Polly Wales and Jo Hayes Ward

Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, California, USA 

Missy Graff for Art Jewelry Forum

Opulence was on display from February 4–24 at Shibumi Gallery, located in Berkeley, California, USA. This exhibition featured works by two British jewelry artists—Polly Wales and Jo Hayes Ward. In this interview, Polly and Jo provide us with insight about their process and the concept behind their pieces. 

Missy Graff: Please tell me about your background. How did you become interested in making jewelry? 

Polly Wales: I initially studied sculpture, but I couldn't really come to grips with the convoluted language of fine art. It felt so removed. After a few years, I wasn’t sure why I was trying to communicate in what felt like such an indirect form. A few years later, my passion for making drove me back to the university, where I studied jewelry. I loved making for making's sake and making decisions from an aesthetic viewpoint rather than a totally intellectualized one. That said, for the first few years of my jewelry career I was still in pursuit of marrying the two, and it was while I was studying at the Royal College of Art (alongside Jo Hayes Ward) that I began my investigation into casting materials together. I was making jewelry that never had a perfect moment; a moment of shiny newness that heralded, somehow, the beginning of the end; or jewelry that demanded to be kept pristine, polished, and safeguarded. So, I started casting stones inside the metal, creating pieces that always had unique outcomes, and if worn forever and a day, would always be changing and revealing something new, the gold wearing away to reveal the stones buried within. This process became the backbone of my work.

Jo Hayes Ward: I have been making since I was a child. I started making jewelry out of wire and beads using my dad's soldering iron when I was about twelve. Years later, I learned metalwork and silversmithing at art school. I didn't actually make any jewelry until I began working as an assistant with three different London jewelers. This was an invaluable experience that led me to do a masters in goldsmithing at the Royal College of Art in 2004. Upon graduating, I launched my first fine jewelry collection.

Can you please describe the work you are presenting at Shibumi Gallery? 

Polly Wales: The pieces that I am showing at Shibumi are a selection from my Classic Crystal Collection, which have stones cast throughout. I also included some of my newer diamond and bridal pieces.

Jo Hayes Wards: I am presenting large structural rings and pendants constructed from hundreds of minute cubic or hexagonal units. Due to the faceting and textures on the units, the pieces catch the light in quite an unusual way and really come alive when worn. Also on display are interlocking hex rings in three shades of gold, again built from a shimmering pattern of angled hexagonal units and set with diamonds.

Jo, your jewelry reflects a geometric and digital aesthetic. What drew you to this style? How does this distinguish you from other artists in the field? Who are your major influences?

Jo Hayes Ward I love to build things, which is essentially what I do when designing jewelry. Early in my career, I discovered Computer Aided Design (CAD). I used it simply because I was unable to achieve the intricate and complex pieces that I wanted to make by hand. I now use 3D computer modeling programs and 3D printing as tools to craft much of my work. My influences are the artists Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt, among others.

Polly, your pieces have an eroded look. What inspires your work?

Polly Wales: The look of the pieces was really an outcome of my experimental investigation into creating new materials. I wanted to create materials that change and evolve as you wear them. That process, in itself, became my sole pursuit. The aesthetic is very much defined by the process of casting the stones in place. It’s a pretty high risk and crazy way to work. I’m always trying to refine what I do and push what is possible at the same time.

Polly, who are your major influences? When I look at the images, I gather they are an eclectic mix of ancient and modern.

Polly Wales: I love Byzantine jewelry, Indian jewelry, and like every British jeweler, I am currently fascinated with the Cheapside Hoard. The women who wear my jewelry have also played a major role in how the collections have evolved. The work has been influenced by seeing how women wear it and live in it.

Were you familiar with each other’s jewelry before being chosen for this exhibition? Do you see any connections between your works? 

Polly Wales: Jo is one of my best friends! What we have is pretty unique. We have travelled parallel paths through our careers since we first met at the RCA. However, our work is so different that there has never been anything we haven't been able to share with each other. Jo's work is about meticulous thought and consideration. Everything in her work is exact. The outcomes are defined before leaving the computer screen. On the flipside, my work invites chaos at every step of the way, from making the waxes to the casting. I don't know what will come out until it's finished in front of me. All that said, I think we marry up pretty well. How well our jewelry sits together sums up our friendship nicely!

Jo Hayes Ward: Yes! We met 10 years ago on the first day of college at the RCA, and we have been best mates ever since! At face value, the aesthetics of our works are very different, but I think we tackle similar themes, and we both work with intricate detail and strive to make unique wearable treasures. I love what Polly does. We offer great support to each other.

Can you please tell me about the British jewelry community? Would you describe it as active? 

Polly Wales: We have a unique jewelry culture, and it is reflected in our jewelry community. It’s much smaller than elsewhere, and British women do not buy much fine jewelry for themselves. Stepping outside of the UK has been very liberating. It has given me so much freedom. I have found an amazing amount of support and friendship in the US, and that is where I feel like part of a community.

Jo Hayes Ward: There are a lot of very interesting and fantastic designers involved, but the market in the UK is very small and fairly conservative. Over the past couple of years, I have been part of a group called the Rock Vault. We show new work twice a year at London’s Fashion Week. The work is curated by the jewelry designer Stephen Webster and The British Fashion Council. The idea is to make fine jewelry from London more visible in the fashion industry. The venture has given me and the 10 or so other designers a great deal of international exposure. Last summer, we all exhibited at the Couture show in Las Vegas, something I am planning to do again this year. 

