PeggySkemp

Back in the Studio, and Everything is New.

peggyskemp — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:32:52 +0000

Its been a while since I’ve blogged, and of course a ton of stuff has happened!!!

I had 3 print ads up around town at Chicago’s CTA stops. The model in the ads is my gorgeous little sister, Colleen. The photos were all taken by local fashion photographer, Rachel Hanel, with makeup by the very talented Colleen O’Sullivan.

Ad featuring my tubelet fungi ring and necklace to go up at the Belmont stop.

Print ad featuring my silver Original Anatomical Heart Locket, to go up at the Fullerton stop.

Ad featuring my silver anatomical brain ring and fluorite and diamond tentacle ring.

In addition to the print ads, I partnered up with the Professor Blastoff podcast. Its a comedy podcast (free for download on i-tunes, or listen on their website) in which three of my all-time favorite comedians; Tig Notaro, Kyle Dunnigan and David Huntsberger talk about science and philosophy. What could be better?! Nothing. I spent the whole month in Italy listening to PBO while I learned hand-engraving and trying to devise a way to justify collaborating with them. The ads aired in episodes from the beginning of December-mid-January. I wrote the “ad copy” myself, a totally new exercise for me. The plugs I wrote featured two of Kyles amazing impressions- Donald Trump and “Al Gay-ore,” urging you to go to my website. To write the copy I listened to Kyle’s impressions for inspiration, then watched a whole bunch of videos of Al Gore and Donald Trump speaking, making notes of the funniest, most persuasive things they said. The plugs turned out amazing, and I’m honored that the blastronauts kept a few samples of my work… My understanding is that Sarah Silverman (Kyle’s special lady friend) now owns the lung locket, and that Tig gave her girlfriend my anatomical heart locket- which made me pretty darn proud. Peggy Skemp: jeweler to the stars!

After that, in February I went with some awesome lady jeweler friends to Tucson for the gem show. It was incredibly fun, and now I’ve got some really interesting stones for the one of a kind work I hope will be finished and ready to show by mid-April…… Probably the coolest are a parcel of petrolated quartz, which has inclusions of yellow petroleum, and inside the petroleum, water bubbles! These inclusions are very tiny, but in some of them, you can see the bubbles move with your naked eye. Its very rare and interesting. Here’s a sneak peak of the hoard!

ammonites, opals, agates, sapphires, sphene for use in the up-coming collections.

Petrolated quarts, opal, agate, sphene

Fire agate, opal for new designs.

Venadinite druzy

When I got back from Tucson, I immediately moved out of my crumby old place into a beautiful new place in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago. Its a really inspiring spot. The first thing I did was hang my favorite pieces of artwork. Then a trip to Wisconsin to pick up the workbench my Amish friend John Henry Kemp made. We designed it together, and it is spectacular! Here are a few photos of the new space.

Living Room: Amy Casey’s original “Hive” painting and my loom.

The workbench John Henry made.

Breakfast nook.

Dining room, where i do most of the design work.

Welcome: my charmingly crooked door

Works in Progress

peggyskemp — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:25:43 +0000

Now that I’m back from Italy and fully settled in, its back to the business of smithing-it-up in preparation for the One of a Kind Show here in Chicago, December 6-9. This is the most humongous and fanciest show I have ever been a part of so I’m hitting the work-bench hard, preparing designs in a range of prices; plenty of $30 necklaces as well as a few brand new, very unusual pieces I’m making specifically for this very special show. Of course, I will have my signature anatomical heart lockets, carnation and blackened silver tentacle sculpture rings, and my new opening brain rings with special stones or engraved cross-sections inside. I’ll also come prepared with a few wild, sculptural tentacle rings set with blue diamonds, red/orange fire agates and electric green ammolite fossils and a jellyfish piece set with a dazzling ocean-derived fossil. It will be sort of a similar design to this druzy jellyfish I had at the Renegade San Francisco show, but with a very different type of gem. (The druzy one sold before I could get a decent photo of it!)

Conchina stone for new jellyfish piece

This photo doesn’t quite do the stone justice- it glitters with spectacular blue, yellow and pink light-play.

