EXPO ‘Myung Urso: Trans-Form’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 5 Avril-7 Mai 2017

Myung Urso: Trans-Form

Work from a Decade and Now

Opening Reception: Friday, April 7, 6-8pm

Velvet da Vinci

(bottom : Scene, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Asian Ink, Sterling silver, 2017

top : Brood, Brooch, Recycled Paper Pulp Egg Carton, Sand, Pigment, Sterling silver, 2017)

« Thread, ink, wood, paper. Humble raw materials are venerated for their textural, structural, and visual qualities. Stitched, sculpted, stretched to join seemingly incongruous elements into inseparable jewelry forms. Myung Urso has an uncanny ability not only to interpret everyday materials in entirely fresh ways, but to elevate them in her work to stature typically reserved for precious stones and metals. Even when Urso uses sterling silver, freshwater pearls, or other more traditional jewelry matter, she gives cotton, wood, and, most recently, paper pulp, centerstage. And, in their leading roles, under Urso’s direction, these objects are radiant and mesmerizing. At the heart of Urso’s work are the exploration and transformation of commonplace materials into art objects that are ambiguous, enigmatic, and beguiling.
Myung Urso is a sculptor working in jewelry, a textile artist by training, and a keen observer of the natural world’s permutations. Seasons of the year, growth cycles, the elements of water, fire, and earth, are recurrent themes in her bodies of work. Urso revels in soft, expressive organic shapes yet her approach is quite exacting and laconic. Consequently, her necklaces, brooches, and earrings can exhibit both, a minimalist architectural austerity, and an exuberance of form and surface.
Myung Urso has used jewelry as a medium of artistic expression for the past ten years. A decade is also how long she has lived in the United States. Her work reflects the abundant cultural and artistic influences of her former life in South Korea, as well as the challenges and rewards of navigating the American cultural landscape.
For years, Hanji paper was a material Urso utilized frequently in her work. More recently, she has turned to another paper product — recycled paper egg cartons and recycled paper fruit/vegetable baskets. First spotted by Urso in farmer’s market stalls in her current hometown of Rochester, NY, these humble objects, weathered by sunlight, use, and reuse, have come to symbolize, for her, the cycle of consumption and the grower-consumer relationship, Urso says. The recycled paper pulp containers carry the product of the farmers’ labor as well as nourishment for those who consume the fruit. In Urso’s hands, pieces of these containers are transformed again, their surfaces treated with marble dust or other substances, set in sterling silver, and recreated as jewelry pieces, to be worn and translated yet again.
Whether using calligraphy in novel ways, as Urso did in her early collections, or stitching through found wood debris, as she did later, or treating common paper pulp as precious commodity, Urso’s approach makes her metamorphic jewelry exhilarating. » – Elena Rosenberg, Independent Curator

 Myung Urso  -  trans-form – « Shrine » Necklace, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Pigment, Acrylic Paint, Silk Cord, 2017

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Myung Urso – Trans-Form   – brooch

« It was very impressive to see all those greenish recycled paper containers when I entered the Rochester Public Market very first time… more or less ten years ago … one of top ranked farmers markets in US. Rich harvests from local farmers based on the Lake Ontario and Finger Lakes. To see all kind of berries and vegetables in these unusal and pretty containers was absolutely fascinating experience. This was kind of cultural awakening memory toward Western daily culture. Now these objects are trans-formed to my jewelry form.« 

Myung URSO - Blue Combination, Necklace, Silk, Silicone bands, Hanji, Asian ink, Thread, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2014

Myung Urso – Trans-Form – site – 2017

Myung URSO - Site, Recycled Paper Egg Carton, Sand, Marble Dust, Asian ink, Hair, Sterling silver, 2017

MYUNG URSO -  Aquarius, Necklace, Recycled Paper Pulp Basket, Sand, Marble Dust, Acrylic Paint, Sterling silver, 2017 

