Brought to you by the letters D, F and the number 3

Created entirely with "F"s.



Another fabulous week of creating.  In a different gear this week though, we shifted to desks and pencils and paper (initially) for a week of Design.  What a fabulous instructor we had: Sarah Troper is infinitely patient and encouraging.  (http://www.sarahtroper.com/index.html You should check out her work.  I love her Wonder series!)  Anyhoo, it was a bit of a mental shift to change from "create, create, create, we only have a week", to "slow down, sketch, develop the idea, sketch some more, rethink, evaluate, assess, alter" and then create.  Still no silver this week, all our creations were of the paper or alternative materials.  Sorry, I have no shiny baubles to show you this post!  We explored how to avoid making the first idea that popped to mind, instead working with lines, and shapes, creating interesting designs with no immediate jewellery piece intended.  Only then did we find sources of inspiration from within those designs and begin working with them to create ideas for rings, pendants, bracelets, etc.  Through very creative assignments and excellent powerpoints showing the work of other jewellers utilizing a particular design theme, I came away with a greater appreciation for the work involved in the process of design, rather than expecting inspiration to be a lightbulb moment in my head.  It is an immense relief to have discovered tools to kickstart new ideas if (when?!) I hit a creative wall, as well as ways to stretch my current designs into new directions.

So I thought I'd share some of the jewellers Sarah introduced us to in order to illustrate some of the elements of design we covered this week.

To illustrate the value in repetition:

Tara Donovan, working with disposable cups and paper plates:

         

http://www.acegallery.net/

and Lily Yung:

    

http://www.lilyyung.com/diecut.html

In discussing working with representational forms:

Andree Wejsmann:

    

http://www.softdogstudios.ca/index.html

In discussing emotional/communicative jewellery:

Elizabeth Yarborough:

http://www.yarboroughjewelry.com/three.html

Gabriela Feldentrager:

http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/poorjewelry_1.html

Katjz Korsawe:

http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/poorjewelry_4.html

Thea Tolsma, working with bicycle inner tubes (!):

http://joiabr.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

Some very interesting work by some very inspired artists!  Next week we're onto Surface Design and Art History.  I'm looking forward to delving into patinas!  Until then, a bit of skiing, a poke around the thrift store here with some classmates, and some relaxing with the deer.