One of a kind jellyfish necklace with “wind cloud” druzy by Peggy Skemp 2012

I am most excited about a visceral-looking eyeball ring I’ve just begun, a very unusual piece which I will set with a dazzling flower-cut sea green fluorite. It will be the first original, sculptural piece I have done that will be hand-engraved in my customization of florentine style, in which the veins bare a slight resemblance to florentine scrolls. Quite excited about that little beauty. I will also have some brand new fungi pieces, and a small collection of my new hand-engraved scientific illustrations. Working at engraving barnacles, nautilus shells, squid and 4 hand-made Italian silver frames. On two of the frames I am planning on doing the traditional Florentine scroll-work I just learned, and the other two will be my own designs, vasculature and DNA strands executed in my variation on the Florentine style.

Here are some older one-of-a-kind pieces that are in the same vein as a few of the new pieces I’ll have at One of a Kind! Hope to see your smiling face in Chicago this December. And you know what special guests will be there with me? My mom and sister!!

Silver tentacle necklace with briolette-cut red opal by Peggy Skemp 2010.

Ammonite Necklace by Peggy Skemp 2011

Green Ammonite Tentacle Ring by Peggy Skemp 2011

Diamond tentacle sculpture ring by Peggy Skemp 2010

Tubelet fungi necklace, ring and hair comb by Peggy Skemp 2012

Tubelet fungi ring by Peggy Skemp 2012

Tubelet fungi necklace by Peggy Skemp 2012

Lattice Cluster Fungi Ring by Peggy Skemp 2010

Custom rose and white gold brain ring by Peggy Skemp 2012

Last Practice Engravings

peggyskemp — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 10:59:55 +0000

My final practice engravings!!!
Week 3 I began making some of my own work on the side… Finishing those up this week in Praiano, Campania Italy! I also was able to go back to the La Specola museum and will post some amazing pics from that visit this week! It has inspired a bunch of new designs to be hand-engraved in the Florentine style. I will definitely have a limited collection of those ready by the One of a Kind Show in Chicago December 6-9.

Practice engraving completed at Le Arti Orafe by Peggy Skemp during week 2 of the hand- engraving course.

Completed week 2 of the engraving course at Le Arti Orafe. Detail of practice engraving by Peggy Skemp.

Doves and Prunes practice engraving by Peggy Skemp from the end of week 1.

Hand engraved boarder study by Peggy Skemp

Hand-engraved boarder studies by Peggy Skemp.

Studie of hand-engraved circles. They are meant to have an even shimmering-effect, like a record, with movement. Its great practice for both straight-lines and circles.

Engraved bronze plate by Peggy Skemp. It has strange titty-dragons. I’m not sure what it means.

Study of traditional Florentine scroll-work by Peggy Skemp.

Detail of Florentine-style scrolled frame by Peggy Skemp.

Hand-engraved sterling silver granito leaf broach by Peggy Skemp, completed the second-to-last day of class at Le Arti Orafe.

Sterling silver jewelry completed the last 2 days of class at Le Arti Orafe by Peggy Skemp.

: Silver practice engraving by Peggy Skemp

Detail of silver medal by Peggy Skemp

Silver practice engraving by Peggy Skemp

Silver practice engravings by Peggy Skemp

New Engraving Studies

peggyskemp — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:52:52 +0000

Here are a few more engraving studies I completed last week, week 2 of the engraving intensive I’m working on at Le Arti Orafe in Florence, Tuscany. It was a challenging week!

At the risk of sounding like a woman wearing a rainbow shawl, I would like to share some realizations I am having through my experience with engraving. I am gaining an awareness of what Echart Tolle calls “The space of the present moment in which all things happen,” through a perception of my body, the tool, and an utter focus on all aspects of my movement that contribute to the one line I am making. Engraving usually happens one line at a time… Its similar to improv and a lot of other things I’ve tried in that when I lose touch with the present moment, projecting into the past or future, or standing outside myself in critical judgement, my work suffers. When I am struggling in spite of my focus on the line, it is usually either because some aspect of my body orientation is incorrect; my thumb is 3 mm too low, the graver is at a 45˚ angle when it should be 30˚, my fingers are too far back on the graver, or my opposing thumb is not positioned properly to give the control I need… There are many aspects of one’s physicality that are vital to proper engraving. After I have done this for a long time, I hope that the physical aspects of engraving will become second nature. But focus will continue to be very important… In addition to mindfulness of posture, in 2 weeks of the engraving intensive I have learned how important it is to “listen” to my tool. Is it sharp enough? Is it sharpened to the correct angle? And what sound is it making on the metal- am I engraving with enough speed for it to be a fluid line…? And is it oiled? Should it be oiled? (Depending on what bollino one is using, it should either be frequently oiled between lines, or not oiled at all.) I’m sure all of these considerations become second nature to the seasoned engraver, but as a student it requires my full attention to maintain control over all of the variables. When my mind wanders, especially to points of anxiety, I find that my work suffers immensely. Sometimes I also forget to breath!