Myung URSO – Oneness, Necklace, Wood, Cotton thread, Acrylic paint, 2015

Myung URSO - Poem, Neckpiece, Cotton, Asian ink, Thread, Sterling silver, Lacquer, 2007

 

 

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm

Enregistrer

EXPO ‘CrossPass’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 8 Sept.-9 Oct. 2016

Demitra Thomloudis and Motoko Furuhashi: CrossPass

Velvet da Vinci

 

Artists’ Reception: Friday, September 9, 6-8pm

CrossPass is a project featuring collaborative and solo works by artists Demitra Thomloudis and Motoko Furuhashi that examines place through expanded media and the intimate lens of jewelry and small objects. The project targets a distinctive stretch of the Interstate 10 corridor connecting the unique borderplex region of El Paso, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico. The objective of CrossPass is to allow site-specific locations and the artists’ shared personal inquiries along this route to initiate the collection of images, video and sound which directly influences the creation of jewelry and objects. The viewer is asked to join them in their investigation of this land awash with dramatic terrain, vernacular structures and a multitude of boundaries; and, to uniquely discover these sites through the body.

 CrossPass Site #8 Mesa – Students parking their cars at the University of Texas at El Paso have a direct view of the border of different a country: Mexico. Here the divide is physically reinforced with the expansive border highway fence  // Crosspass: Demitra Ryan-Thomloudis « Over the Fence » installation of broochesDemitra Thomloudis and Motoko Furuhashi, Site 7, 2016, necklace Brass, powder coat, sand, found materials - Site #7 Mesa
El Paso is a city in constant flux. There you see the constant changing and rotating of businesses

 

Motoko Furuhashi was born in 1982 in Tokyo, Japan. While growing up in Tokyo, she received her introduction to art from her grandfather. Her recent works are inspired by her experiences traveling around the world and the road that takes her from one place to another. Motoko received her MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at New Mexico State University. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, the Oakland Museum of California, and Nobana Art Works in Ginza in Tokyo. Publications include 500 Plastic Jewelry design by Lark Books, New Rings: 500+ Designs from Around the World by Nicolas Estrada, and Humor in Craft by Brigitte Martin.

Motoko Furuhashi, Anthony, 2016, Tape, road segments, brass, silver, powder coat, paint

 

Furuhashi Artist Statement:
“I am deeply fascinated with imperfection and the complexity of the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death as the processes that govern life. The overall intent with my work has been to slow the viewer down and make what goes unnoticed important. By highlighting what is viewed as imperfect my work can bring relevance to the object. My belief is that objects only gain importance when the artist draws attention to them. My work is a shift in the meaning of perfection, transforming our perception of reality to new perspectives.”

 Motoko Furuhashi, NMSU Parking Lot (New Mexico State University), brooch – 2016, Tape, road segments, brass, silver, powder coat, paintDemitra Thomloudis and Motoko Furuhashi, Site 9, 2016, Nickel silver, fabric, steel

 

Thomloudis Artist Statement:
“My jewelry is influenced by the ve­­rnacular architecture and landscapes of site-specific locations. This interest has led me to identify particular aesthetic characteristics and construction techniques that I employ to create works to be worn on the body. As an artist using jewelry and objects as an artistic format for self-expression, my work intends to challenge the construct of the medium as a means to examine value, material sign systems, and extensions of personal and place identity. By relating to the aesthetics of architecture, landscape, and place in this way, I see jewelry having the potential to connect us closer to the world we are surrounded by.”

Demitra Thomloudis and Motoko Furuhashi, Site 5, 2016, Steel, sand, dry grass, acrylic, paint, land segment, silver – Site #5 Anthony
The border town of Texas and New Mexico is Anthony. There Anthony, NM and Anthony, TX sit next to each other.

Demitra Thomloudis and Motoko Furuhashi, Site 2, 2016, Nickel silver, brass, silver, land segment, ink
jet print, gesso – - Site #2 Las Cruces (Near NMSU)  From land of Native Americans, the Spanish territory of New Mexico has been established over the time. These streets created here continue to develop and allows us access to the land.

