Artist interview: Jane Salley

Hello - Jenny here. As some of you may know, I had the pleasure of an art retreat to start this year. Held at Hacienda Mosaico in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico - a sublimely gorgeous location, gracious hosts, all needs anticipated and provided for... a true creative haven. The class I took was with Richard and Jane Salley. It was creatively challenging and invigorating, and you can read more in my blog. I am pleased to bring you a two part interview with the dynamic duo! 
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The lovely Jane Salley

Please introduce yourself! Do you have a descriptive term that encapsulates your style?

I’m Jane Salley, I make lovely things for personal adornment, these days it’s mostly jewelry but I design and make clothing and handbags too. I refer to my style as bold and whimsical.

For anyone new to you and your work - how did you get started in jewelry making? Are you formally trained? (And as an aside - what was your career path prior to this?)

Since childhood, I’ve made things to make me or my surroundings prettier, I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t sticking “pretty” things together to wear. Sometimes it was a necklace, sometimes a hat, or maybe a whole dress. When it came time to make a living I chose to train as a dental laboratory technician. It fulfilled my need to make things and it felt so good to see someone smile when they had their new dental restorations in place. Many of the skills I used in the dental laboratory translated to jewelry making, such as wire bending, soldering and polishing.

Older work: from her ArtBliss class in 2011 and during her tenure on the Ice Resin Design team. 

What is currently sparking your new ideas? …do you ever suffer from creative droughts and if so how do you deal with it to stay inspired?

My latest thing is setting stone, especially the sparkling ones. I very seldom suffer from a creative drought, my problem is I have too many ideas all competing to be brought to fruition. I will admit that some of them aren’t practical, some are way out of my skill range, and a few stick around and become reality. If I am having a hard time coming up with something to make I just start cleaning and rearranging my studio. Then I come across one of the lovely (or odd ball) things I’ve bought or collected and I’m inspired - I think of it as The Muse nudging me. By the way, my studio never seems to get cleaned up.

What are you favorite mediums/materials to work with?…do you have a favorite or unusual tool?What are you working on now? What materials would you like to explore in the future?
When did you start integrating found objects into your work?

I like silver because it is so easy to make a stunning piece of jewelry with it, but I have a real affinity for copper and brass. I like etching and layering different metals. I enjoy the challenge of attaching them together with a found object in a way that is esthetically pleasing and appropriate for each material. The first jewelry workshop I attended was taught by Keith LoBue and it was all about found objects and cold connections.

My new favorite tool is the hydraulic press and I hope to find ways to use what the press can do in interesting ways, otherwise its just a really big, expense way to avoid sawing.

Mixed media jewelry (c) J. Salley

Your husband, Richard, travels often for teaching/classes. When you do not go to assist, or teach at a venue yourself - what occupies your time most when you are solo?

I don’t mind solitude at all, so when Richard's away for a few days I’m quite content to make jewelry and have the soldering bench all to myself.

What short piece of advice would you give someone trying to find their creative voice and push forward?

My first piece of advice is to find something that speaks to you and learn to do that. Develop skills and knowledge in that area, take classes, read books, watch videos about the thing for which you are developing a passion. I say this because no matter how much natural talent you have, if you can’t handle the materials successfully you will never be able to express yourself fully. Last of all practice, practice and practice, and in that practice you will find your style and your voice. Remember your “practice” may be making a dozen rings, practice doesn’t have to be the jewelry equivalent of practicing the piano scales.

Mixed media jewelry (c) J. Salley

What artist ( living or dead) would you most like to meet and have dinner with?

Paul Revere, he was an amazing artisan. He was also a brave and bold man who was stood for what he believed in and it change the world.

Where can we see your work?

My work can be seen at GVG Contemporary Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico and on FaceBook.

