Artist Statement:
By the time I was five I’d lived in Madrid, Spain; Orange County, California; in the city of La Paz, Bolivia; and in the small town of Fayetteville, New York. After spending the better part of my childhood upstate, at thirteen my family relocated to El Escorial, a community an hour northwest of Madrid, and then to Fuengirola, a beach town on the Southern coast of Spain, where I lived until my mid-twenties. Such a nomadic upbringing led me to identify with the gypsy culture I encountered in Fuengirola and provided a rich mix of regional and cultural influences that would later become the underpinnings of my work as an artist.
It seems only fitting, then, that my first Metalsmithing class took place in the center of a bull-ring in Estepona, Spain. Not only is my work heavily influenced by the gypsy and flamenco aesthetics found in the arena, but it also attempts to strike the balance of powerful delicacy typified by the movements of both toreador and bull. By coupling bold, circular forms with natural textures, I try to achieve a soft heft that evokes both strength and femininity.
It is this tension that Dragneva, my current collection of fine art jewelry, explores. The collection is named after my strong-willed Bulgarian grandmother, who inspired the necklaces, reminiscent of an armored breast plate of a woman warrior and more as seen in her line.The second line, Mar, consists of rings and cuffs cast from shells, inspired by living a big part of my life by the sea in Spain, while pieces in the next line are marked by the idiosyncratic yet familiar lines and shapes found in the old-growth forests of upstate New York. Using the impressions of sugar maple and beech bark, I rely on the natural lines of the wood to design and texturize cuffs, rings, and earrings she states. The last line is the sentiment and energy I picked up from Barcelona in the two years that I resided there.
The gallery is located at 144 Main St, Stowe. Contact 802-279-4239 for more information or visit the artist’s website .