Demitra Thomloudis and Motoko Furuhashi, Site 8, 2016, Steel, brass, cement, resin, pigment, fibers

Demitra Thomloudis and Motoko Furuhashi: Site #4, 2016 Steel, sand, dry grass, acrylic, paint, land segment, s

ilver Site #4 Vado
New Mexico’s relaxing life style is highlighted by the vivid colors of the orange and beige sand, dry green grass, tumbleweeds, and its rectangular shaped farm lands.  

 

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm

 

EXPO ‘Nikki Couppee: Hologems’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 11 Mai-19 Juin 2016

Nikki Couppee: Hologems
Velvet da Vinci

Artist’s Reception: Friday, May 13, 2016, 6-8pm

 Nikki Couppee’s recent work talks about the different functions jewelry performs in society. Objects of personal adornment have the ability to define a person’s social statues, serve as a redeemable investment and perform on a psychological level. Working with everyday materials like Plexiglass, brass, and found objects in place of precious gems and metals she intuitively creates her own versions of gemstones, hand cast and faceted in luminescent plastics. In the series Hologems, Couppee combines holographic and synthetic materials with resins, creating fantastical frozen corsage brooches, lustrous, glow-in-the-dark gems, and collaged ornaments that are at once over-the-top and elegant. The work is further inspired by growing up on the beach in Florida, the 90’s, Crown Jewels, and costume jewelry

Nikki Couppee Large Corsage Brooch, Plexiglass, brass, found object, steel, (glow in the dark)

 Nikki Couppee Beach Kid Brooch, Plexiglass, brass, found object, steel

Nikki Couppee, Neogem Crystal Drops, Plexiglass, brass, sterling silver, fine silver, film

Nikki Couppee, Glow Brooch, 2016, Plexiglass, brass, sterling silver, fine silver, film (and  as seen in the dark)

Nikki Couppee Hologem Necklace with Red Leather

 

Nikki received an MFA in Jewelry/Metals from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio (2011) and a BFA from the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia in Jewlery/Metals (2007). Her work has been featured in publications such as American Craft, Metalsmith Magazine, Modern Magazine, Vogue Brazil, Dailycandy, and Lark Book’s 500 Enameled Objects. Couppee has taught enameling and jewelry/metals techniques at Kent State University, The Cleveland Institute of Art, and The Crucible in West Oakland, CA. Originally from Pensacola Beach, FL, Nikki currently lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area

 

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm

 

EXPO ‘Earrings3’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 15 Avril-8 Mai 2016

Velvet da Vinci ·   Coming April 15 :

« Earrings3″ Velvet da Vinci’s 3rd exploration of art for the ear. 

Artists’ Reception: Friday April 15, 6-8pm

 

 Featured Artists:   Carolina Andersson, Jill Baker Gower, Lynn Batchelder, Kristin Beeler, Jesse Bert, Elisa Bongfeldt, Ashley Buchanan, Raissa Bump, Liz Clark, Kat Cole, Nikki Couppee, Cara Croninger, Lisa Crowder, Lisa Scott Cylinder, Donna D’Aquino, Anna Davern, Jeffrey Lloyd Dever, Sandra Enterline, Nicolas Estrada, Joanna Gollberg Stirling, Caroline Gore , Liisa Hashimoto, Brandon Holschuh, Daphne Krinos, Maia Leppo, Tara Locklear, Kristin Lora, Judy McCaig, Owen Mclnerney, Jillian Moore, Robert Thomas Mullen, Seth Papac, Meghan Patrice Riley, Cynthia Rohrer, Vina Rust, Yuka Saito, Biba Schutz, Caitie Sellers, Karin Seufert, Leslie Shershow, Rachel Shimpock, Eric Silva, Jan Smith, Boline Strand, Amy Tavern, Julia Turner, Lauren Tickle, Myung Urso, Aric Verrastro, Sam Woehrmann, April Wood, Mizuko Yamada, Sayumi Yokouchi

