Out of My Mind, Onto Your Screen

2009-12-15T15:20:00.001-08:00

So I wanted to share with all of your what's been keeping me so busy lately. I just finished my BFA Metals degree and presented my thesis work in the museum on campus from December 4-8. The following beautiful photos were taken of the installation by Koehl Loren Ehlers, klehlersphotographer@yahoo.com:

The following is my artist's statement concerning the body of work and what inspired me in this process.

Entropy: Endemic, Epidemic, Pandemic

Entropy explores the concept of entropy and its place in and on the human body. Many of the patterns in Entropy are inspired by medical imagery, primarily enlarged views of cell colonies (particularly those of diseases) reproducing, developing and overtaking their host. I was initially drawn to a series of images revealing close-up views of a variety of diseases. These images are incredibly beautiful, filled with repeating patterns and fractal-like designs. That beauty can be found in something considered so debilitating is a very intriguing juxtaposition. I have since been working with these models to design several pieces of jewelry referencing these patterns. This body of work is an attempt to bring that which lies beneath the skin to the surface, changing the destructive into the beautiful.

In finding beauty in the unlikely place of the world of microscopic diseases, I hope to subvert traditional stigmas regarding what is socially accepted as “beautiful”. I was curious in creating this work to see if conceptions of what is attractive would shift when viewers are informed that the work is based on the structure of debilitating diseases. If the viewer does, on first look, find the work “beautiful” will this remain to be the case upon finding out what the work is based on, or would the viewer be appalled that beauty could be found in devastating organisms.

Additionally, several of the patterns that were used in composing Entropy were developed in response to results gained from my use of John Conway’s “Game of Life”. “Life” is a physics model that, upon being set with starting variables, creates a visual representation of the way diseases spread through a given population. These three pieces,

Endemic, Epidemic and Pandemic, will follow the stages of growth of a disease, visualized as growth on the body, starting with endemic, moving to epidemic and finally pandemic.

In, Endemic, phase one, the outbreak is isolated, and is represented by a neckpiece and a wrist piece displayed on an extended hand that reaches towards phase two, Epidemic. Epidemic contains a neckpiece, two hand pieces and a variety of assorted brooches, representing the more widened spread of the outbreak. Finally, the last phase, Pandemic, contains one wrist piece and a vast quantity of brooches, varying in size from 5mm to several inches, both in 2D and 3D to showcase different levels of outbreak. This phase of the exhibition also includes tiny brooches each representing a cell cluster. These will be available to be worn by viewers enabling them to interact with this phase and expand the spreading of the “disease” throughout the exhibition.

By working in great quantities of small silicon rings I am able to not only create the illusion of growth, but also create a “fabric” of sorts, a highly flexible object that moves as its wearer moves, appearing fragile yet remaining incredibly resilient. This flexible nature allows pieces such as the larger pins, each having more than one pin stem, to be fixed around curves of the body, so that they follow the movements of the wearer. Each piece captures a frozen moment in this simulated expansion, yet will leave viewers with the feeling that the cells may shift at any second.

Thanks for stopping by,

Melanie

2009-11-12T12:35:00.003-08:00

So I was nominated for a Windgate Fellowship! Here's to hoping I make it through to the next round of selections!!

:-)

ch-ch-check it out

2009-10-08T16:44:00.001-07:00

Thesis work in progress. I am so sick of looking at circles. 55 days till install

insanely large shipment

2009-09-23T14:21:00.001-07:00

oh man! yay for ponoko!

Enamelist Society

2009-08-11T17:52:00.001-07:00

For the sake of saving time I have posted photos of the ENTIRE beautiful exhibition here

Enamelist Society

Please visit and enjoy!

My Latest- thanks again Ponoko =)

2009-07-30T15:25:00.001-07:00

So this was my first experiment with felt. I am going to revise this so the parts around the closure are a bit more secure, but beyond that I am pleased.

2009-07-29T18:50:00.001-07:00

so, very soon, my jewelry will be available at Tulips, in NYC.

=)

Feature on 18Kt

2009-07-23T06:17:00.001-07:00

http://18kt.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/melanie-lynn-design/

Everyone should check out 18kt in general, it's a wonderful blog and there are always wonderful works on here!