What are you reading that you can recommend? 

Polly Wales: It's been three years since I have read anything of substance. I will start again soon!

Jo Hayes Ward: Nothing right now. There is no time between running the business and family life. I have a two-and-a-half-year old plus a three-month old who keep me busy day and night!

Thank you.

Original article from the AJF blog can be found at:

http://www.artjewelryforum.org/ajf-blog/missy-graff/polly-wales-and-jo-hayes-ward

Singular, Organic, Illuminated: Conversations With Anzfer Farms

interview by Elka Karl 

photo: Jonpaul Douglass

While Anzfer Farms, the experimental design workshop founded by Jonathan Anzalone and Joseph Ferriso, now calls the Outer Richmond district of San Francisco home, its original location was a bit more rural. Bucolic, one might even say. Back in 2009, the workshop was located in a tumbling-down cattle barn on a ranch near Port Costa, CA.

“We were basically squatting in a barn where the roof had somewhat collapsed, and the farmer had to keep it boarded up to keep the cows out. I lifted up the roof but kept the boards as they were,” explains John.

“We had a straw floor,” Joe says.

Adding the word Farms to Anzfer — a mashup of the duo’s last names — seemed fitting, given the workshop’s original location and its mission. “We didn’t know what we’d be making. It wasn’t lighting so much then as it was experimental furniture. We liked the idea of being able to go in any direction,” Jon notes.

“And ‘Farms‘ has that quality to it,” interjects Joe.

“The idea of ‘something’s going to grow here.’” finishes Jon.

That the duo finishes each other’s sentences, helping to shape and grow the trajectory of a conversation, should come as no surprise, given Jon and Joe’s design process. In no small part are Anzfer Farms’s lighting designs a direct reflection of Jon and Joe’s personal relationship. Each light is a bespoke testament to Anzfer Farms’s dedication to slow design, to listening to what each piece has to say, and how it needs to be sculpted and transformed.

“People are excited about the lamps, but it doesn’t seem like something we could scale huge. Each work is an intimate work, there’s no real production,” Joe explains. “Even for the show [at Shibumi], we were busy making each lamp over a process of weeks, months, of gathering material. We’re excited the attention is there, but it’s not something we could duplicate. Every one is unique. We’re still making one-of-a-kind sculptural pieces.”

“We can’t hire someone to make them,” says Jon. “Drilling is such a big part of it. Proportions, balance, it’s quite sensitive. I could say, ‘Joe, I found this branch, wire it,’ and I know I’d be satisfied. But there’s no one else I could have do that.”

“We’re trusting each other,” Joe says. “Rarely are we making a lamp on our own.”

The two have a long personal history, having grown up together in the same small town in Long Island. They’ve been collaborating on and off over the years since middle school, and are both painters by training. Anzfer Farms was founded on less-than-a-shoestring budget after the two separately moved to San Francisco. In fact, the lack of budget was the genesis for the organic, sculptural lamps the two have become known for.

“When Joe and I started working together we had no budget to buy materials. In this area there’s an abundance of high quality materials, redwood for example. A lot of this old growth material is very stable, it behaves really well, it’s acclimated to this environment, so it’s a pleasure to work with,” explains Jon. “It doesn’t warp, twist, crack . . . all of the things that could be problems with new materials. It also has an inherent previous life that comes through and I think all of that just adds to the starting point.”

Reclaimed timber led naturally to the use of driftwood, which the two would find washed up on the beaches near their home. Limiting the idea of reclaimed materials to something that had been already milled was counterintuitive to Anzfer Farms’s mission of discovery and experimentation. They were attracted to the driftwood’s naturally weathered look, its patina, texture, and patterning.

“We’d bring it into the studio and look at it for its sculptural qualities and the gestures and really try to listen closely to what the driftwood was saying,” notes Joe.

Make no mistake, however, this is no throwback to a hippie decorating moment. Instead, it is a very modern interpretation of the use of driftwood and reclaimed timber. Of special note is the way Anzfer Farms simultaneously complement and contrast the organic nature of the driftwood by pairing it with materials such as oversized bulbs and geometrically cut walnut bases — materials with a very high degree of regularity.

Some of the taller floor pieces, which reach upwards of eight feet tall, may strike the casual observer as nearly impossible to wire, but Joe and Jon assert that this part of the design process is the most fun for them, reminiscent of a good game of pool. Using a long drill bit, the pair work together to aim, triangulate, drill, and weave wiring through the length of branch.

“We’re not hiding anything,” says Jon. “It’s a formula that works that’s very organic. It doesn’t disrespect the branch at all; it’s more in collaboration with it. That’s a big part of our process, listening to the branch and collaborating with it, listening to each other and stepping back and saying, ‘What does this branch want, and what do we want to see in it?’”

Indeed, so much of Anzfer Farms’s work is about a conversation. Whether these conversations occur between designer and designer, designer and branch, or light and painting, it is one they listen to and learn from. The two have noted that their work as painters, furniture makers, and lighting designers inform and influence each part of their lives and each work they collaborate upon. It’s an overlapping conversation that has led to undeniably singular and beautiful works, and a conversation we hope will be added to for decades to come.