Raissa Bump, 4 Hemisphere Earrings, Oxidized sterling silver, red glass beads

 Jillian Moore, Red Stretched Droops w/ Chrome Lips, Polymer clay, paint, resin

Karin Seufert, Earrings n.T. no 415, PVC, silver

Maia Leppo, Silicone Flower Posts -  steel, silver, silicone rubber

Donna D’Aquino, Large Steel Structure Earrings. Steel, 18ky gold

Jill Baker Gower, 3D Doily Dangle, Oxidized steel, bronze Infused, argentium sterling silver 

Amy Tavern, Tension Earrings,   brass, sterling

Aric Verrastro, Garden Earrings 2016  steel, sterling silver, 14k gold, thread, acrylic paint

 

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm

 

 

EXPO ‘Amber Chamber’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 1-31 Oct. 2015

Amber Chamber

New jewelry from an ancient material…

Artists’ Reception: Friday, October 2, 6-8pm

(Helfried Kodre, Brooch, 2015, Amber, sterling silver)

Featured Artists:   Elisabeth Defner — Christiane Förster — Heidemarie Herb — Herman Hermsen — Beate Klockmann — Helfried Kodré — Philip Sajet — Peter Skubic — Gisbert Stach — Petra Zimmermann

This exhibition shows a number of different approaches to amber, running the gamut from artists working with amber for the first time, to those who have been working with it for an extended period.  The contrasts in these works should help to update the traditional and still rather one-sided view of amber jewelry, showing new possibilities about this interesting material.  Amber, fossilized tree resin, has been appreciated for its color and inherent beauty since Neolithic times.
Curated by Heidemarie Herb.

Herman Hermsen, AllaDali (Brooch), 2015, shark yaw, amber, gold 15 x 8 cm

Gisbert Stach, Golden Toast 3 Brooch, 2013, Baltic amber, transparent silicon, stainless steel.  Photo: Gisbert Stach

 Peter Skubic, Untitled Brooch, 2015, Amber, coral, stainless steel, 9 x 8.5 x 2.7 cm. Photo: Petra Zimmermann

  Petra Zimmermann, Untitled (Rings), 2014/2015, Amber, polymethylmethacrylate, gold

Heidemarie Herb, Neckpieces: Time, 2014, Sterling silver, brass, iron, natural rope, baltic amber, 13 cm. Photo by: Silvana Tili:  

Beate Klockmann, Earrings, Untitled, 2015, Gold, amber, Plastic, 40 x 40 x 20cm

 

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm

EXPO ‘Jo Pond: Intimate’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 19 Aout-20 Sept. 2015

Jo Pond: Intimate

An exhibition of new works by the UK based artist

Artist’s Reception:  Friday August 21, 6-8pm

 

Jo Pond’s most recent jewelry works can be seen as reincarnated objects, relics of everyday urban life that have been transformed by the artist’s process. Material elements such as buttons, coins, cans, and keys are modified and reinterpreted, simultaneously creating new narratives for each piece while drawing from each object’s industrial heritage and unique past. Precious metals and stones such as diamonds or pearls are often included in combination with these found objects, playing with visual and conceptual notions around beauty and the mundane, social status, and hierarchical value or worth.

Born in Chiswick, London, Pond currently lives and works in rural Staffordshire. Her work has exhibited on an international level; highlights include exhibits at Schmuck (Munich), the V&A Museum, (London), the Price Tower Arts Centre (Oklahoma), and Contemporary Applied Arts (London). Pond’s Narrative Jewelry Collection received the 2005 BDI Industry & Genius Awards in the category of Products and Genius. The artist earned her Masters at The School of Jewellery, Birmingham and is a member of Contemporary Applied Arts, London.  She presently serves as a full-time lecturer at the School of Jewelery in addition to maintaining her studio practice.

