and see the finished piece in my head. Then there are times that I just get some wire out and start wrapping the piece and am usually delighted what starts to take shape.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
I have two parts...

The moment a piece is polished and shines for the first time. There are still times that I look at a piece and can't believe that I just created that beautiful piece of jewelry.

The second favorite part is when I client puts on a piece and their eyes shine with delight. When I know that specific creation has just found a loving home with someone who will appreciate and wear it.

Who are your jewelry heroes?
I have to give a big thanks to Preston Reuther...he started me on this path eight years ago with his videos. But there are many artists who I have admired and learned from...Betty Baxter, Dale Armstrong, and Jessie Donnan to name a few.

What is on your bench now?
A lot of Red, White and Blue! I am finishing some work for the Museum of Patriotism in downtown Atlanta for 4th of July weekend. I am collaborating with a glass artist friend in creating one of a kind jewelry pieces for my "Freedom Collection".

What is your most indispensable tool?
My chain nose pliers. Though I am a tool junkie....I have to have on of my two favorite pairs of chain nose pliers with me on the bench whenever I start a new piece!

Archives June 2009 : Jeweler of the Month

Jeweler of the Month:

Dawn Muscio

Bio
I knew from an early age that I wanted to be an artist and was fortunate to have parents that supported my passion. I have been in the business nearly 20 years. I attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York where I received my BFA in 1991. My original major was graphic design/illustration, but I soon found my true calling in an elective jewelry course.

I was truly inspired on my first day of art school when our drawing professor told us that out of 30 of us, only 3 would be able to call themselves professional artists… meaning your livelihood was your art. Today I can truly call myself a professional artist.

After college I received my real training in a fine art jewelry gallery in upstate New York from 1991 to 1999, under my protégé, Albert Paley. I started out at the bottom as a repair jeweler and finisher but quickly was allowed to design pieces to be sold in the store and then began doing custom work for customers of the store and quickly gained a following.

Then in 1999 I relocated to Atlanta, GA where I worked for several stores and trade shops trying to find my place. Finally, in August of 2005 I opened D. Muscio fine jewelry studio and have been specializing in custom, unique pieces ever since. We also sell signature designer pieces, designed and crafted in-house, as well as provide services to the trade, including: hand carved wax models, hand fabrication/finishing and CAD/CAM.

What was your first piece?
The first piece of jewelry I ever made was in high school my junior year. Our first project was a lesson in saw piercing. I made a piano. I have the piece framed and hanging in my studio’s private consultation room, as a reminder of where I began and where I am going. Our clients love to hear the story behind it.

What is your creative process?
The creative process always starts on paper for me. Sketching opens up my creativity, and gets my mind working in 3-D. That first sketch leads to more concepts until I have a concrete idea. I use this process for signature pieces as well as private client commissions. The sketch is my road map, but as the idea transfers from concept to actual 3-dimensions what I thought would work sometimes leads to another avenue and solution. It is this problem solving and thought generation process that leads to our unique and personalized designs. I do not know what I would do if I could not sketch. My work is all about evolution – both as an artist over time as well as my process… it is always evolving.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
I take a lot of design cues from architecture and geometry, but it can be an everyday object that gives me inspiration, like the handle on a tea cup for a shank profile. I consider my work miniature sculpture and take into account every surface as an opportunity to be creative and innovative to try something I have not tried or seen before.

Who are your jewelry heroes?
The Germans -- for their mastery of technique and precision.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
The journey I take with my clients from consultation to finished piece.

What is on your bench now?
An heirloom diamond remount for a private client that is in its final stages of finishing. The project was to preserve her mother’s original wedding band, and combine it with her engagement diamond and give it a timeless and updated look.

What is your most indispensable tool?
That is the toughest question, because as Dallas knows I love tools! So I will narrow it down to my top 3. My dividers, micrometer and loupe. It is all about precision and quality for me.

Archives May 2009 : Jeweler of the Month

Jeweler of the Month:

Lisa Barth

Bio
I grew up in Minnesota where many wonderful stones could be found pretty easily, so I became a junior "rock hound" by the age of four. Lake Superior agates and geodes found on the shores of the Mississippi were my favorites. My love for stones was established early in my life.

