The Burden of Inconvenience
It is just a small mishap, a small spill, a small inconvenience. But this is the sixth inconvenience of the day, and your lips form a tight line of caught words. These small moments are easily rectified and therefore warrant small emotions. Where is the line between a good-humored response and a meltdown? Where are the instructions for reactions that warrant the small but belong in a line of frustrations that wear on us throughout the day? One pin is humor while multiple mimics torture. These intimate badges are individually appealing and lighthearted but when worn together a visual clutter forms along with a weight that is only perceptible to the wearer.
Reliquary of Moments
Spring cleaning, what to keep, what to throw out? Some things seem to last forever. And some moments seem so fleeting that it is all you can do to neatly bundle the memory away for safekeeping. Do I keep the harsher moments like a bit tongue or a back-handed compliment? Ha, to think these things could ever leave. The conglomeration of turning points, a collection of the defining. Here neatly tucked between the neck and chest lie the moments of experience that we forever carry with us. The time you were told you weren't good enough is next to the time someone told you they were proud of you. These moments for good or worse are stored and carried with us, compartmentalized. A neatly filed and cherished burden, what an adornment.
Modern Viking Turtle Brooches
2023 Ball State University Juried Student Art Show - Muncie Art Student's League Award
Protective Locket
Within this project, I explored the contrast between protection and vulnerability. These two ideas were communicated through the layering of abstract shapes and chains. The vulnerability was represented through a connection of hinged geometric shapes, some of which featured a pierced middle, exposing the skin of the wearer beneath. On top of the connected geometric shapes is a loose layer of chainmail, representing the idea of protection by partially covering the pierced negative forms. As the necklace wearer moves, the pieces move with the body creating variation in what is covered and what is exposed symbolizing our own changes of exposure and vulnerability versus protection in our own daily lives. The hinge construction was inspired by the idea of a deconstructed locket further pushing the idea of protection over things we hold precious and potentially make us more vulnerable.