 Jo Pond, Fine Quality (Brooch), Repurposed steel tin, steel, iron, diary pencil

Jo Pond, Intimate tin locket, Repurposed steel tin, repurposed bone page turner, silver, gold plate, ribbon

 Jo Pond, Baking Tin and Grater Series, Repurposed baking tin, citrine, 18ct Gold, Steel.

Jo Pond, Phillumeny neckpiece, Suspended in Pink Series, 1940’s baking tin, match sticks 

Jo Pond, Planted Frame Brooch, Repurposed steel tin, steel, silver, gold plate

Statement from the Artist:
“Using found objects is like starting the process of creating with part of the story already written. I am able to choreograph, make introductions and interventions. I may add and remove lines within the story and then watch to see if they read true to me, sometimes living with them in one form or another, still, watching and listening for them to tell me when they are comfortable and appropriate. I have a bond with each stage, a personal connection, one of belonging, a reluctance to let go or and an uncomfortable enjoyment of that which I have choreographed. Saving these intimate moments by capturing them safely in photographs, I am able to intervene once again, in the knowledge that I can recall that grouping and the essence of relationship it brings. My compositions work more happily in groups, sometimes the harmony of material, color or repetition compels the creation of a family, a void being left once one conclusion is made and moved to one side to free space for further meanderings. The conclusions are the quietest moments, following a multitude of compositional conversations it is necessary to listen to the outcomes to know if they are complete. There is a sense of separation at this point, the umbilical cord becomes severed and some of the tension seeps away, leaving me comforted in my decision making process.
There are phases, maybe somewhat fickle, where I have a changing passion for that which I find. Sometimes time, location or circumstance can influence these phases, but they mark a point of change and must be consciously considered. It is all part of being true to the visual conversation being orchestrated, alongside the voluntary and involuntary narratives, which serve to conduct my metaphor.”  – Jo Pond, 2015

 Jo Pond, Small Necessities, Silver, repurposed bone toothbrush, 18ct gold, gold plate  – DETAIL 

 

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm

 

 

EXPO ‘coOperation – GARNISH’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 19 Aout-20 Sept. 2015

co-operation – garnish

A collaborative exhibition organized by Brigitte Martin and Rachel Timmins

Artists’ Reception:  Friday August 21, 6-8pm

 A garnish can be anything from an adornment that adds or enhances the body (human or animal) to a functional or nonfunctional object that decorates and spices up a room. This exhibition will ask viewers and participants to examine the idea of a garnish made by 2 different subsets of makers who have come together to create an embellishment that satisfies both.

Participating Artists:    Suzanne Amendolara / Dan DiCaprio — Christiana Byrne / David Lee — Catherine Chandler / Sonya Scott — Brian Ferrell / Jillian Moore –  Heidi Gerstacker / Masumi Kataoka — Emily Gill / Jaime Sawka — Charity Hall / Francesca Vitali – Peter Hoogeboom / Maia Houtman — Nicole Jacquard / Annie Fensterstock — Lauren Kalman / Kipp Bradford –  Satomi Kawai / Nikki Couppee — Thomas Mann / Wayne Werner –  Bruce Metcalf / Evin Dubois — Tom Muir / Caitlin Skelcey — Vincent Pontillo Verrastro / Sharon Massey –  Mette Saabye / Pernille Mouritzen — Marissa Saneholtz /Michael Dale Bernard — Linda Savineau / Steve Shelby — Olga Starostina / Corey Ackelmire — Billie Theide / Brooke Marks-Swanson — Rachel Timmins / Brigitte Martin — Aric Verrastro /Randy Long

 Satomi Kawai & Nikki Couppee, Neogems (Necklace), Plastic, etched copper, resin, pigment, sterling silver, brass, plexiglass, found shells, faux and real pearls, faux silver foil, hologram laminate

Brian Ferrell & Jillian Moore, Clompe Cluster (Brooch), basswood, polymer clay, resin, paint, wax

