Since it is Fashion Week here in Kansas City, I deemed it appropriate to showcase this local jeweler whom I am quite fond of. I had the pleasure of using a couple of her pieces for a photo shoot. One of my favorite pieces is the image underneath this body text. I enjoyed hearing where she finds her inspirations and how much love and passion she puts into her craft. The details in her pieces are impeccable. I enjoy finding jewelry that both men and women can wear. I don’t believe in putting barriers of gender when it comes to beautiful, unique and artistic pieces. If you can rock it, ROCK it with confidence. It is always a pleasure to meet people with such a talent to imagine and bring their creations to life.
Artist’s Statement
I am clumsy and often drop things, ask anyone who knows me. I do not enjoy meticulous straight cuts, or find passion coloring within lines. I often embrace my own flaws in my work. I use heavy textures, scar the surface so that if the piece is ever dropped and/or scratched there is no loss of value. Rather, it adds new character and meaning.
A few years ago I made a wedding band, it was cast sterling silver with fine silver inlay. Over time the silver will turn dark with tarnish, but .999 fine silver will stay white. The fine silver inlay on the wedding band will become increasingly visible over the years, mirroring the age of the relationship. I utilize the natural behavior of the materials to enhance and embrace the character in the work. My porcelain pieces are significantly more fragile than other materials, and the forms I am able to make are unlike the others. This fragility is a difficult characteristic to fully embrace. I do not want to accidentally destroy a porcelain piece while in the making, or firing process. More effort is taken in the initial phases to prevent this from happening. My clumsy self can drop a metal ring at any point and 99% of the time be able to make repairs, if the porcelain piece drops, 90% I start over. Ultimately working in porcelain takes more care and patience. The broken and missing pieces cannot be replaced or even repaired, so I create work that allows for the mishaps and accidents. The only person requiring my work to be perfect is myself and I have accepted that it will never be perfect. I welcome the diverse organic qualities my work ultimately possess.
Exposing myself to nature is where I find my inspiration. Leaves, seed pods, and rocks are easily accessible, although I research other forms of life like marine creatures and corals. Every organism in nature, in theory, is perfect until closer inspection and nothing is perfect, every specimen is unique. Examining organic specimens, and seeing their different flaws is inspiring to me. I create and design from my mental catalog of the specimens I have examined, and with technical solutions. I love combining multiple pieces to create a whole. Using hundreds of tiny silver balls fused on the surface of silver, to creating hundreds of porcelain coils to make a necklace. These many small elements accumulate and ultimately become one.
See the remainder of Samantha McPherson’s work here: Jewelry Designer in Kansas City
