Crafting Style

In 2011 I started writing a book. "Crafting Your Artistic Voice". A guide for the newly inspired jewelry artist. I sent it to a couple of publishers, got some nice feedback and a couple of rejections, and although I kept at it for a while - eventually lost steam and put the book to bed.

Recently some of my students have brought the topic up in class. How do you find inspiration? How do you know what to make? How do I start? So I thought I'd re-read my original draft to see if any of it was still viable. And I think it is! so I'm gonna give it another go. No  promises when it will be ready. I'm thinking it would be a nice self published e-book. I'll let you know when and where you can access it. But in the meantime - I thought I'd occasionally publish a paragraph or two right here on my blog. All comments will be not only welcome, but extremely helpful.

Small ceramic pot I made in elementary school

Excerpt #1

Everyone has been on the flip side of artistic expression. We’ve been consumers of stuff all of our lives. We’ve bought (or bought into) this or that because:

A. Our families steered us towards a certain way of looking at the world.

B. An ad company was good at their job and convinced us that we really needed their product.

C. Our peers all decided to embrace a certain trend at the same time and we felt compelled to follow along.

OR

D. A particular item struck a chord within us. We related to what the maker infused into their work because we recognized something in its story.

It’s the inspiration we feel when we visit a certain museum, see a particular movie, or save a postcard and tape it to the wall. We do the things we do, and like the things we like, because we have an innate connection to the subject matter.

Some of my home decor

Exersize #1

Go on a scavenger hunt in your own house and community. Use your camera phone to document similar motifs in your home's decor, photograph architectural elements and street art that you're drawn to, and edit shots of favorite works from a local art gallery or museum to focus on small details that grab your attention. Print the images on regular paper and tape them to the walls of your studio space. 

Pendant I made as a class sample. Notice the repetition of the
scroll motif?

You may be surprised, once you gather the images, how similar your current interests are to the motifs you've always been attracted to.