Peter Hoogeboom & Maja Houtman, Artichoke (Brooch), Ceramics (slipcasting), metalwork (basketry), silversmithing silver, porcelain

Tom Muir & Caitlin Skelcey, Expel, ABS Plastic, Sterling Silver, Automotive Paint and  Clearcoat

Aric & Randy Verrastro & Long, Daydreaming (Neckpiece), Canvas, PLA, sterling silver, copper, enamel, china paint, steel, thread, acrylic paint, poly-fil

Linda Savineau & Steve Shelby, Sluggish Meanderings, Hammer printed brass, 3D printed nylon (SLS), driftwood

Marissa Saneholtz & Michael Dale Bernard, « She was lost to her dreams as flowers cascaded upon her. » (Neckpiece), Copper, steel, aluminum, silver, maple, vitreous enamel, powder coat, lacquer

Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro and Sharon Massey, Plume, Copper, PLA, graphite, enamel, rare-earth magnets

 

Statement from the organizers:
“A modern metalsmith/metal artist can be found working in traditional metals as well as in nontraditional materials. The designs can range from the classic to the extravagant, and the techniques can either be centuries old or decidedly current. The wide range of expression preferences, design options, materials, and processes has lead within our field to unfavorable misconceptions, misunderstandings and in some cases even outright disdain between artists. Each side considers itself superior to the other, seemingly not appreciating the clear advantages, benefits, and experiences each faction brings to the table. Quoting from Damian Skinner’s 2013 SNAG keynote lecture in Toronto:
“We are all family. Sometimes, family members don’t speak with each other, but we still are one big family. Let’s recognize this fact.”
Can our field overcome family division and send a much-needed signal to the metals + jewelry community? We appreciate and respect our historical past and acknowledge that current materials have a rightful place in jewelry/object making. Arriving at this message is the goal of this exhibition.”  – Brigitte Martin and Rachel Timmins

 

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm

 

 

EXPO ‘SIX: new work by six young makers’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 1-15 Aout 2015

Six: Nikki Couppee, Hunter Creel, Zachery Lechtenberg, Andrew Kuebeck, Aric Verrastro, Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro

 Artists’ Reception: Saturday, August 1, 6-8 pm

Velvet da Vinci is proud to present 6, an exhibition of jewelry and sculptural objects by six young voices in the field. Featured artists include Nikki Couppee, Hunter Creel, Zachery Lechtenberg, Andrew Kuebeck, Aric Verrastro, and Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro. Working with a range of processes and techniques, each artist brings a fresh perspective to their craft and material lineage. The show will run from August 1-15, 2015. An opening reception with the artists will take place on August 1st, from 6-8 pm.

 

Participating Artists:
Nikki Couppee – Hunter Creel — Zachery Lechtenberg — Andrew Kuebeck — Aric Verrastro —   Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro

 Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro « Pfoufe 6″, 2015 PLA plastic, recycled fox fur, steel
Vincent Pontillo-Verrastro’s current presents a dialogue emphasizing the primacy of touch in experiencing jewelry, focusing on the tactile and functional properties of the brush.

Aric Verrastro,   Drifting – brooch
Aric Verrastro creates souvenirs in the form of jewelry, intended to capture the essence of noteworthy places and events from the past and present of the artist’s personal history. Verrastro earned undergraduate degrees in Metals/Jewelry and Studio Art from SUNY Buffalo State College. He recently earned an MFA in Metalsmithing/Jewelry at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), where he currently serves as Associate Instructor in Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design

Nikki Couppee Necklace: Neogem, 2015 Plexiglass, brass, fine silver, sterling silver, found objects
Nikki Couppee’s recent work investigates the performative social functions of jewelry, utilizing Plexiglass, brass, and found objects in place of precious gems and metals. Working with everyday materials she intuitively creates her own versions of gemstones, hand cast and faceted in luminescent plastics. Couppee received an M.F.A. in Jewelry/ Metals from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio (2011) and a B.F.A. from the University of Georgia, Athens Georgia in Jewlery/Metals (2007).