I was a graphic design major in college and the design principles I learned there have come in to play in many areas of my life but it wasn't until I was in my forties that I came back to my roots with the love of stones. I was attending a home jewelry party, looking over their products when I just knew somehow I could do this better than the costume jewelry that was presented. I dove in head first and set out to learn all I could. I started out with wire jewelry, then moved on to traditional metal work and Metal Clay. I have earned level one certification in metal clay and this summer will earn my Senior certification. Next summer I plan to go for my Master Cert. I am teaching wire work and Metal Clay in my home studio and truly enjoy sharing the passion I feel for this art.

What was your first piece?
My first piece was a funky, hard wired necklace of jasper and catseye with wire wings going off in two directions and held the stones in the middle. Very strange but it did catch people's attention.

What is your creative process?
My creative process is very organic in nature in that it grows as I go. I start with a stone that somehow moves me. I take my color cues and placement of wire or metal by the form, shape and color of the stone. It is my intention to create something that enhances what is already going on in the stone, to compliment and highlight what I think is beautiful. This process often takes me on some wild rides.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
My favorite part of this process is exploring the possibilities and pinning down the elements and placing them in a harmonious way that makes my heart sing in response to the piece. It is challenging but also very gratifying when it all comes together.

What is on your bench now?
Right now I am working on a woven bezel in sterling wire that incorporates seed beads and small gem stones for color. It is interesting to combine the two in one bezel.

What is your most indispensable tool?
My most indispensable tool is my Lindstrom chain nose pliers. Give me some wire and my pliers and I can wrap up anything.

Archives April 2009 : Jeweler of the Month

Jeweler of the Month:

Regina Imbsweiler

Bio
I decided to become a jeweler about one year after finishing high school when I realized that my first career choice, engineering, was not what I really wanted. I was inspired by traveling craftspeople and imagined that it was a free and independent life style, and that I could be my own boss.

From 1974 to 1976 I attended the Goldschmiedeschule in Pforzheim, followed by a one year apprenticeship with a master goldsmith, Herbert Munsteiner. This training was technically rigorous and led to my certification as a goldsmith through Handwerkskammer Karlsruhe in 1977. I am still grateful for this thorough training even though I have gone on about my work in a more artistic way.

I started marketing my own work in 1980, while still working for a jewelry company in Germany. 1985 I started showing at US Galleries, among them Geode in Atlanta.

My family moved here in 1991, and I started Goldsmiths Gallery, with the help of my then-apprentices Leigh Griffin and David Vrooman who are both accomplished jewelers now.
In 1998 I moved to Irvindale Studios in Chamblee, mostly working for galleries and occasionally participating in retail shows.

My teaching experience includes two years as an instructor at Chastain Arts Center and training numerous apprentices. One of them, Vickie Cole, is now an instructor herself.
In 2009 I will have a trunk show at By Hand South, Decatur, during the Decatur Arts Festival and will be part of the Atlanta Contemporary Jewelry Show in November which I also help organize.

What was your first piece?
My first piece was a replication of an ancient Roman bracelet that I had seen in the Jewelry Museum in Pforzheim. It had a carnelian cabochon in the center and two links made out of wires on each side, connecting in the back.

What is your creative process?
My favorite process is combining silver and gold, creating different textures and surfaces. Within my "vocabulary" there are more classical and more free-flowing forms. I sometimes use fusion, and often 22k gold wire and gold balls. Occasionally I have prototypes cast and use them in variations for my production pieces. Tourmalines are definitely my favorite stones because of their most amazing color variations and their "inner life".

Who are your jewelry heroes?
I am strongly attached to the European art jewelry of the 70s and 80s. Some names: Paul Preston, Herman Juenger, Michael Zobel.

Among American jewelers: Harold O'Connor

Where do you find design inspiration?
This is a hard question. True inspiration is intuitive, which means you don't know where it comes from. I pick up bits and pieces of imagery from nature (like almost everyone), microbiology, and geology. One way to get inspired is to look at my stones, and the stuff that is on my bench, and put them together in ways that just happen, spontaneously.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
I could be on the torch all day! I am very passionate about fire.

What is on your bench now?
About 8 large rings and a couple of necklaces for my next show at Edgewood Orchard Galleries.

What is your most indispensable tool?
A small curved burnisher which I use to open up bezels when I size rings.