Mixed media jewelry (c) Jane Salley

From Inside the Actor’s Studio: (short and simple)

What is your favorite word? Joy
What is your least favorite word? Can’t
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? I see beauty in what’s around me and if there is none I do what I can to create it by thought, word, deed, or Art.
What turns you off? Arrogance and pettiness
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Actor - I don’t know if I’d be any good
What profession would you not like to do? Corporate middle management
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Welcome home, my dear child.”

Thank you Jane! Your work always inspires this mixed media woman. Please stay tuned for Part 2 with Richard Salley ( date TBD as he is headed to teach in Tucson!)

Meet the Artist - Hannah Willow

Hannah Willow is a mixed media artist who creates beautiful jewellery, paintings, icons and oracles and has long been an inspiration to and admired by a number of the AJE team members. She lives in Wiltshire, England, next door to an ancient apple orchard with her family and a small menagerie and is inspired by the ancient landscape and history that surrounds her.

I wanted to share one of my favourite designers work with you but rather than just give you my perspective I asked Hannah if she would be willing to answer a few questions and share a little about herself and was delighted when she agreed - especially as it turns out that we trod similar paths escaping from corporate to creative lives. I hope you enjoy this little insight into Hannah's creative life as much as I did...

How/when did you first get started with your art/creative work…Do you have formal art training?

I've always been creative, even as a very small child drawing and making things for my parents and at school. My father still gets things out occasionally to show me. I always wanted to study art and go on to do my degree but after completing my foundation in art, my circumstances changed and I was no longer able to carry on studying. After that I spent twenty years working in a corporate environment getting more and more unhappy until finally I made the break and changed direction. I spent some time with a silversmith about twelve years ago, learning the absolute basics and everything from there I've learnt by trial and error. 

 

What is your greatest inspiration…do you ever suffer from creative droughts and if so how do you deal with it to stay inspired?

My greatest inspiration is nature, our land, our animals and birds and the connection to them that we seem to have lost in the last century. There are so many stories out there, and in history, that are elusive and ethereal and I like to try to imagine what some of those might have been. Working in two mediums means that if I suffer from a creative drought in one, I can usually swap over to the other medium and carry on working. A lot of the jewellery making is 'process' and although frustrating when I'm feeling creative and inspired, it can be useful when I'm in a slump as it means I can carry on working and keep the thread going until ideas start to to return. 

How/when did your interest in folklore, myth and legend begin? Do you have a favourite myth or legend?

I've always had a fascination for myth and folklore, the way history and ideas are passed down and change through the years. I often wonder about the origins of folklore stories, how far back they go and what the root of the story was. My favourite stories depend on what I'm inspired by at the time, but currently I'm working with the Selkie stories from around the UK, stories of seals who come ashore, take off their skins and live as humans for a while before disappearing back to the sea again one day.  

 

Do you have a particular animal you would consider to be your totem?

There are a few animals who speak to me and these are the ones shown most often in my work. Obviously Hare, who are abundant in the land where I live and who I see everyday as I walk my dog. They often streak across the field ahead of me as they see us coming! There is a lot of folklore surrounding hares and of witches shape-shifting into hares. I have a fascination with the idea that animals could have the ability to turn themselves to humans and back again. 

 

What are you favourite mediums/materials to work with…do you have a favourite or unusual tool?

My favourite mediums are silver and gemstone, and in recent months I've started to work with carving amber and bone, as well as scrimshaw. Amber is a very ancient stone, deeply connected to the forest and it holds for me the memories of the past and woodland stories. As for tools, I have all the usual silver working tools, probably the most unusual tool I use are toothpicks, they are useful for everything!  

 

As an artist working with related themes in both jewellery and illustrative mediums...How do you balance time…does one take precedence…does one inspire the other or do they cross-pollinate. Any advice for anyone trying to work across mediums?

