Taking a Stance for the Body!

I view the body as a pedestal; a site organically, specifically, perfectly designed to be adorned with ornament. The exquisiteness of the human form naturally makes jewelry the most communicative form of art. Although no two bodies are designed exactly the same, each person has the anatomy necessary not simply to wear jewelry, but to exhibit these ornaments to the world. As humans we possess an innate almost instinctual desire to adorn ourselves, which can be traced back to the earliest stages of human history. It is our heavenly, flawless design that allows us to display such work seamlessly. Each body part is a stage, set or adorned intentionally by the wearer, for the privileged viewer.

I see my responsibility as a jewelry maker to honor the beauty of the human form and to use it as a blank canvas in order to best present my ideas and my handiwork. The fact that this canvas is a living, breathing person allows jewelry to live in a world that is entirely different from all other art forms; it enters the world in a totally different context that is inherently structured by nature. I think not only about how jewelry will interact with the wearer but also about what type of response it will elicit from the viewer. The uniqueness in jewelry as an art form is that it celebrates the body of the wearer and the mind of the viewer in a way that is sacred! How are humans expected to comprehend the significance and value of jewelry if it is not in relation to the body? Impossible.

Although you cannot choose your body or it’s various parts, you do have the immense power and responsibility to choose how you ornament yourself. What will you wear today? How does the jewelry you wear make you feel? What does the jewelry that other people wear make you think? Everyday we act as wearer and viewer, performer and audience, gallery wall and entrant. Our own jewelry is continuously on display and yet we find ourselves the constant beholder of other peoples adorned bodies, what a gloriously overlooked extravagance! Jewelry is everywhere in a constant state of motion and flux and dually satisfying for the person wearing it and the person watching it.

All of the jewelry that I design and make is specifically intended to be worn in order to ornament the body. Each piece is made for a particular area on the body, which inherently changes the way in which the wearer and the piece negotiate a conversation with the viewer. The pieces enter into and encounter the world through a fleshy portal, the human body of the wearer, and, through a cerebral portal, the human mind of the viewer. It is most important that I continue to design and make with the body constantly and incessantly in mind. The human body is the only plausible site for jewelry. This notion is of the utmost importance to me as a maker.