Project #14: Beauty Marks

Project 14:

Title of Project: Beauty Marks

Approximate Start and End Dates: 9/15/12-9/15/13

Location of Project: Work will be made in upstate NY and final pieces will potentially be a part of a traveling exhibition.

Requested Funding amount (up to $400): $400

Project Overview:

Beauty Marks

Jewelry is meant to beautify and accentuate the form of the body. However, conventions of beauty vary tremendously from person to person, as well as across cultural and sub-cultural borders. As an jewelry artist, I have been investigating beauty norms, the relationship between body and beauty, and the way adornments interact with the body, but I really want to get beyond my own perspective. Thus, I am soliciting work relating to the body and beauty from artists, crafters, and makers of all kinds and all nationalities with the intention of "remixing" their pieces into wearable work. In this way, illustrations of beauty and the body will be remade into objects which interact directly with the body.

Each collaborator will send me a pair of small pieces, between 4"x4" and 12"x12" in size, one of which depicts the body in some way and the other which represents their conception of beauty. All the work will be documented, and selected pieces will be physically transformed by me into jewelry of some sort. The final exhibit would consist of all the submitted work, including the name, nationality, and any sub-cultural affiliations of the artists, and with the jewelry pieces displayed alongside images of the originals. While exact exhibition plans are subject to change, I expect to create a traveling exhibition, as well as blog extensively about it throughout the process.

The first round of the project would begin immediately. I would like to have the work by the end of January, 2013, with the show itself in August or September of 2013. I am presently based in upstate New York, USA; submitted pieces would be mailed there and that is where I will be working with them, but I am very interested in sending the final results out of the area as well as displaying them online.

Aside from the incredible opportunity crafthaus is offering to publicize the project and get feedback, I am asking for $400 to pay for collaborators' shipping costs, 6 months of a dedicated PO Box, the printing of digital work, and some materials for transforming the work. I want to make it as easy as possible for anyone who is interested to be a part of this project, and I can't wait to get started!

Thank you for reading this, and for your consideration.

Belly pic

As an example of some previous work in this vein, this piece embraces the pregnant body and the jewelry in question accentuates the form of the belly. But there are many ways in which the collaborator's work and my own could be related; for example, pieces of the collaborators' work might be set into silver like jewels, or a section of image might be etched into copper, or brass might be formed to mimic the contours of the body images submitted.

Cell drawings and jewelry

Furthermore, the "body" can be interpreted in a number of ways. The drawings above were based off of cellular processes, and jewelry was made to mimic the forms. The possibilities are endless, and will vary tremendously based on the work submitted.

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service