In 2020 I made a drastic change to my jewellery business and craft that was a much needed response to my own personal creative needs. After nearly 15 years of working with metals and wire I turned my hand to using paper to carve out a new branch of my artistic journey.
Speaking from my own perspective: being an artist has to be about constant learning. This is true for life in general I suppose, I would like to think that we all have a desire to learn from others and improve, whether that be a skill or flaws in our personality.
Each painting, burnt drawing or jewellery design I make has to feel part of a progressive journey. I need it to feed the hunger left from the previous work I create. Every creation is in effect an invention and just raises more questions and more ideas that I feel I need to perfect in my next piece. It is this hunger to improve and make perfect what you discover along the way that motivates me. Remember those feedback appraisal questions you were asked at college or work? -: What went well? What didn’t go well? What would you do differently? This may go to explain why I never make two of the same thing – each design for me has to be different or there is no learning and no development. Needless to say, I have always hated making earings as I’d need two identical pieces which I find tedious to do.
Art is about creative progression. Sometimes this progression comes very naturally, and other times I feel static and stuck and this is exactly why I made the choice to leave working with metals behind. I felt I had come as far as I could using the tools and the space I had available. Believe me, boredom is not a good place to feel your most creative!
I also found that I stopped wearing my own designs and the colour changes in my ageing olive complexion meant I didn’t suit warm copper tones anymore. I wanted to make jewellery I could wear – designs that lifted my skin, brightened my mood and injected some quirky fun into my wardrobe.
I am not sure how my Wire Moon followers feel about this departure from the world of wirework, I know some were devastated and others fully supportive. However, unless I believe, enjoy and love what I create there really is no point in creating at all! I have chosen to follow my heart and considering that we feel and think a whole multitude of emotions each and every day, it is only natural that our artwork will shift and reflect those moods and variations.
The work I do with paper is in its infant stages and this fills me with excitement. There are many design ideas yet to emerge and many skills, mediums, glues, tools, colour combinations to explore. If you’re interested to see how my journey has begun my paper jewellery is currently available in my Etsy Shop, and you can view a selection of these works in my portfoilo