Anzfer Farms’s show, Light Fiction, which also features the jewelry of Llisa Hashimoto, runs through November 30th at Shibumi Gallery.

Geologica : Brigid O'Hanrahan at Shibumi Gallery

An interview by Susan Cummins for the Art Jewelry Forum

28 June 2012

Geologica: Brigid O'Hanrahan

Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, CA

April Higashi is a jeweler who opened a lovely intimate gallery called Shibumi in Berkeley, California, a number of years ago. I know her to be industrious and thoughtful, which is reflected in the work she does as well in how she has structured her life and her gallery. She is lots of fun, a woman of many talents and has a good time making things work in her life. At the moment she is having a show called Geologica by Brigid O’Hanrahan, who works in both porcelain and metal and often combines the two in her jewelry. Her sensitive rings and brooches give you a hint of her shy nature.
Susan Cummins: I know we have worked together in the past, but please refresh my memory about how you got to be the owner of a jewelry gallery.
April Higashi: I’ve been making jewelry for twenty years. Even in the beginning when I was first starting to make jewelry, I always thought about how it would be shown, grouped together or how it could be worn. When I worked at your gallery (Susan Cummins Gallery, Mill Valley, California) you instilled in me the importance of thought, idea and craftsmanship in each piece. While there, I realized how much I enjoyed aesthetically arranging and grouping the work. I also realized during that time how much I liked working directly with clients. So I knew I would enjoy curating a gallery. When my husband and I were looking to buy a house we found a building that was zoned for partial commercial use. The space was large enough to have both a workshop/studio and a gallery on the bottom floor. With this set up I felt I could continue to be a jewelry maker as well as take on a new role as curator and gallery owner. Originally I was thinking I would only do the gallery part-time. The reality, however, is that I have ended up creating two full-time jobs for myself. Fortunately I am a good delegator and so I have also ‘curated’ an amazing creative team to help me.
Is it just a jewelry gallery or do you show other things as well?
April Higashi: The focus of the gallery is contemporary art jewelry with some three-dimensional work. My husband is a sculptor and we show his work as well as work by other sculptors. I also show a few select clothing designers whose work is one-off or limited quantities and who come from a more hands-on background in textiles. I think it’s interesting to try to get people who wear artful clothing to wear artful jewelry. The link is actually not obvious to most of my clients, which surprised me. Occasionally I do show paintings and flat or two-dimensional art, but it is usually to compliment the aesthetic and feeling of one of the jewelry shows.
How is it working for you to have your home, studio and gallery in one place?
April Higashi: I would say that we are the true example of integrating LIFE + WORK. We have a two year old and the only way I could do as much as I do and be a mother is because he is just a floor away from it all. So mostly I like it. But there are days that I want to get away from it. For that, I travel.
In 2009, while I was pregnant, I was hoping to refresh my vision of the gallery before I had my baby. I went to the American Craft Council conference, Creating A New Craft Culture. Elissa Author shared many examples of the 1960s studio artist movement and quite a few of those artists were from California and the West. What struck me was that the artists of that era were committed to their artwork and studio practices from the perspective of a lifestyle. Which doesn’t really seem to be the case anymore. I like to think about George Nakashima and his commitment to this lifestyle. His life revolved around making his work and there are photos of his son sitting at one of his tables doing his homework right alongside him. I also really like that my son, Ando, is being raised around all this making and thinking it’s normal. He already loves sitting at the goldsmith bench and pretends to work away. The other day he left an intertwined mound of hammers on the floor in the studio and said, ‘Mama don’t touch, Ando’s sculpture.’
Often the integration of life and work seems to continue more out of necessity than choice. I have to devote time to making new pieces and evolving as an artist in order to make a living. But I am happy to be reminded that it is a choice I’ve made and the lifestyle I have chosen.
What are the criteria you use to find artists work for the gallery?
April Higashi: I find artists to show at Shibumi Gallery through both my working and social relationships. Usually we meet at shows or because I’m so immersed in the art jewelry world our paths will inevitably cross at some point. On occasion I see a piece of work that makes me track down an artist.
I tend to choose work by jewelers who I feel are both artists and visionaries. They are usually professional, mid-career artists who are committed to making and selling work but have also have never given up on their own creative vision. Because my life and work are so integrated it is not surprising that when I like an artist’s work I usually also like the person and we often become friends.
It’s important for me to represent people I believe in and whose perspective I respect. I show around 40 artists and I have been told that there is an overlapping aesthetic among the artists I show. It is also important to me that they are craftspeople and makers, not just designers who work on the computer or paper. I like artists who pull ideas from the depths of themselves and don’t just follow trends. To me this often ensures that their work will continue evolving in new and interesting directions.
Who are your clients?
April Higashi: My clients are artistically minded, usually non-traditional, critical thinkers, often leading an ‘individualistic’ lifestyle. They are people who value work that is thoughtfully crafted, beautiful and has been created with an artistic vision. Generally my clients are people in their 30s to 50s with a career in the world of art and design or social services and humanities. If they are older they are people I would describe as ‘ageless,’ meaning you would often guess them to be much younger because of their spirit and attitude. They seek out beautiful or unique pieces not to impress others but because they have a personal affinity with the piece. And in most cases my clients are people I would enjoy seeing or being around outside of the gallery.
Do you feel that the field of art jewelry has established a market place or do you thing we should take Garth Clark’s advise and hitch our wagon to design?
April Higashi: That is a hard question. I feel like how we view ourselves and our work is what creates a market. Although I probably say this because I don’t want to give up on an artful jewelry approach and become a commercial jeweler. I do think, Susan, you’ve done a lot for the art jewelry world. And working with you definitely inspired my perspective.