New Work?

2009-07-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

I'm planning to have these laser cut out of felt, I'm thinking it's also high time I add some color to my work as I've only been working in black and white as of late.

Maybe magenta or some rich color of blue?

Oh, and these are most likely going to be bracelets, also, when I return to school I am planning on hand cutting a few small versions of these out of sterling to be made into rings!

And yes, clearly the circle obsession continues

Feature on Ponoko

2009-07-14T04:29:00.000-07:00

My feature on Ponoko's Blog!

Such excitement =)

latest love affair

2009-07-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

This necklace is gorgeous, hat's off to Chanel for once again creating something glorious.

=)

Sneak Peak

2009-07-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

I just got a new light box and photo lights [sweet! finally!] and the temptation to show how much larger my pearl body suit has gotten is overwhelming! BUT! I think I'm going to from this point forward keep that under wraps until completion. However, working through all the different media in the past few months I have been developing a lot of great new ideas for where to go with my entropy thesis. I'm so glad it's only July, lots of time to finalize and stress out =)

So, I placed a new laser cutting order the other day, the circle obsession continues.
With luck the pieces should come back looking like:

I think they're a bit mesmerizing to look at!

To say I am in love with this necklace would be suuuuch an understatement:

2009-07-05T18:09:00.001-07:00

http://blog.ponoko.com/2009/07/05/marc-newsons-fractal-necklace/

amazing!

New Work! and a new piece of necessary equipment

2009-07-03T16:05:00.001-07:00

So as one of the best early birthday gifts ever I am now the very happy owner of a dress form with fully pose-able arms and fingers [and my measurements! so not only can I display my work on it...I can get back into sewing!!!]

2009-06-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

wow I haven't posted in a while.
well, the internship is going well. as are plans with my business partner to get Melanie Lynn Design, LLC into a good place for when I graduate to propel itself forward.
I'm working on some new thesis stuff, stepping away from the silicone for a bit, and working with a full body piece made of pearls, strung on black silk so the knots disappear when worn over black or a dark fabric, and only a huge network of pearls, resembling molecular structures and constellations of the night sky will remain.

Internship!

2009-06-04T13:52:00.001-07:00

So I did it! I successfully landed an internship with Giles & Brother [in association with http://www.philipcrangi.com/]

I start monday and I'm so excited!

stretchy stretchy

2009-06-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

Continuing upon my previous piece, the Entropy 2 [shown above] here comes some new experimentation!

Soon to be a much larger piece, but in the meanwhile, I am loving the stretch factor of working with this silicon -it's nice making things that just slip into place comfortably!

new work?

2009-05-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

hmmm

earrings?

2009-05-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Thoughts? I'm really happy with the interlacing open circles pattern, i'm planning to have more cut, but out of 3mm felt so I can make some sort of necklace/collar piece out of it. hmmm.....

Etsy!

2009-05-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

Now open for business! After a 2 year hiatus.... I'm back!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6887348

Ponoko!New Designs!

2009-05-26T15:11:00.001-07:00

Update?

2009-05-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not trying to slack off on the updating promise! I am back at home for the summer back to my nightly waitressing job...BUT! This has been leaving a ton of time to work on my thesis [which I now have approval to move forward on!!!] and more laser cutting ideas and! As soon as this holiday weekend is over I should be arriving a new package of stuff from Ponoko! YES!
I have 4 new designs coming and then I will be all set to re-launch my etsy store! I'm incredibly excited about this work, and I am getting better at "proofreading" my designs so I am pretty sure this one no little lines will be overlapping or anything silly of that variety.

So check back soon! It's sure to be grand! =)

In the meanwhile... I leave you with this image which it seems I never posted? Strange!

Pareidolia Part II Chris's Thesis Work Opening Night

2009-05-16T10:32:00.001-07:00

More Ponoko? Newish Work?

2009-05-14T08:06:00.000-07:00

so last night I had the good fortune of being one of the first 100 to sign up for Value Prime with Ponoko, and scored a month for free! Sweet!
So I just, now that it's all nice and cheaper he he he, placed a rather large order, so I'm pretty excited. [So to the few of you who pre-ordered earrings and the like, they should be ready in about two weeks...maybe soonerish?]
So I'm still on my circle kick, the obsession is yet to leave... so Here's what I've been working on recently, and as soon as I have the stuff I will post it all here!