Which is all to say there is something wonderfully Zen about engraving…. To do it properly I must be “utterly and completely here in this moment” as Eckhart Tolle talked about. When I am in the past or the future my engravings become horrible. Making something horrible never feels good… but I’ve also learned to forgive myself for moments of un-focus and move on, just being more mindful of my movement, tool and breathing from that point on. And suddenly my lines are beautiful again. Below are images from week 2 of the engraving intensive. You may notice some mistakes… Bepe, the instructor would say “Ah, normale!” and make a gesture to move on.

Engraving Study- Vines- Week 2 of Engraving Intensive

Hand-engraved text study by Peggy Skemp from week 2 of engraving intensive at Le Arti Orafe

Completed “fancy” and small Florentine typeface studies from week 2 of engraving intensive, by Peggy Skemp.

Detail of fancy Florentine typeface study by Peggy Skemp

Engraving study by Peggy Skemp from day 3 of week 1- back when circles were still very difficult!

Grapevine study by Peggy Skemp, day 6 of engraving intensive in Tuscany.

Grapevine detail by Peggy Skemp- day 6 of engraving intensive course at Le Arti Orafe.

Study by Peggy Skemp from day 7 of hand-engraving course at Le Arti Orafe.

Detail from engraving study by Peggy Skemp.

In which the devil-king is sticking his tongue out!

Incisione Avventura!

peggyskemp — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:46:03 +0000

Earlier this year I started to feel as if I had a lot of ideas I was having trouble implementing… In searching for new ways of making, I started asking myself where my biggest strengths are as an artist, and how can I utilize those to make more interesting, adventurous work. I’ve always been more of a painting/drawing artist than sculptor, but outside of my 2010 collection of enameled work, this is not evident in my jewelr.. That realization was the first crumb in a trail of delicious bread crumbs. An old friend, Adam Neeley, had jump-started his career by going back to school at Li Arte Orafe in Florence Italy. I met Adam while studying at GIA when I was 18. He was 17 and already an incredibly gifted, successful jeweler. But when he got back from Florence he was literally a master goldsmith with a new skill called “iris gold,” a technique that only about 6 metal smiths in the world know how to implement… its a seamless transition in of pure gold to pure silver. When I first began my business, Adam gave me a lot of good tips on how to begin, and I thought it might be good to follow his lead yet again.I believe Adam was enrolled in Le Arti Orafe’s 1 or possibly even 2-year program. That was years ago and he currently has 2 stores devoted to his own original designs. If you are in San Francisco, stop by his swanky new showroom at 255 Grant Avenue!

Though it would be a dream, I can’t afford to totally abandon my business for a whole year (or 3!) But looking into their programs I saw that Le Arti Orafe offers short 1 and 3 month intensive courses. I was particularly taken with the idea of studying hand-engraving since I have always loved to draw. Engraving would be an excellent way to execute my meticulously detailed scientific illustrations, especially when combined with etching, chasing and repousse techniques, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I learned traditional (and non-traditional) techniques for scientific illustration from Peggy MacNamara who taught a wonderful class through The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (my alma mater) which took place at the field museum. Every Tuesday of my last semester, I spent the entire day playing in the collection, carefully stippling huge drawings of cicadas, frogs and peregrine falcons. Some of my best work at SAIC came out of that class. Following the trail of bread crumbs left by other artists I admire has lead me to make huge strides in my practice, and has given me the requisite guidance and permission to take the risks that are so important to artistic growth.