Archives March 2009 : Jeweler of the Month

Jeweler of the Month:

Herb West

Bio
I moved my family to Atlanta in 1962 to establish my medical practice. In 1963 when I inquired what my wife might like for an up-coming gift-giving occasion, she said she would like an Opal ring. Funds were short then so I sought help in finding a stone from a friend who in his retirement made jewelry. He obtained a very nice Mexican fire opal for me. When I asked about mounting the stone, he responded that I could do it under his supervision. I did, and the ring was a success, and I was hooked. I signed up for classes of jewelry making. As I accomplished what was offered in one class I would move to another and another advanced class. I was tutored by individual artists – Susan Zimmerman for wax work, Chris Litwin (who later moved to work with “Harry Winston”), Patrick Baylor (a ‘Swiss master jeweler’), Ken Lawrence and others. All had a contributing hand in my becoming proficient in this art form.

After years of making jewelry for the family, I began creating custom pieces for friends, one of whom is an actress who asked me for two different necklaces for her Hollywood Premier events.
I had been participating in local craft shows and then when I retired from medicine, I exhibited in national juried shows. It is a fun experience. We enjoy the ambience of different cities, the association with talented vendors, and the sincere interest of the attendees of the show. I have received top awards at shows on a number of occasions.

My preference is gem quality opal and gold. For choice stones I travel to the mines in Australia, Mexico and Africa and I attend the Tucson Gem Show. My sources are competent, trustworthy people who know and seek out the size and kind of opals I buy. My work is available in galleries both local and in Santa Fe, N.M.

Before deciding how I am going to do a project, I study and ponder each individual stone to come up with a design that will accentuate that particular opal. Diamonds or colored stones may be chosen to compliment the main stone.

I also work with silver and a variety of colored stones. I gain much pleasure and satisfaction from making beautiful adornments with magnificent gifts from nature.

What was your first piece?
The Mexican Fire Opal Ring I made for my wife.

Where do you find design inspiration?
Most of the time I buy the stone because I like it. The stone will sit until in the middle of the night, while I’m sleeping at 3 am the idea pops into my head.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
I enjoy the whole process. Honestly, if no one wanted to buy my jewelry, I would still make the jewelry. I enjoy it, it’s fun.

What is on your bench now?
An opal and silver necklace and an opal and gold necklace that I am working.

What is your most indispensable tool?
I can’t single out any one tool. The most indispensable tool is the one that I need at that time.

Archives February 2009 : Jeweler of the Month

Jeweler of the Month :
Anne Choi

Bio
I was born in Boston and my family lived in New York, Missouri, and and Japan before we moved to Atlanta in 1972. I grew up around art and handcrafts. My mother did block printing, stained glass weaving and rug making, before settling into a career as a potter; one of my aunts was a painter, and another a weaver. During the four years that we lived in Japan, my family traveled all over the islands, visiting potters kilns, weavers and dyers studios, and any other craftsman who would open their workshop to the "crazy foreigners." We were met with amazing kindness and generosity; the artists always took the time to demonstrate and discuss their work. I knew as a child that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up—I just didn't know what kind.

I am not formally trained as an artist or a jeweler. I majored in film and Latin in college, spent years in retail sales, owned a toy store, and sold antiques for 13 years before I finally tried jewelry making. I had worked with my mother on and off in her pottery studio over the years, but never really felt that I could make the clay say what I wanted it to. Around 1992, I began taking classes at Chastain Arts Center with Shirley Berse. Shirley encouraged me to experiment with casting, and to develop my own style. (I think she was amused by my odd ideas...) At first I made all kinds of jewelry, but soon settled on bead making as my true calling. I have sold my work at local art shows and fairs, but now I sell only at bead shows, and through my website.

What was your first piece?
A ring - a plain silver band with at bezel set cabochon cat's eye. Anyone who ever studied with Shirley Berse made one like this as a first project.

Who are your jewelry heroes?
John Cogswell, for his dedication to teaching and his determination not to let the art of metalsmithing die out. Bob Burkett, for his explorations in casting and his generosity in sharing his skill.

What is your design inspiration?
I think of my jewelry as an intimate form of communication, a message to one's self that one wears - a talisman, or charm, a link to an inner world. I like to use images and words that have personal significance to me, but are open to multiple interpretations, leaving the wearer free to interpret significance and symbolism for themselves, as they choose. For me, a great part of the beauty and fascination of this work is the chance to examine and compare the different beliefs, myths, traditions, folklore, and superstitions of different peoples, and to incorporate them as a part of my vocabulary.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
The excitement of rinsing the investment off a newly cast piece, to see if the design worked the way I had intended it to.

