Kayla Schwartz: capstone

2015 Spring.Colorado State University Art and Art History Department capstone project.Capstone contains the artist's statement, a list of works, and images of works.The artist's statement: I have always loved jewelry and learned about metalsmithing when I took my first metals class in high school. I continue my metal education throughout college and my work has been through many phases. Recently, I have become intrigued with the idea of incorporating precious materials like sterling and fine silver with cheap materials such as plastic. I am also intrigued by the material contradiction of using silver and plastic together. The transitions from mass produced toys to melted puddle to "stone" elevate the pieces. The silver, in turn, elevates the cheap plastic by making it look like a rare stone. My pieces are organic looking and focused around the organic shapes the melted plastic has formed. The melted ends of the fused links are organic in their own ways as well because they go against uniformity by being individual from one another. These pieces of jewelry that you see are organic, resistant to uniformity in every way, and show the clear contradiction between cheap and precious materials