In saying that I want to show ‘contemporary art jewelry,’ I don’t mean I want to be linked to the fine art world. I think jewelers who make work that they consider ‘fine art’ should make sculpture. And I also believe it’s a good idea to move the image of art jewelry away from the ‘wearable art’ movement. To me jewelry should be artful, wearable and aesthetically appealing. I prefer the idea of art jewelry being linked to the ‘applied arts’ movement.
As to Garth’s suggestion that we give up and hitch craft to design, I disagree. I don’t think we should be linked with designers who don’t come from a background of ‘making’ or of craftsmanship. I think there is often a very big difference between ‘makers’ and designers.
But ultimately what it comes down to for me is this: there are few great artists and many mediocre artists and that is where I draw the line with my gallery. I’m looking for fine art, craft and design. And I’m looking for quality, dedication and a creative vision. Many artists have some or even most of these qualities, but very few have all of these qualities.
Thank you, April. Now I am going to ask some questions of Brigid  O’Hanrahan, whose show Geologica is currently on show in the gallery. Can you tell me how you became a jeweler?
Brigid O'Hanrahan: I was at San Francisco State (a chemistry major) and I started making earrings in the form of electron clouds, made from wire and beads. I sold my first earrings at Nannys, a great jewelry store on lower Grant. Later I met Sammy Gee, who had a jewelry shop on upper Grant and he showed me how to work with lost wax and casting. When I moved to Los Angeles, I started taking metals classes at Cal State Northridge and completed a masters in metals (both jewelry and objects) with Arline Fisch at San Diego State.
You were a teacher for many years at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. When did you retire and move to California? How are you doing there?
Brigid O'Hanrahan: In retrospect I wouldn't recommend two major changes at the same time – it was overwhelming! I'm glad to be back, but miss my dear friends in Philadelphia and the ease of getting around to see people and events.
Do you miss teaching? What was your favorite assignment?   
Brigid O'Hanrahan: I loved teaching metals, especially beginning classes, but after teaching almost 30 years I was ready to let someone else bring their ideas to the students. At this point in my life I want to focus on my own work.
My favorite assignment was the first one. It was to saw out something no larger than 2 x 3 inches in any direction that 'looked right' without drawing on the metal. They were to make it into a pin or key-chain ornament using sawing, filing and soldering and wear it when leaving class – and they were great!
Your work often combines a white-pitted porcelain and gold or silver.   How did you come to use this combination of materials? Are there historical precedents?
Brigid O'Hanrahan: The porcelain pieces have several sources: Chinese bowls that appear to have rice shapes burned out in the firing and then filled with transparent glaze and fired; a friend introducing me to making small cups by hand out of porcelain; and being part of the New Works retreats at Haystack for faculty who have taught there to experiment with new ideas and materials. I can't think of any precedents for using clay as a stone set in gold, but I love the color combination and the ability to have a large stone in a ring that is about shape on the hand.
Rings seem to be your thing. Do you want to discuss a little about how you make them and what you are after with your designs?
Brigid O'Hanrahan: I think of rings as being miniature abstract paintings. They usually are of 18-karat or 22-karat gold which are alloys that will change shape to some extent in response to being worn. So I see the rings as a collaboration between the maker and the wearer. While I do enjoy making rings, they are only part of what gets my attention. I also have a strong interest in making bowls, spoons and small cups, both in metal and in porcelain, all of which are represented in the exhibition at Shibumi. The metal cups started with conversations two friends and I would have at jazz nights at a local club, just casual but fun. I made the cups in sets of two or three in related shapes but with a variation in the sizes in response to the different people. The porcelain cups are related to both conversations between friends and also to the Japanese tea ceremony and the focus on and enjoyment of basic pleasures.
 You titled your show Geologica. Could you explain?      
Brigid O'Hanrahan: The title refers to a group of objects that are based on geological forms. The show consists of jewelry, small sake cups and silver bowls made from porcelain, clay, silver, gold and semiprecious and precious stones. The title suggests (I hope) of or from the earth.
What are you reading currently?
Brigid O'Hanrahan: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, informal talks of Zen meditation and practice by Shunryu Suzuki and To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.
Wow, pretty heavy reading . . . What is your favorite book on jewelry?     
Brigid O'Hanrahan: If I have to choose one it would be Brooching It Diplomatically: A Tribute to Madeleine K. Albright, a catalogue of the exhibit by that name curated by Helen Drutt in 1998. Madeleine Albright is brilliant in demonstrating how a partnership between a wearer and a piece of jewelry can set the stage for a conversation.
Other books I love are Partytime by Robert Baines, Navajo Spoons by Cindra Kline and Breon O'Casey by Brian Fallon.
Do you go the theater or movies and if so can you recommend a recent one you enjoyed?      
Brigid O'Hanrahan: A movie:  Jiro Dreams of Sushi, I loved it!
You say, ‘I am drawn to the simplicity and beauty of everyday actions, and make objects which shift attention to the activity of use, making the object both functional and ceremonial.’ Can you explain a bit more about how you see the ceremonial and the functional relating?
Brigid O'Hanrahan: This hard for me to explain and relates to my reading about Zen approaches to actions. In the process of learning about working with metal I have been interested in and learned to use lots of processes – photoetching, electroforming, working with lathes, milling machines, computer operated machines – and what I enjoy (maybe value is a better word) the most are hand processes like sawing, filing, soldering, hammering, sanding. I like to make translucent porcelain sake cups (and other things) because I think of the people who will have a conversation while holding them and sipping something – sake, tea, whatever. I want to make opportunities for conversations to happen because I want to have more conversations myself, something I usually feel awkward doing.
Would you say you are shy and that the ceremonial use of jewelry or cups helps you to feel more comfortable having a conversation?
Brigid O'Hanrahan: I'm laughing! Absolutely shy!

