where jewelry and small objects meet

mary jane dodd

mjd - 2014 offering bowl 

i've been pretty absent - i haven't felt like what i have been doing related to the blog - i mean, we have these powerhouse jewelry and component designers and makers. i had kind of wandered off down a spiritual and slightly bigger scale of working. 

mjd - 2014 sacred space

late last year i had a strong desire to make offering bowls - to use as part of sacred spaces. i am a firm believer that life is stressful and harried and we all need places to stop. to breathe. to be. whether they are religious or spiritual or not is up to you. 

at first, they had a short phrase, a mantra or something specifically requested.

mjd - 2014 offering bowls

mjd - 2015 bowl foot

they also filled my desire to make something on a scale larger than jewelry.

but that small scale used for adornment always calls - 

mjd - 2015 be still

and they got scaled down to use as the most portable offering bowls.

i was asked to use a full piece of writing in a bowl - and had gone up from my first ones in size a bit, so i set approx. 250 characters. 

mjd - 2015 live your truth

so the writing that went with 'live your truth' became this - 

mjd - 2015 offering bowl

mjd - 2015

and then the portable wearables followed -

mjd - 2015

foot

and the mats/pouches i put them in came into have matured as well.

what has been interesting is going back and seeing how things developed. i didn't foresee where i am now. and i have ideas for them being used on walls and such. 

this has been a rather new experience  - really sticking with something and working with it thoroughly. there is a lot to be said for the process. and i plan on continuing it. even though it may be boring for followers on instagram or facebook, it is rewarding. 

have you done any work that is larger than jewelry? or did you start as a different kind of maker and found yourself going to the smaller scale? 

guest post - ersi marina

On 3 September I was asked by Mary Jane Dodd to write a guest entry to this blog.  I was excited and thankful for the opportunity, and I am happy to be here with you all. 

My name is Ersi Marina Samará.  I was born and grew up in Athens, Greece and I have been living in Spain for the last 31 years.  I studied drawing and painting in Athens, and photography in Barcelona.  I also love literature, so I attended creative writing courses for five years during the nineties.  I got some short stories published in literary magazines.  Through the years I have learned as much from my own experimentations and from the work of artists I admire as from my studies and books.  You could say I am 50% self-taught and I certainly keep learning new things about my art and myself every day.

between words and fortune

I am constantly attracted to new techniques and media, and sometimes I need to step back from my work so that I can take everything in.  I like working with watercolours, India ink and graphite, though I also use acrylic inks and gesso, and collaged elements. 

the seamstress

untitled II

Lately I have been incorporating new materials to my work, particularly fabrics.  I am still a beginner in textile art and I have a lot to learn, but fabrics, their colours and textures, their patterns and history, have always fascinated me, so I think they are in my work to stay.

contemporary embroidery

Many things inspire me, physical objects, images or even ideas. But everything goes through the filter of my feelings. I can be very cerebral analyzing a finished work, but I need to create with feeling, establishing a deeper communication with my work, listening to it and trying to satisfy its needs.

sometimes outside

I usually avoid strong visual statements that seem to cry out their message.  I prefer whispers to shouts, suggestions to commands, serenity to tumult.  But I admit I also like contrasts.  Life is full of contradictions, people too.  Sometimes trying to express these contrasts and contradictions in my work is all too tempting. 

Eleonora di Toledo

a free interpretation of an original painting by Agnolo Bronzino

In 2011 I became very interested in book art, especially artists' books.  That is an area yet to explore and I crave the time necessary to do it.  

a long path with pauses - cover

a long path with pauses - inside pages

(editor's note:

ersi also made a beautiful contribution to the flags for peace project this past week, you can see it here)

ersi can be found -

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