What is on your bench now?
Literally — a huge mess - in addition to my tools, at least a dozen books on varied topics -insects, plants, poetry, quotations, symbolism, and art - piles of paper with sketches and quotations scribbled on them - clay molds, and test carvings - a cicada shell, a dead cicada, and a dead carpenter bee in a baggie.

Figuratively — I used to make silver buttons, and have recently started to design them again. I hope to have them in production by this summer.

What is you most indispensable tool?
My OptiVisor.

Archives January 2009 : Jeweler of the Month

Jeweler of the Month :
Jamie Cassavoy

Bio
I got my start in the jewelry making industry when I decided to go back to school and get an MFA in metalsmithing and design. I graduated from RIT School for American Craft in 1996 and from there worked for a couple of years for B.A.Ballou in East Providence, RI. B.A. Ballou is a large manufacturer of precious metal jewelry. There, I worked as a model maker. They were and still are a fixture in the findings and fine finished jewelry business.

In 1998, I moved to Birmingham, Alabama to live closer to my family and start my own jewelry design business, Cassavoy and Company. Today my company is based out of Atlanta.

From the beginning, the goal of my company, Cassavoy & Company, has been to make limited production and one of a kind jewelry made by hand. From sterling silver, 18K gold and precious and semi-precious gems, my staff and I handcraft each piece. My collection is constantly evolving, consisting of about 120 pieces that are all produced in my home studio.

What was your first piece?
A fabulous pair of sterling earrings that were designed using a photo of an antique chair for inspiration.

Who are your jewelry heroes?
Barbara Heinrich, Sydney Lynch, Harold O'Connor, Jacqueline Ryan, Biba Schutz

What is your design inspiration?
Nature - anything botanical really, all of the trees and flowers outside my studio window.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
The ability to be creative on a daily basis and to make things that have the potential to make someone feel like a million bucks.

What is on your bench now?
A lot of rubble and parts left over from the holiday rush plus new ideas for the upcoming additions to my line.

What is your most indispensable tool?
That great silicon wheel that Dallas suggested I buy. That and my flex shaft. (The Artifex Wheel)

Archives December 2008 : Jeweler of the Month

Jeweler of the Month :
Kristin Wilder

Bio
Kristin began taking jewelry making classes at Chastain Arts Center in 1995 after being inspired by a co-workers handmade keychain. She studied there for several years before realizing her inner need to further explore the fundamentals and foundations of art and design leading her to venture into a formal art program at Georgia State University. Kristin worked tirelessly to maintain her work in the direction of metalsmithing by incorporating metal techniques into every studio class. While in school she volunteered at The Spruill Center for the Arts as a lab assistant and open studio monitor in order to stay connected to the art medium she loved most.

After graduating Summa Cum Laude at Georgia State University with a Bachelors in Studio Art in 2006 and eager to remain in a creative environment, Kristin worked any job remotely related to her passion. She began her career at Spruill as the Before and After Care provider for their Summer Camp Program and Camp Instructor. She was quickly offered a part-time position as a Registrars Assistant. After a year in the front office at Spruill she decided to focus her time on teaching beginning jewelry classes to adults and teens. Now teaching up to six classes a week ranging in all levels Kristin also serves as the Department Coordinator at Spruill where her focus is program development and educational outreach.

Kristin works on her art and production by translating her own artistic style through unique one of a kind works of art including small sculptures, mixed media images and sterling silver jewelry with semi-precious stones. As a current instructor, Department Coordinator, and a founding member of Fireball Collective Kristin shares her passion for all things creative with her students, friends and co-workers.

What was your first piece?
The first piece of jewelry I ever made was a ring out of a twist tie from a loaf of white bread. I eat wheat now.

Who are your jewelry heroes?
I am constantly inspired and impressed by my students and friends. They are my everyday heroes. I am amazed at what my students are able to accomplish and overcome by simply taking a few hours a week for themselves. They teach me so much and help me to recognize the importance of patience, versatility, and keeping an open mind.
I am very fortunate to have so many talented artists in my life.

What is your design inspiration?
I get inspiration from the natural world around me, myths, folklore, music, and my son.

What is your favorite part of making jewelry?
My favorite part of making jewelry is experimentation and problem solving how a piece will go together.

What is on your bench now?
Earrings that my son is making out of patterned copper discs.

What is your most indispensable tool?
My most indispensable tool is my imagination.