Dania Chelminsky
« I combine contrasting materials in my work; organic with synthetic, hard and soft, crafted and found, creating a possible connotation and meaning.
I am intrigued by their touching points, using traditional metalsmithing techniques to emphasize moments of tension, telling a story.
I wonder about the meaning of recycling.
Pieces and bits, disposable, unnecessary transform to precious fractures of garbage.
I combine these materials as a statement, as a moment of thought about the way we refer to our surrounding world. »
Dania Chelminsky Necklace: Branches 2013 Wood, gf
« I cut branches into pieces no bigger than a finger. Each cut stump inspires me to begin a process of mending.
Working directly with the material, without preliminary sketches, creates a pattern in which every piece is different .The individual fingerprints and small defects that characterize handcrafted jewelry create a sense of personification and connection to the body. The pieces are not merely ‘accessories of adornment’ but have a story to tell.
The role of the hand is something very visible .The hand is at the same time the one who wears the pieces and the one who creates them. All the branches are cut off and pierced, transforming them into stumps, small statues, preliminary sketches that can be made into something bigger, but they are also perforated, like potential rings, something that is both in the image of a finger and suitable to be worn on a finger.
The placement of the pieces on the table creates a sort of ‘group picture’ but also reveals a disturbing aspect of the gathering. A gathering of fragments that have been torn out, burnt or that were made defective. »
Dania Chelminsky Necklace: Branches 2013 Wood, pearls, gf
Dania Chelminsky Necklace: Branches 2013 Wood, pearls, gf
Dania Chelminsky - Silence – Brooch – base + replaceable part 3 x 3 x 0.6cm, silver, epoxy, pearls, fabrication, 2011
Dania Chelminsky – Decocameo necklace, Epoxy, pearls, cameos, gold leaf, gold-filled, 22 X 0.9 cm, 2012