Description
Fabricated Drafts is an exhibition of jewelry inspired by the fragmentary aesthetic of informal architectural construction, temporary spaces and bricolage. This work exemplifies a particular act of making, where materials are curated, constructed and remnants from the maker are celebrated. Through the lens of jewelry and changes in scale, weight, and texture, these assemblages ask the viewer to consider new associations to raw construction materials and their intimate relationship to the body as adornment. Fabricated Drafts, is comprised of five groupings of work focused on the themes of weight, reconstruction, rigidity, remnants of process and division of enclosed space. The jewelry in this project is realized through a process of improvisation and spontaneity, which builds complex layers, and exposes unplanned moments within chosen industrial materials. The materials include cement, steel, and wood, whose surfaces were manipulated with treatments such as acrylic paint and industrial powder coat. Other jewelry related materials including sterling silver, nickel silver, brass and cooper are also utilized. In many of the pieces, techniques and mechanisms such as soldering, fusing, rivets and hinges are intentionally visible and harmoniously integrated with the industrial materials. All of the materials are treated and manipulated with the specificity of the 'jeweler's hand', where attention to detail and craftsmanship is crucial to the construction and wearability of each object. The installation for this exhibition disrupts the gallery space of its regular format by using slanted planks of drywall and irregularly constructed tables to exhibit each piece of jewelry. The position of these planks allowed the viewer to experience the work at a similar placement to where it would be worn, and activated a playful atmosphere for the viewer to engage with the work within the gallery space. The work contains dense visual detail and requests haptic investigation, thus making it important to view the pieces closely and from multiple perspectives. The tables in the exhibition display were positioned at forty inches tall and encouraged the viewer to handle the work. The body of work that comprised Fabricated Drafts was displayed in the Everett Gee Jackson Gallery at San Diego State University from April 13_ 18, 2013. Images of this thesis project are on file at the School of Art, Design, and Art History at San Diego State University