Although I work in both jewellery and illustrative mediums, my work really is one body of ideas, just expressed in differing ways. My ideas cross pollinate each medium and often you will see similar inspiration and images arising across my work. The jewellery is more restrictive in how I can express the idea, and so can be more challenging to get across what I'm trying to say, however the freedom of the art can in itself make it more difficult than the jewellery as I have no restrictions on what I can do to achieve what I want and this can sometimes be overwhelming. I do struggle to work both together and so usually work in large chunks of time purely on one or the other. At the moment the jewellery tends to taken precedence, but this balance may well change in the future, especially as my eyesight is getting worse and it's harder to see making jewellery. 

  

What short piece of advice would you give someone trying to find their creative voice and push forward?

Do it. Don't wait for the 'right time' or having enough in the bank, or for others to ask for your work. Just get on and do it, put it up for sale, promote your work, get it out there on a website, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and go for it. Have a vision of who you are, what your creativity represents, and push that forward. Be inspired by others, look at how they work, what they produce (and how they market and price their work) but most importantly, don't copy. Have your own voice, your own style and spend as much time as you can on it. If you want to be an artist and earn a living by it, it will become all encompassing and take over your life completely, 24/7, there's no other way. Evening classes can be an amazing starting block to kick start creativity and give you new skills, several artists I know started their whole artistic and creative career by attending an evening class. 

Practically, having your own space set aside for your work is essential. Having to clear away your work every time you finish in order for the space to be used for something else will not work. It kills creativity and steals time. You will find that if you have your own space, it will be your sanctuary and even ten minutes stolen out there before breakfast will be productive and creative. 

 

What has been you greatest creative achievement to date?

My greatest achievement has been keeping myself alive and fed through my own work for over ten years. My ex husband told me I'd never make it as an artist, so having left my old life and done what I always should have done, answering that life long call, become an artist, been successful, paid my bills, fed myself (and my cats!) and produced a large body of work is my greatest achievement and satisfaction. I'd say to anyone who feels that call, do it, be brave. Don't go to the graveyard with 'what if's'.

Huge thanks to Hannah for sharing so openly with us. If you are in the UK and would like to see some of Hannah's work at first hand she is currently exhibiting at two locations (click on images for more info):

The Name of the Hare

 Alternatively you can find out more at the following links:

http://www.hannahwillow.com 

https://www.facebook.com/Hannah.Willow.artist
https://www.pinterest.com/willowhannah

Guest Blog: Collaboration

Today we have the talented and adorable Diane Hawkey. I got to meet Diane in person this weekend at Bead Fest and do a bead trade with her. Enjoy her post about collaborating with other artists. -Jen

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Several months ago I was lucky enough to be asked by Brenda Schweder to participate in a project she had organized.

Brenda had picked several bead makers and other artists to collaborate with her on individual pieces that were then auctioned off at the Bead and Button Social for breast cancer research.The concept was simple. Brenda would do the wire work and  the artists she chose would make the rest of the piece in their  medium.
I added a large red heart for a neck piece that included work by Tammy Rae Wolter. Brenda published these pieces in the book Collaborate: Friends In The Making.

This was not the first collaboration I have been involved with but it was the most formal one. It got me thinking about how we as artists and designers  rely on each other to expand the scope of our creativity. We can see our work in a new perspective.

At this weeks Bead Fest I saw  a necklace that Nikki Thornburg had made combining my ceramic house bead with her lampwork beads. It made my bead look better combined with her sense of design.

Tracy Bell is another artist that I have collaborated with several times. She does wire work and has used my beads. She created something that was larger then the sum of its parts. I wouldn't have pictured my word beads in this kind of of setting, but that's the trick of letting go of your creative work and allowing it to become something else. 

-Diane Hawkey

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You can keep up Diane on her blog  and shop at her Etsy store (currently a bit empty as she was at Bead Fest this weekend). 