The Art Jewelry Forum is a group of supporters, artists, galleries that support and promote contemporary art. Read the article here and find out more about the organization. 

http://www.artjewelryforum.org/ajf-blog/geologica-brigid-ohanrahan

Visual Cadence: Elisa Bongfeldt and Chris Neff at Shibumi Gallery

 review by Elka Karl

At first glance, jewelry makers Elisa Bongfeldt and Chris Neff, featured in Shibumi Gallery’s current show, Visual Cadence, share many common factors: extensive use of oxidized silver; a near-obsession with repetition of simple forms, and a surprisingly gender-ambiguous aesthetic. The more compelling story, however, isn’t in the shared qualities of the work, but in how these two artists and their work diverge.
Berkeley-based Elisa Bongfeldt creates her jewelry pieces using a mix of 22 karat bimetal and sterling silver tubing, resulting in pieces that are decidedly forward-looking, modern, and minimalist in nature.

When Bongfeldt does add stones to her work, her careful selection and placement of the diamonds, sapphires, or pearls she commonly uses creates a distinctive look, such as in her Open Circles with Diamonds Ring, which combines oxidized silver with five 1.5 mm white diamonds. This ring showcases this most feminine of stones in a pared down interpretation of a floral pattern. The minimalist floral, rendered in oxidized silver, creates a handsome juxtaposition with the diminutive polished stones.

About 10 years ago, Bongfeldt began using 22 karat gold bimetal in her work. “It was a more inexpensive way to use gold without making solid gold pieces,” she explains. The contrast between the 22 karat gold bimetal and the oxidized silver possesses an undeniable frisson, adding a compelling element to the collection.

While the majority of jewelry collections target a female audience, Bongfeldt’s pieces are pleasingly gender ambiguous. Bongfeldt admits that she has never favored traditional jewelry, explaining, “I suppose I have never liked overtly feminine jewelry. I'm very interested in other forms of design (such as furniture and lighting), and perhaps not making feminine jewelry reflects that. Or perhaps it's more a love of minimal design than anything else? A bit less embellished...I've always looked at very opulent jewelry more for the structures of the pieces and sculptural qualities.”

Bongfeldt earned a degree in metal arts from CCA, and then established a studio in Berkeley. The accomplished jeweler was invited to the Smithsonian Annual show in 2005 and 2008. When asked about her influences, Bongfeldt cites Norwegian jewelry artist Tone Vigeland as an inspiration, noting “I think what got me about Tone's work was the simpleness of it — easy techniques to master, but done over and over you get these very complex and interesting forms.” This reverence for repeated, complex forms and patterns is perfectly exemplified in Bongfeldt’s current collection by pieces such as her Large Sapphire Stacked Circle Necklace, which boasts 34 1.2 mm blue sapphires set in oxidized silver.

While Elisa Bongfeldt’s jewelry designs are arguably her most defining characteristic as an artist, Oakland-based goldsmith and jeweler Chris Neff has always self identified as a craftsman with a major focus on fabrication.

Neff began his career while still in high school, apprenticing with a jewelry maker in Cincinatti, Ohio. At San Francisco’s Revere Academy, he studied jewelry fabrication, and over the last two years 85 percent of his work has focused on stone setting. “People come to me with the complicated projects that other people turn down,” Neff notes. “One of the things I really enjoy is being able to reproduce the same bead size in metal and in each stone — if for instance there’s 40 stones, one little slip and you break a stone. There’s very, very little room for error. There’s no room to recover from most mistakes. That’s what appeals to me.”
In the current show, Neff’s obsession with working with dozens of intricate stones is exemplified in his Quatrefoil Pendant, which is one of his favorite pieces in the show. The piece required extensive fabrication work on the lathe for milling out the arches in the pattern, as well as almost three dozen black rose cut diamonds set into the oxidized silver and 18 karat gold metal.

Nearly all of Neff’s jewelry work is based on a factor of six or a spacing of 15, 30, or 60 degrees. Neff notes that this design is influenced largely by the fact that milling reproduces those angles exactly, with more options present in a factor of six than a factor of four or five. “The angles break down really nicely,” he explains.

Neff’s interest in design has grown in the past two years, spurred in part by the goal to show a small collection and launch a website of his own by the time he turned 30. The thirty-one-year-old Neff, whose fabrication skills are decades beyond his physical age, has accomplished both goals in admirable fashion.
Unlike Bongfeldt, whose designs favor a more industrial-influenced or overtly modern look, Neff’s designs look back sometimes centuries or more for inspiration. The Globe Ring in the current show was inspired by a 19th century ring; Neff then used modern fabrication techniques to re-create the inspiration piece as crisply and perfectly as possible.

