Jewelry artist JoAnn Graham creates flowing, organic jewelry out of silver focusing on line, form and texture. Visit her website to see more of her work.
I choreograph in sterling silver.
My work is inspired by my previous career as a dance educator honoring shape, line, form and texture. A variety of technical skills are part of my repertoire. They include forging, casting, etching and fabricating silver, fine silver, gold and steel.
My primary focus is forging. Hammering and heating metal is not unlike a dancer—defying gravity and sculpting out shape in the space surrounding the artist.
My work evolves organically as I stretch and shape metals with a variety of hammers and stakes annealing the metal as I work. Pieces are then filed, sanded and polished. In addition, I cast found objects from my environment off the coast of South Carolina and integrate them into my work.
As my work organically evolves, new technical skills come into play which cause me to develop higher standards for myself and my jewelry. After completing the fabricated work, pieces are then filed, sanded, polished or a patina is applied.
My goal is to have the resulting shapes and forms of my jewelry connect and interact with the wearer’s own kinetic experience, thus allowing for a sense of harmony and grace.
As an award-winning artist, I am always striving to improve. I will continue to learn and progress in my art for the rest of my career. I am never still. I find motivation in every corner of my life. As I progress in years my motivation to create has taken on a different challenge—to my surprise—a silversmith!
An integral part of my business is selling my work in galleries and teaching in a variety of settings. Teaching is also a great motivator for creativity. Sharing my work and talent is always reciprocated one hundred-fold. As I continue to grow I am excited to see where these connections take me! Watching students light up when they complete a piece of work is awe inspiring. Without this, the circle would not be complete.
It is ART. It is an interactive visceral process uniting artist and client.
Artist JoAnn Graham invites you to follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
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