Fast-forward to now. At this moment I am blogging from my apartment in Florence, 8 days deep in a 1-month intensive engraving course! (Incisione is Italian for engraving.) It is absolutely a dream come true. There are only 4 other students in the class, and our instructor is Joseppe, or Bepe as we call him. He is a master-engraver who speaks no english. He is the sweetest most insanely-talented grandfatherly guy you could ever hope to meet, and I feel both nurtured and challenged in his class. There are a lot of incidental injuries that come with learning engraving. My fingers are currently covered with blisters and little cuts, which will hopefully turn to callouses soon. Earlier today when I cut myself, Bepe tenderly put a bandaid on my finger. (awwww!!) Besides the fringe-benefit of some good old fashioned grandfatherly nurturance, I immediately saw huge improvements in my skill, and am incredibly inspired! Each day when class is finished, I race home on my bicycle to make new design drawings…
I am working on intricate drawings of jellyfish, brain cacti, and swirling fields of DNA. With my new skill, I hope to make elaborate drawings on silver- some of which will become jewelry- chased, engraved cuffs, collar-pieces, necklaces; but also pieces of fine art intended for display. I am also thrilled to learn how to expertly write text- that is what I worked on all day today. So when I get back to Chicago I will finally be able to hand-engrave my customer’s bridal jewelry.

Over the next few weeks I will post photos of the new work I have been making, as well as relevant field trips I am taking, like a visit to the Museo di Storia Naturale where they are currently showing a huge exhibit of incredible crystals, in addition to the Specola wax anatomical models. Any of my fellow Anato-philes should stay-tuned!

Though I am trying to “Be here now” like Ram Das taught us, I can’t help but live in my drawings and in the future just a little bit. I was invited to do the One of a Kind Show this December, which presents the perfect opportunity to unveil my new one-of-a-kind, hand engraved designs. So queue Eye of the Tiger… as soon as I get home I will have to immediately put my bollino to the silver and continue to engrave like crazy. And in the mean time, I have only so much time for sight-seeing here, as I am busily practicing and creating the drawings and designs to implement in time for the holiday!

Here are some pics of my initial practice engravings, in the order they were completed. Over the coming weeks I plan to post pictures of my other practice pieces from class, as well my drawings and photos of interest from the museum. Stay tuned!

These are the first pieces I made at Le Arti Orafe, all completed the first and second day! The intensive is… molto intensivo!!!

Practice engraving made by Peggy Skemp, day 3 of Le Arti Orafe’s engraving intensive in Florence, Tuscany.

Day 3 we learned to use the damasco graver. I had a bit of trouble with the background, but it came out ok in the end.

Day 4 we learned to implement a pave technique for the background, similar to the stippling I would need to use for traditional scientific illustration-style engravings.

Day 7 we added the technique “slagatura” with the fondo graver. molto osctico!!!

Practice engraving of text, day 8 by Peggy Skemp

Bepe’s sample scrolls.

: This is my work bench at Le Arti Orafe. That round thing is an invention of Bepe’s to help make engraving curves easier.

This and That

peggyskemp — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 15:43:19 +0000

Summer is racing by and exciting things are happening in the studio and at my retailers! A few weeks ago the Chicago Reader listed me as ”Best Jewelry Artist” Chicago, 2012. There were 3 minutes of triumphant karate all over the studio upon learning that news! But this week I put down the confetti canon and got back to work… finishing up some special jellyfish and hydra pieces for the Renegade San Francisco and Los Angeles shows in a few weeks…. stay tuned!!

In June I visited The Evolution Store in NYC to bring them a new collection of work and ogle their mesmerizing taxidermy! They have been stocking up on tentacle jewelry!

While in NYC, I stopped into Old Hollywood‘s new location on Manhattan’s lower east side to bring them a fistful of heart lockets and left with a fabulous pair of sunglasses and my new all-time favorite hat, a wide-brimmed straw number with a drawstring so it won’t fly off when I’m sailing down the lakeshore on my bicycle! They have a marvelous collection of lovely, affordable jewelry and summer dresses and have repeatedly been voted “Best Jewelry” by New York Magazine.

I had the pleasure of bringing new jewelz to Goldbug in Pasadena recently as well. I had to snap up a pair of brown and white porcupine quill earrings and the most amazing black dress made by the proprietress. It has flamboyant bubble hips and a very low back… so wonderful I had to wear it out of the store, forgetting that my next stop was frisbee-golfing, which did not seem to raise any eyebrows in LA. It was exciting to see all the other thrilling, hilarious, beautiful art objects they are purveying, including Lisa Wood’s insect dioramas!

Goldbug is having a huge sale right now.