Chris' Thesis

2009-05-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

Well now, 6 hours later all things are good to go for Chris's thesis show. Everything looks amazing! I can't wait to see it with all the lights!
And during this process I managed to figure out a few things for my own future installations, mainly that I plan to make sure all my work fits in a shoebox....just to make life easier ;-)
I'm going to post photos after Friday, but for now, that is all.

Surfacing etc etc

2009-05-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

So the ticket is booked! I will be in California from August 6-14th! Surfacing here I come!

Things seem to be continuing to progress nicely with the Entropy series. I've been using Rhino to figure out my patterning, which makes life delightfully more simple when it comes to actually laying out all these tiny tiny rings. I also tested one of my pieces for structural security the other day, I'm pretty confident I have found the correct bonder at this point.
With luck I will get all my research done in the next month and then be ready to jump headfirst into thesis land!
oh dear!

Also I have about 7 new shapes/files ready to be cut by ponoko....now its just a matter of making sure my funds are in order...oy.

I've been profiled!

2009-05-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

I've been showcased! And I'm quite honored!

http://montserratlacomba.blogspot.com/2009/05/melanie-greenberg.html

=)

2009-05-02T04:42:00.001-07:00

So it's been a while, I've still been working on the entropy stuff, but I've been doing a lot of designing on my computer as well.

And...I'm slowly getting the hang of this Rhino thing I think =)

etc etc

2009-04-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

2009-04-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Excited as I am about the prospect of creating a huge body encompassing piece that spans onto the floor and walls surrounding it, I also think it is important that my collection contain more wearable pieces that still exhibit the feeling of entropy and disorder of the body. I am working out some sketches now for pieces that would, in reality, be able to be worn, in a practical manner, in every day settings, without discarding or watering down my original intent or imagery. We shall see...I am getting more comfortable with this, and the idea seems to be expanding, so with luck I will have enough together to get formal approval soon so that I can begin some serious work.

I'm getting scared, December is not as far away as I thought it was.....

Entropy etc

2009-04-04T12:09:00.001-07:00

Entropy

2009-04-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

I think I now have a fairly decent idea where I want to go with my thesis, delving into the idea of entropy and disorder. I'm hoping to be able to incorporate the knotted chain series I did as well as the nets and circular pieces. I also hope that in continuing to research this I will be able to explore medical views of disorder and entropy.
More to follow.

this is not art related

2009-03-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

waitressing on 2 hours of sleep is heinous.

heinous

Ponoko and Other

2009-03-24T16:01:00.001-07:00

Okay so....I finally got my first order from Ponoko! Very exciting! this was my introduction to having things laser cut.
So, the smallest shapes are destined to be earrings, the others pins, also down at the bottom of this is a piece I hand cut from this kind of felt board? It's felt...but it's been stiffened somehow, anyhow, it's based on growth of nerve cells.

Back in New Paltz!

2009-03-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Okay so, here's a couple more images of whats currently happening. I'm still working on that netting piece, but since I have another head and I can never work on one thing at a time, heres some further progress with a piece of cell-colony inspired work. I am still very interested in the idea of something taking over the face/upper body of a person.

And my business cards finally arrived! I got them from http://www.moo.com/flickr/ and I am incredibly happy with the way they came out.

2009-03-20T16:40:00.001-07:00

it just occurred to me I have not soldered anything together in about 2 months. I should fix that soon.....

Trapped, continued

2009-03-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

continuation of work on netting:

MAD

2009-03-18T12:40:00.000-07:00

Okay well I have a bit of downtime while I embrace some public transportation back to jersey so I thought I'd get a post in. The jewelry exhibit was very impressive,and I ran into Beth! Haha quite the nice surprise, so anyhow, it was pretty interesting going through all the drawers and getting to see so many vastly different pieces. I appreciated the diversity of forms and mediums and overall I found the collection stimulating with the exception of a few rather obnoxious items I personally could have done without. I got the chance to see a side of Myra's work that I had never experienced before and that Beth and I both considered very very different from any of her forming works that we had previously been exposed to (although a few floors up I saw one of her melting teapots as well). I also got to see a few Joyce Scott pieces, one of Ted Notens resin necklaces (one of my favorite collections) and a good lot of works concerning the body in a variety of ways. I'm pretty sure that's the "category" I will be focusing on for this paper (oh and I plan to post images later when I am not still on my blackberry :-) ) after seeing all this I left the Tiffany gallery and headed up through the rest of the museum. There were a few pieces I found intriguing for the most part though this place is really now my cup of tea....and for 15 dollars entry fee it is suuuuch a tiny museum. But I digress. In the open studios I met an artist who is collecting fingerprints on glass in enamel paint for a huge collection she's putting together, so I offered up my right hand.
I'm going to end here for now by just saying I loathe busses and bumpy roads.

Edit:
Okay home now, FINALLY off that god-awful bus so as promised, some pictures! (And this way I have a running record of influences =) )
Julia Barello, Vascular Studies II: Lung, 1996

Flora Book, Birds I, 1986

Rian de Jong, Vessel 2006-07

So this one was definitely one of my favorites for the day.
Marie Aimee Grimaldi, Bracelet, 2001

Dorothy Hogg, Neckpiece in the Artery Series (Large Circle), 2005

okay and one last one for today:
Lam de Wolf, Yellow Shoulder and Body Piece, 1983

That's all folks.

Wednesday

2009-03-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

So today I'm trekking into the city to go to MAD. I hope I see something inspiring....

Day 1 Continued

2009-03-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

Older work that I haven't really posted anywhere. So these pieces were made in Fall of 2008. Having previously worked in a fine jewelry store, I have spent many hours untangling people's neglected, improperly stored chains. These pieces grew out of my desire to highlight these "flaws" as something beautiful. Imagine purchasing a chain that already had a knot carefully worked into it? The jeweler would hand you the box, chain inside carefully pinned into place so that no unnecessary knots would be added, and so that it was very clear all knots included were intentionally. The last piece shown "Purposeful Placement" arose from a common habit I have observed in people. Whenever a chain slips its way around the neck of its wearer so that the clasp is in the front, those who notice are inclined to reach up and adjust the wearer's jewelry for them. The lobster clasp shown in this piece is attached to a pin so that the wearer can fasten it where they wish the clasp to remain, short of ripping the wearer's shirt there is no chance the necklace can be repositioned, much to irritation of those who see it, and the amusement of the wearer who is aware of the hidden secret.

"Knot" Sterling Silver Fall 2008

"Purposeful Placement" Sterling Silver Fall 2008

Day 1

2009-03-17T11:19:00.001-07:00

Ah spring break. About time to catch up on half finished work, overlooked ideas and....to start a blog. Why not?
So, I suppose a little introduction might be in order, for anyone who sees this that doesn't know me. My name is Melanie, I am currently a senior at SUNY New Paltz, set to graduate in Fall 2009 with a BFA in Metals. I have a love/hate relationship with metal as a medium, and a life long love of jewelry and everything related to it. Although this blog will showcase a wide variety of mediums and works, I am most interested in exploring non traditional materials, and materials that are often overlooked and not generally considered to be of value. The ability of the title of jewelry to elevate the status of these materials fascinates me, and I feel opens the door for substances other than gold, silver and precious stones to be showcased on the body as a means of adornment. So for the moment I'm going to just post some in progress works, and from this point forward I'm going to do my best to keep everyone updated on my process as it happens. Comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.

On a whim a few weeks ago I ordered 2,000ish o-rings, these tiny little things have been made into chains, clusters and all sorts of things, until I decided to bust out my trusty Krazyglue and get to work on this :
For the past few months I have been exploring ways of incorporating science and cell biology, one of my other loves, into my work. I am very interested in this piece as it continues to grow, how the smaller o-rings are forced into position by those around them, and the clusters that they form.

Also in light of the suffocating feeling I have had in the past few years concerning my work, academics and the state of the world around me, I have started working in a very different direction. Using sewing thread and a crochet hook, I have been attempting to create a piece of work that slightly resembles fishermans netting. This will be the first piece I have ever worked on that will encompass the head/face region of the body, and I am hoping to achieve a sense of being trapped. I will post more photos when I have progressed further.