While Bongfeldt’s work showcases a repetition of circle patterns, several of Neff’s pieces incorporate an oxbow pattern, which he first saw in a 1908 Sears catalog illustration. Like many of his patterns, this one is deceptively simple. The curve and taper in the oxbow has to be replicated perfectly, or the entire piece looks unbalanced.

Neff notes that while the oxbow and other simple patterns may not be groundbreaking shapes, “[T]o mill it out that small and to get the curves right and the shapes right is challenging. That’s where I get really nerdy.”
For Neff, this challenge means that he relies on more analog methods to create his work. Computer programs are much too easy of an option, and he prefers to know — and master — every step of the fabrication process. Neff noted that when he overheard a guest at the show opening hypothesize that one of Neff’s pieces must have been made with CAD, he had to let him know about the backstory on the piece, including the absence of computer-aided design or drafting. For Neff, the design is important in his work, but on equal footing is process. “When I get to my studio and sit down there’s a shift that happens. My everyday life is so quickly paced. I love to put blinders on and slow down.”
Elisa Bongfeldt and Chris Neff’s show, Visual Cadence, runs through September 30th at Shibumi Gallery.

Sea and Sky: April Higashi and Aondrea Maynard

Review by Ahna Adair

April Higashi has made her name on her skillful and organic style of enameling. Building layers of color in a painterly fashion she creates small and wearable artworks rooted in a reverence for nature. Conversely, Aondrea Maynard paints large canvases in which she distills moments unseen yet present in the natural world around us. A smart pairing, the show “Sea & Sky” is a look at the evocative ways in which artists become inspired by the natural world and their relationship to it. Each artist, though very different in chosen medium and scale, is working from a deep and intuitive place, attempting to assign materiality to the intangible realm of experience.

'Ma' Brooch: painted enamel, diamond slices, 18kyg, oxidized silver

Higashi is currently navigating the challenges of new motherhood, owning and operating a gallery and continuing an art practice of her own. Despite this hectic work environment, her new collection has a sense of peace and stillness. A subtle shift has occurred in her enamels as vibrant patterns spread over the whole surface have been left behind for a more sparse imagery with soft white backgrounds. “Ma” Brooch (painted enamel, oxidized silver, 18k yellow gold, and diamond slices) exhibits a single bare branch, rendered fuzzy as if seen through thick fog. About this new aesthetic Higashi says, “I wanted to arrive at a subtle beauty that gives the viewer a sense of calm. This quiet place is a space that I crave, even if only enjoyed for the smallest moments.” These new enamels are small homages to the awe-inspiring effect of nature. Perhaps by pointing our gaze at artwork instilled with this awe we may be able to steel a moment away from the busy, overscheduled day to day.

'Shiro' Brooch: fossilized coral, black diamonds, 24&18k gold

Higashi’s reverence for nature comes through in not only the imagery painted on her enamels but the materials she uses as well. Shiro Brooch (fossilized coral, black diamonds, 24&18k gold) offers the viewer a relic from the past. Embellished very sparingly with a faux branch reproduced from gold and set with black diamonds gives the piece a feeling of elaborate repair. Like many jewelers, Higashi works with precious metals, stones and pearls. Always careful to use only those that are responsible and sustainable, her eye falls on the peculiar. The pearls, stones and other precious materials seen in this show shed light on her special interest in the beauty of imperfection. Those things that nature makes sub-par or irregular, according to market standards, are the very materials that she covets. The asymmetry of a branch of fossilized coral, a domé pearl originally used as a test to make cultured pearls, and raw diamonds mined decades ago to make industrial tools hold the spotlight in this extensive body of new work.

Lover, 2011: oil on wood panel, 22" x 60"

Aondrea Maynard’s paintings are at once beautiful and haunting. Capturing the liminal, she creates a visual language for the moments that happen in between what we might consider regular and documentable events. In many of her paintings, namely Lover (oil on wood), light and color are a strong focus and occupy the canvas with as much weight as line and shape. What looks like puffs of smoke, upward moving steam, and currents of air are rendered as tangible as a full moon or the silhouette of tree tops. A reoccurring shape appears, reminiscent of the end of a cello or violin or perhaps the ubiquitous Acanthus leaf. In Whaling Song, the shape has such a weight and shadow that it becomes animate, a living and breathing being. For the artist it is a shape that feels good to paint and her body has a natural tendency towards it. In this way a language specific to the artists physicality has become part of the visual language of her painting.

Whaling Song, 2011: oil on wood panel, 40" x 36"

Challenges of sustaining a successful art practice are present for both artists. In Maynard’s short talk given during the show opening she spoke of the dangers of getting stuck in an aesthetic that sells well. For a painter whose aim is to paint the invisible, she has to try to shelve this looming demand of marketability and get to that deeper place that many artists seek. For Higashi and Maynard continuing a successful studio practice while striving toward their true creative vision is not easy in the midst of life’s daily challenges. In “Sea & Sky” we are offered an unusual comparison of the work of two artists, a jeweler and painter. Similarly inspired, the careers of two women converge at Shibumi Gallery as they exhibit their most recent bodies of work.

