Reflect

The sparkling, reflective quality of an everyday CD has always captured my imagination. From an artists standpoint it is a beautiful material on its own. And yet it mysteriously holds information, making it easy and inexpensive for me to quickly share thoughts, texts and images. Practical, yet still that sparkle…

As we attempted to burn CDs in our household, I realized we were burning through disks at a rapid rate. When something did not go right on the computer, I would agonize and wonder what I could do to get the data onto these elusive silver disks. My husband said, “Just throw it in the garbage and get a new one. They only cost ten cents apiece!” It was not possible for me to throw away these reflective circles. They sat in the corner, winking and reflecting, sometimes throwing a rainbow my way. For a show entitled, “Sparkle-Glitter-Reflect’, the perfect material shone from the edge of my workbench.

With the foundation material selected, I chose to work with historical silhouettes and shadows that I often employ. The shapes and outlines are instantly recognizable as jewelry. But then the materials are not as recognizable- modern and sometimes experimental. A traditional chandelier earring sparkles come from silvery polycarbonate. Upon closer inspection- the elements are cut out in a seemingly rough way, a process that melts the edges of the material through sawing- binding the different layers together. The earring is like a quick line drawing of a traditional form, but its gemlike sparkle cannot be restrained.