Crazy for Clay

Just another in the continuing series of updates from Starry Road Studio.... Needless to say, I have been knee deep in clay, relishing with joy the ability to work in this medium again after a so long a time away while transitioning from KY to NY over the past year. Yes, that's right, it has been nearly a YEAR since I packed up and left KY to return to NY. Most of my studio has been packed up in storage and only in recent weeks have I begun the slow process of getting everything set up here. I was dying to get my pottery wheel set up and thankfully I managed to throw a few pots this past week. I still have to get my spray booth set up for glazing, but for now I'll use some dipping glazes for these pots.

I am continuing to explore beads, creating a variety of new forms and ideas.

Continuing in my series of woodland-themed beads, I finally got started on a new design for "Camping Beads", based on sketches from late last summer. I blogged about it here.

I am having a blast playing with various textures. I am especially LOVING wood. This started with some woodland themed pieces (logs, trees, etc.). I am carrying it over into my line of ancient amulets and beads. I wanted to convey the sense of the ancient along with the wood texture, so I created a texture I am calling "Petrified Wood" (as seen in the dark brown pieces below). I love the mossy old stone (in the lighter, greenish pieces), and ancient wood look of these...

I plan to explore these textures in pottery. I can't wait! Here's an idea with a sort of plant form growing out of a "tree" base. I will throw this in porcelain and sculpt it after. I'll post pictures when I get around to it. And perhaps it will inform new designs for beads too. Stay tuned!

Freeform Friday: feeling thankful

Have you noticed the people posting their daily things to be thankful for? I have and I admire the effort. I would start, fall behind, and then feel guilty/stressed that I wasn't being thankful enough! But it got me thinking... what experience in the art/jewelry field am I most thankful for? Class? Mentor? Trip? Tutorial? Instructor? 

I ask you to think on this, pour a cup of tea or coffee - and write a response to me in the comments!
My post is brief today - and I am giddy with excitement - and thanks... I am off to Washington DC for the day to spend it with my sister! She lives in Austin TX and is in town for a conference. So please don't equate my brevity with lack of caring...

My most thankful experience is meeting Keith LoBue. He is an amazing artist and an inspired teacher. He calls himself a "stuff smith" as he creates intricate swoon worthy pieces from found objects and diverse treasures. We met in San Diego at the Shepherdess - where he was teaching - it was after I had moved back East but I returned for his class. And we reconnected, and I was challenged anew each year, on his annual trip. I haven't seen him for a few years, he is based in Sydney Australia and doesn't travel as extensively as he did.

My first LoBue inspired mixed media piece. From his "Precious Little" class: antique sterling butterfly, pod, antique magazine paper, glass lens, gems...

Shrine work in progress - center focal composed of pods with vintage pearls, beetle wings, and auto glass, skeleton key, milk glass knob, cigar box, sandalwood fan... 

My first etching samples, my first resin pour.
 Experiments with antique book text. 

These classes were years ago - so I did my first etching and resin under Keith's tutelage - 8 years ago? Before the materials were commonly used in the art jewelry scene... This built a foundation for me - learning techniques to apply to my work, learning them well, being confident to implement them. 

But for me - it was also hearing the right information at the right time. The encouragement to think out of the proverbial box. The permission to play, and to alter materials beyond recognition if the piece required that. To not hold precious things too precious, and to hold dear the found treasures that spark creativity. To honor the patina of age, and the inherent history in an object - even if its specific are unknown to me. 

I was in  a period of transition - having just returned East and trying to settle into my new role as freelance teacher, and more importantly, working artist. I was, and still am working with clay, but it is one of many materials I draw on to say my piece. Mixed media became my voice, and I am thankful that classes with Keith helped me find it. I came away with skills, yes, but more importantly a philosophy that informs my work to this day. 

Aurora: vintage compact, magnifying lens, antique postcard, etched brass, rusted washer, silk...

Gaze: pocket watch case, sea glass, image transfer, pearls, antique images and text, resin, microbeads. 

Tell me you most what you are most thankful... 

Jenny
www.jdaviesreazor.com