For those unable to steel a moment from their day-to-day, visit Shibumi Gallery's Flickr page where you will find April Highashi's jewelry collection, Aondrea Maynard's paintings as well as photos from the opening.

Darcy Miro at Shibumi Gallery

Review by Ahna Adair

Since she began her art practice, Darcy Miro has covered an extensive territory with her metalwork. Her ability to adapt to various art markets is noteworthy, operating within the fields of fashion, design, art jewelry, and sculpture. Comfortable dwelling in the minute and the gigantic, her resume lists high profile projects such as her participation in the façade design of the American Folk Art Museum in 2001 with architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien.

Pierce and Stripe Cuff, 2011, oxidized silver, black diamonds, 2.5"x 3"x 2"

The collection showing at Shibumi Gallery consists primarily of pendants and cuffs with some earrings and rings interspersed. Their arrangement on a white exhibition table brings attention to the specimen like quality of the work and peering down at over 50 small abstract forms is not unlike a visit to the natural history museum. A slight break in continuum from her raw and imperfect aesthetic happens with the pendants strung on smooth black ribbon. Here the viewer is plainly reminded that these objects function as pieces of adornment.

Medium Pendant Seven, 2011, oxidized silver, black ribbon, 1.75" x 3.25"

While the work is a cohesive body of jewelry, Miro does not identify as a jeweler, preferring instead the broader title of metal sculptor. Balancing between the mark of nature and that of the maker, her forms are intuitively constructed, translated first into wax and then cast in sterling silver and 18k yellow gold. The majority of the pieces in the show, far from pristine and highly polished, are treated with a dark patina, leaving solder and scorched metal exposed.

Short Stitch Cuff, 2011, oxidized silver, black diamonds, 2.5"x 3"x 2"

Her rich textures, referencing nature, architecture and the body, are a sultry marriage of the primordial and the high tech; what once was becomes tangled with what is. Each piece functions as a fleeting moment, a snapshot of the artist’s psyche as her conscious and unconscious observations of the day-to-day spill out onto the wax to eventually be made permanent in metal. Subtly sprinkled with black diamonds, the familiar sparkle acts as a sugarcoating as if to assure us that what we are looking at is beautiful. And it is.

Wire Tie Ring, 2011, oxidized silver, black diamonds, 1" x 1" x 1"

Miro’s upcoming projects include installations at E.L. Butler in NYC, Art Basel in Miami and a large wall relief in Abu Dhabi.

Ahna Adair is a jeweler, artist and writer based in Oakland, CA.

Raïssa Bump: “Circulation”

Musings on her current body of work followed by a conversation with the artist.

There is something so irresistible in the prospect of tying up loose ends and making honest work out of our starts and stutters. It’s an urge that permeates across disciplines and vocations. At some point we’ve all yearned to find a home for our unfinished things, a place where they can rest and in turn put our mind at rest. Raïssa Bump has taken this simple urge and expanded on it, creating a complex body of work that utilizes her unfinished bits and pieces, collected over a 20-year period, in combinations to make brooches, earrings, and necklaces.

But this work is more than just sorting out old projects and sifting through unfinished endeavors. In an intricate collaboration with herself, this body of jewelry collages together pieces made by the artist at varying stages along her journey as a maker. Pieces from the 7-year old Raïssa combine with those from the 27-year old Raïssa and as if before your eyes, they become new again. She has thoughtfully folded in each part with skill and sophistication, allowing each new piece to stand on it’s own. The end result is a body of jewelry, both edgy and elegant.

In compliment to this current project, the show includes a selection of Bumps knitwear. Working back and forth within jewelry and knitwear, Bump engages in a constant conversation between these two dynamic segments of her studio practice. Her humble yet sexy garments hang in the gallery as a backdrop, illustrating her complete vision of adornment as a vehicle for non-verbal communication and self-expression.

Raïssa Bump received her B.F.A. in Jewelry and Metals at Rhode Island School of Design and studied at Alchimia School of Contemporary Jewelry in Florence Italy. She has taught at various colleges including the revered Penland School of Crafts and locally at Diablo Valley College. I had the opportunity to talk with her about her practice and her current body of work being shown at Shibumi Gallery in Berkeley. Read what Raïssa has to say about her current show, “Circulation” and then go see the work.

One of the last things that we were talking about at your opening was sketching in 3-dimensions with tangible objects vs. making an actual drawing and you said that it was difficult for you to get ideas out by planning on paper. On the other hand there are artists who need that plan or blueprint before they can begin to make a piece. So, what is it about that type of artist production that is more fruitful for you?

Probably because, in one way, my skills with drawing are not as developed but that’s besides the point because I think if drawing felt right to me I would find ways to make it more of an outlet. I certainly don’t feel like I need a blueprint before I start. Regardless of where the idea is, I like to have a tangible beginning point and then just work from there and evaluate as I go along.

I work through my hands. That’s where my spirit connects. I think it’s how I experience life too. It’s more about the experience and being able to see it instead of just imagine it. I can respond a lot more to that. And for me it’s harder to make decisions if something doesn’t already exist. I find that I can be more responsive and have a clearer idea about a piece when I’m brainstorming in 3-dimensions. And after all, the end result is a 3-dimensional thing. That’s probably why I have so many leftovers.

