118 - “Week 10”, Collaborative Jewelry, Sam Clark, Kat Cole, Ana M. Lopez, Value: $350

• ARTISTS Sam Clark, Kat Cole, Ana M. Lopez
• TITLE "Week 10" Collaborative Jewelry
• MEDIA Steel etching, enamel, chain
• DIMENSION Pendant: 3" w; Chain: 16" l
• VALUE $350

arrowmont.org/visit/events/meet-the-artists

Sam Clark

I grew up on a farm to the west of Taihape, New Zealand. There was a large garden surrounding our home and there were always Bellbirds and Tui in the wattle trees and kereru in the tree Lucerne. I was brought up surrounded by nature, and my life has been shaped by it as a result. The skeletal, ethereal look of my artworks is an acknowledgement of this, and symbolism associated with Tangata O Whenua (the first people to inhabit New Zealand) shows how important the birds once were to humans.

samclark.co.nz

Kat Cole

Kat Cole is a studio artist in Dallas, TX.  Cole received her MFA at East Carolina University and BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University.  She is co-founder of the online and pop-up project Jewelry Edition and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Society for North American Goldsmiths. Kat Cole’s work is internationally recognized and has been published in Lark Books’ 500 Enameled Objects, Schiffer Publishing’s Art Jewelry Today 3, Metalsmith Magazine, Ornament, American Craft and Art Jewelry Magazine. Her work is in private and public collections including The Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, Racine Art Museum and Houston Museum of Fine Art.

Her one-of-a-kind work is sold online and in stores at Jewelry Edition (online only), Pistachios Chicago IL, Mora Jewelry Asheville NC, Form + Concept Santa Fe NM, Penland Gallery Penland NC, Quirk Gallery Richmond VA, The Nasher Store Dallas TX, and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Houston TX.

"I find meaning through the observance and intimate awareness of the places I inhabit. With each geographic change, I have become more attuned to the natural and man-made attributes that make a location unique.  I look to the built environment of the city where I live for the formal qualities of my work: materials, forms, color and surface quality. The steel and concrete structures that surround us are evidence of human inhabitants- past and present.   Monumental structures are interpreted into the intimate scale of jewelry and are completed when worn on the landscape of the body.

My work is made from porcelain enamel and steel, both predominantly used on an industrial scale.  These materials are used to make small, one-of-a-kind objects-  allowing for unusual and light-weight forms in jewelry and makes the translation into sculpture more achievable.  The use of vitreous porcelain enamel fired onto the surface of hollow fabricated steel creates unique surfaces, color and depth."

kat-cole.com

Ana M. Lopez

Ana M. Lopez is an associate professor of metalsmithing and jewelry at the University of North Texas. She holds an MFA in Metalsmithing from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and an MA in the History of American Decorative Arts from The Smithsonian Associates and Parsons School of Design. Lopez is the author of the reference book Metalworking Through History: An Encyclopedia, as well as numerous scholarly articles and presentations.

anamlopez.com  ·  Arrowmont Connections