02/08/2021
Its time again for another Artist Spotlight from our Studio Faculty Works 2021 Exhibition! On display now in the Fine Arts Building Hallway Gallery! Come by and see, even bring your students!
You may find Professor Black's artist statement and her wonderful pieces attached.
Professor Allison Black- Jewelry
ARTIST STATEMENT
I create wall pieces, sculpture, and jewelry; typically constructed in silver, copper, brass, nickel and bronze. The hand-formed and cast parts I combine to create my art are inspired by or taken directly from nature. My philosophy has evolved from my life experiences of endings becoming new beginnings. As in nature, this transformation of birth, life, death and rebirth can be both harsh and hopeful. For me, these cycles also exist in popular culture, through collections and recollections; and connections with reconnections and interconnections. My recent segway into this arena resulted in Truth Still Matters, a series of neckpieces made of manufactured whistles. Aside from the intended communication, is a reverence for the object itself. For me, part of the intrigue of jewelry, is the awareness of it by the wearer while wearing and interacting with it. These neckpieces create sound as the wearer moves about. This new series, Plectrum, pays homage to the plectrum or pick; the small tool held between the thumb and index finger of the musician while playing a guitar or mandolin. Picks vary is shape, thickness, size, color and material, and players are usually quite particular about theirs. I have appropriated these picks, recontextualized them; they no longer will make the music they were intended to make, but now they make different sounds as they dance together, forever connected to a multitude of others. The picks are either plain or imprinted, most often with the name of the pick manufacturer. Still others indicate sponsorship, a local music store, or a nation-wide chain; still others communicate musical gear or equipment makers, or guitar brands, periodicals, websites or instructional camps. Individually, these four neckpieces deal with their own intent. One neckpiece has picks of the same shape and material and lack an imprint yet have a limited colors and varied thickness. The neckpieces of mandolin picks, tortoise (Fender heavy) and white (Fender medium) tear drop shaped picks produce a different sound than the third neckpiece of rounded triangular guitar picks- all tortoise Fender mediums. These two neckpieces honor the Fender company as they celebrate their 75th anniversary. The fourth neckpiece is a collection from a traveling musician. He collected picks from music stores, businesses, gear manufacturers and guitar makers throughout his travels all across the United States. The musician held these picks separate from use, they never found their way into his pocket, to use at a moment’s notice; you see, each of these picks is bound with a memory, much like charms on a bracelet. A search of this neckpiece invites one to take the journey with him, find the familiar, see something new, make a connection.