One of a Kind Vault Volume 3: Phasmids

peggyskemp — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 01:08:03 +0000

Phasmids are the crude sensory organs of the Secernentea class of nematode parasites. All of these necklaces were created in 2009 in copper and lead free vitreous enamel, fired in my Paragon enameling kiln. They were my first experiments with enamel, a very tricky medium. At the time I was obsessed with parasites, how non-human creatures experience and navigate the world- a theme that looms large in much of my work.

Sensitivity to timing and meticulous cleanliness is required for an enameled piece to turn out alright. Each Phasmid was fired with 2-4 layers of enamel. Seconds longer in the kiln could be the difference between a sugar-fired, granular texture, a flat glass finish, and completely burning the piece beyond repair. The tension of pulling a piece from the kiln in the nick of time, and without it flopping off the trivet or worse, falling on the studio floor, was quite a thrill!These are the pieces that I was pleased with. They were incredibly fun and challenging to make and I hope to fire up the enameling kiln again this winter.

The One of a Kind Vault vol. 2: Micro

peggyskemp — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:03:23 +0000

Enameled copper and silver Frolicking Amoebas necklace by Peggy Skemp 2009.

There were some experimental times in 2009, when I first got my Paragon kiln and was learning enameling. I was into this book on Parasitology I had gotten. It was a textbook I had been coveting for a while and then had miraculously found used for $3 at a library book sale in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. There are some special books floating around that town, to be sure.

So I got the kiln and started selecting the most interesting shapes and topics from a few choice text books, meandering rifts on the microscopic world. There were Dancing Flukes, Frolicking Amoebas and sugary neurons, and then later the parasite’s sensory organs, which came across as even more abstract than the more straight-forward cellular shapes. I enjoyed the obsessive attention required to obtain a certain result from the enamel- a very finicky medium since its technically painting on metal with fire.

This playing yielded some very fun projects, most of which sold at Florodora in Chicago.

: Copper and silver enameled fluke necklace (orange peel fired). Peggy Skemp 2010

Enameled yellow fluke necklace from the Sensitive parasite series by Peggy Skemp 2009-2010

Enameled copper and silver “Frolicking Amoebas” necklace by Peggy Skemp 2009

Enameled copper and silver Nematode Necklace by Peggy Skemp 2009

: Enameled copper (sugar-fired) Lemon Neuron necklace by Peggy Skemp 2009

Enameled copper and silver hook and anchor necklace by Peggy Skemp 2009.

: Enameled copper and silver Phasmid Necklace from the Sensitive Parasite series by Peggy Skemp 2009.

The One of a Kind Vault, Vol. 1

peggyskemp — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:14:43 +0000

I realized recently that I had inadvertently cleansed my website of all the less-than perfect photos from earlier in my jewelry-making career (by which I mean a few years ago.) While contributing to a slick look, omitting these photos is really a shame because it means a lot of people probably have never seen some really weird and lovely stuff I made in the past; the “Sensitive Parasite,” and “Mendel’s Garden” collections, and some interesting enameled mobile pieces… So I’m going to gradually, teasingly release these photos to you in tassel-spinning blog posts.

This first batch from the one of a kind vault are from “Mendel’s Garden;” a series of copper and silver enameled peas and pea flowers. I fabricated the peas, leaves and pea flowers in copper, mainly through repousse. This was one of my first enamel projects, although I am hoping to get back to using that technique once I am fully moved into my new studio in WI next month.

Enameled Copper and silver pea necklace by Peggy Skemp 2010

Purple pea flower necklace by Peggy Skemp 2010

: White Pea Flower Necklace by Peggy Skemp 2010

Muscular photography.

peggyskemp — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:51:49 +0000

Carnation and sterling silver muscle necklaces.

Illustrious mavin of the lens, Rachel Hanel has put the finishing touches on the photos of my new work and she has really out-done herself this time! Here are a few of my favorites from the muscle portion of the shoot with more coming soon! The model is my stunning, strong sister, Colleen. Most of the rings are in women’s sizes although I am also working up some muscular gents jewelry for the shows this summer so stay tuned….

I am obsessed with how beautiful physical bodies are from all angles and depths… Freckles, skin, muscle, vasculature, and bone down to the spongy lattice-work. The biological world is functional art and my recent collections are mostly frenetic rhapsodizing about that.

Carnation pink silver Heart Vasculature Rin

I am still planning on coming up with some new muscular jewelry before I completely say goodbye to this series. I like the direct conceptual metaphor of jewelry being of the body, for the body, and our organs of strength are literally so elegant.