Right, instead of a sketchbook you probably have boxes and piles and things like that.

Yeah, its gives me more information. For the most part, I sketch after I already have an idea I’m working out in 3-dimensions and I say to myself, “before I go to the next stage I’m going to draw this out in different sizes so I can get a visual. Or I cut it out in paper. Paper is more tactile.

So then, along those lines how do you know when you’re finished? How do you know when you have reached the end product so to speak?

That’s not always so direct and so easy. I have a table where I have bits and pieces that I’ll arrange in a composition. I’ll leave it like that for a day or maybe I’ll move it around or add something else and feel it out. It’s a lot of intuition, of allowing time. It doesn’t always happen fast. I look at a composition for a while and then I start putting it together, actually constructing it. Eventually I wear it around my studio and sometimes out on the streets. I have to put it on the body and see how it wears, see how I feel in it, see how it looks when I walk in front of a mirror or if it hangs strange. I actually, especially with this body of work, make a lot of little changes at this stage. So, it’s a process of allowing enough time for each piece.

So, then are you kind of working in between pieces, going back and forth or do you tend to focus on one piece until you get it right and then move on to the next?

Rarely do I work on one piece and then go to the next and then the next. In my general process I have many pieces going on at once and it allows me to not get stressed out. Some pieces end up being something and some ideas don’t for the moment. It makes more sense to allow that time that I was talking about in order to feel the work intuitively and to keep looking at it at different moments, different moods, different times of day, different light…

The title of this show is “Circulation”. Would you in general talk a little bit about Circulation and what that means to your work?

I like the idea of this continuous motion. That was one of the things I responded to when choosing the title, this cycle and idea that one thing leads to the next in an ongoing, continuous flow. So that’s how I viewed it as I was working. It was this process of looking at myself throughout different time periods of my life and addressing that. As people, we interact with the world and we can’t avoid flow. One thing leads to the next, leads to the next and our experiences lead us to where we are today. So circulation is a reference to the years, the story, the information, the knowledge and interests that went into the work. Also, I like the idea of thinking of circulation in another context, as how things get spread. Like newspaper circulation, how something moves out and about in the world, how it circulates. It feels like that’s where I’m at in my life. I’m putting myself out there in the public and getting the work out there. I really do feel like these necklaces, earrings and brooches are lyrical collages that speak to all the different fragments of me, but at the same time can move away from me and mean something to someone else.

Right. I like that double meaning. The circulation that deals with the making of the work as well as the physical circulation of the work itself once out in the world. Especially because it is unique to a discipline like jewelry. You could make a 2-d work or a sculpture for that matter but it would be on the wall or somewhere more permanent. But jewelry is so interesting in that it’s constantly moving through the day to day.

Yeah, which is lovely. It moves from mood to mood, space to space and person to person. Jewelry does go to museums or certain places and just stay put but not in general.

As artists we tend to scrutinize what we make all the time. If I were to look back at something that I didn’t consider part of my artwork I might not care so much but when I put things in this category of, “This is my art,” then it becomes so much more magnified. I was thinking of myself going through your process and I wondered, would I want to look at pieces or parts or things that I made 15 or 20 years ago?

It’s interesting too, because some of it dates back to when I was young or even through high school when I wasn’t thinking of it in the context of, “I’m making art.” It was just that pure love of using my hands, getting time to myself and quietly doing all these intricate and repetitive things. Then on top of that, having something as a result of that time spent. I love that. I always like having nothing in my hands and then creating something, and realizing, “Wow, now I have a necklace to wear out tonight or a hat because its cold,” and having that skill is something I really am thankful for.

However, there is a time when it did start to become a harder process. For me the critical moment when it shifted was after college, when I was trying to make money and make this my thing. As far as the pieces I made during this time period, I probably took them apart so much that they are in disguise from what they originally were. They weren’t so interesting to me the way they were.

You said at the gallery talk that your household was a little chaotic and you looked forward to these times when you could steal away by yourself. In terms of this group of work I like picturing what your household was like and I was wondering if you could just give me a little bit of a background on your upbringing?

Sure. I certainly got along with my family. It’s just that I had 3 older brothers and a younger sister. We didn’t have a set routine every single day. It was just sort of, whatever needed to happen, happened. So there was a lot of flexibility in some ways and a lot of unknowns. I found myself wanting quiet time. So I would get away and do my own thing for a while. And that’s what it felt like—getting away from a constant motion.

Was that part of your parents philosophy, that flexibility?

I think that my family was willing to avoid making things super static, which I really appreciate. There were certainly rules and some formality about things. But there was rarely a time where it was just, “This is what it is and no matter what the scenario comes up, I’m not going to consider anything else.” That allowed for a lot to happen. It’s interesting because the house was always changing. We were fixing the house, furniture would move around and in a sense there was a lot of creation.

I was wondering if you had one piece out of the group that especially spoke to you and if you could elaborate.

It’s not so easy to just pick one but I really like the way this piece came out. I feel like it can be worn in different ways. I wore it with a t-shirt and thought it looked great and it felt really good. It also can be dressy and formal. A lot of this exhibition is versatile like that. In this necklace, there is a beautiful interaction between the old and the new. From afar you see it’s line quality and then up-close you see these different elements of texture and color. I like the color interaction in the piece. It’s subdued but still feels very expressive yet very simple.

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