Andrew Kuebeck – « second place » brooch – Sterling Silver, Fine Silver, Enamel, Toner Decal, Steel; Fabricated, Cast, Enameled, Fused
 Andrew Kuebeck , recipient of the 2012 SNAG Emerging Artist award, works in a variety of formats ranging from functional jewelry to sculptural objects and vessels. Inspired by Beefcake photography of the 1960’s and 70’s, his recent felt pieces explore the incorporation of photographic images into textiles, jewelry, and objects.

Hunter Creel « Officer Mama » 2015 copper, brass, acrylic & enamel paint
Hunter Creel creates bold sculptural objects, utilizing a language of simple forms drawn from the realms of the utilitarian and the abstract. Powder-coated in vibrant hues of enamel paint,

 

 

 

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm

 

 

 

 

EXPO ‘Lisa & Scott Cylinder: Blinding the Cyclops’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 8 Juill.-9 Aout 2015

 Lisa & Scott Cylinder: Blinding the Cyclops

Artist’s Reception: Friday, July 10, 6-8 pm

San Francisco’s Velvet da Vinci is proud to present Lisa & Scott Cylinder: Blinding the Cyclops. The show will run from July 8 through August 7, 2015. An opening reception with the artists will take place on Friday, July 10, from 6-8 pm.
Husband and wife artist team Lisa & Scott Cylinder began collaborating in 1988, shortly after studying Jewelry/Metalsmithing at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Their long-term partnership has produced an ongoing series of one-of-a-kind sculptural jewelry, which often incorporates found objects and epoxy resins into their metalwork. Lisa & Scott Cylinder: Blinding the Cyclops will debut a new body of work by the duo, made by repurposing and altering parts from musical instruments, games, antiquated tools, and more. During a 2014 interview with Smithsonian.com, Lisa Cylinder described the inspiration for their process as follows:

Lisa & Scott Cylinder Cyclops Necklace, 2015, Bronze, sterling silver, nickle silver, vintage clarinet parts, epoxy resin, felt, stainless steel, 23ky gold leaf, paint, 3.5 x 2.5 x 1″ pendant- 20″ necklace

“It’s a soul thing… the things we use were touched by somebody. Once you see those pieces, you identify a moment in your life with that particular object. The tool that someone used in making something—there’s sweat on it, there’s toil on it. A musical instrument—someone played it. The human contact is part of what we do, and the reason we select the objects.”

Lisa & Scott Cylinder - Quartet Necklace, 2015, Bronze, sterling silver, vintage violin parts, paint, 3.5 x 2.25 x 0.5″ pendant- 18″necklace

Lisa & Scott Cylinder – Transistor Brooch / Pendant, 2015, Sterling silver, bronze, nickle silver, vintage violin parts, epoxy resin, paint, 3.5 x 1.75 x .75″

Lisa & Scott Cylinder – Siren Necklace, 2015, Sterling silver, brass, stainless steel, nickle silver, vintage clarinet parts, celluloid, lapis lazuli, 23ky gold leaf, paint, 4.5 x 3.75 x 1″ pendant – 20 » chocker

Lisa & Scott Cylinder – Vibe Brooch, 2015, Brass, sterling silver,nickle silver, vintage guitar and clarinet parts, bone, vinyl, lapis lazuli, paint, 5.75 x 2.75 x 1″

Lisa & Scott Cylinder – Receiver Brooch, 2015, Sterling silver, bronze, stainless steel, vintage violin parts, celluloid, paint, 3 x 3.5 x .75″

 

Blinding The Cyclops has been a new chapter in our artistic Odyssey. After 27 years of making representational work, we have charted a new course away from our comfort zone.   Representation had become our Cyclops, and in order to free ourselves we needed to escape from our captor.   This action has enabled us to grow, change, and challenge ourselves as artists and problem solvers in a tangential manner.
Although our fascination with found objects (especially musical instruments) continues, their use as materials has become further abstracted.   Their deconstruction has been pushed farther and the outcome is purposefully less representational.   We have reinvented our working methodology as well as our subject matter. This giant step has enabled us to develop a new vocabulary referencing Design and Technologies of the 20^th Century, the time in which our aesthetics as makers were formed.
Blinding The Cyclops represents an epic creative adventure. Wielding the same techniques and materials from our past works, we have challenged ourselves to create a fresh group of wearable objects that subvert what had become familiar.   We continue to change and challenge ourselves in our quest to create intriguing, well-crafted hand made objects in the 21st Century.

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: [phone]
Email:  [e-mail]
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm

 

EXPO ‘Stonecutting’ – Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco (USA) – 1er-31 Mai 2015

 San Francisco’s VELVET DA VINCI is proud to present Stonecutting, an exhibition of work by New Zealand artists Craig McIntosh + Joe Sheehan

Opening reception with the artists will take place on Friday, May 1, from 6-8 pm.

 

Craig McIntosh’s most recent series of brooches are hand carved and fabricated from Pakohe (argillite), a material rich with metaphor for New Zealand’s cultural and natural landscape. A highly indurated sedimentary rock, hardened through intense compression and heat, Pakohe is often described as “basement rock,” as it literally represents the material New Zealand is built from and upon. Calling to mind visions of topographical maps and aerial nature photographs, McIntosh’s process channels the aesthetic and symbolic implications of his material, resulting in fractured, layered, and laminated compositions. According to the artist:
“The brooches… are abstract forms arrived at through the making process, and the associations with landscape and boundary are the result of thinking through making. When I’m working with stone I take the perspective that I am in some way are some way working with land, or can be seen as working with place, or even working possibly with here…. Landscape is a human construct, it is the way we see and interpret the physical environment. The division and breaking up of land into the idea of a system of human made spaces has shaped our environment. So for me it is therefore critical, when using stone in a contemporary jewelry context to have an understanding of both identity and boundary, jewelry can not be made concerning anything else until this is considered.”
McIntosh earned a Bachelors of Visual Arts and Masters Degree from the Dunedin School for Art. His works have exhibited in Japan, New Zealand, and Germany. Highlighted shows include WUNDERRUMA, a touring exhibition that debuted at the 2014 Schmuck conference. The artist presently lives and works in Dunedin.

Craig McIntosh, Pakohe Brooch 004, 2015, Carved Pakohe (Argillite), 1.85 x .25 x 2.15″

Craig McIntosh, Pakohe Brooch 006, 2015, Carved Pakohe (Argillite), 2.15 x .25 x 2.15″

Craig McIntosh, Pakohe Brooch 0011, 2015, Carved Pakohe (Argillite), 1.65 x .35 x 2.80″

Craig McIntosh, Pakohe Brooch 003, 2015, Carved Pakohe (Argillite), 3.65 x .25 x 2″

Joe Sheehan’s series The Quick and the Dead is a collection of remote controls meticulously carved from stone.   Presented as artifacts in the style of classic typological museum display, the work takes the form of whole units and broken pieces, calling to mind futuristic archaeological documentations of contemporary culture. Arranged by similarity and type, the series poses questions about contemporary methods in museum studies, addressing notions of preservation and historiography from a global perspective. Working with New Zealand native stones such as greywacke, basalt, and argillite, Sheehan shines a light on the heavy historic symbolism of each material from a South Pacific cultural context, referencing prominent museum collections of Toki: stone adzes made by Maori and other Polynesian cultures.

Joe Sheehan, The Quick and the Dead (Group 5), Greywacke, basalt, argillite, Sizes vary. Photo Credit: Kallan MacLeod.

Joe Sheehan, The Quick and the Dead (Group 4), Carved basalt, Sizes vary. Photo Credit: Kallan MacLeod. 

 

Velvet da Vinci
2015 Polk Street,
San Francisco, CA 94109
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Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11am – 6pm, Sunday, 11am – 4pm.