Posted March 6, 2018
It’s been a long time since I posted on my jeweler’s blog but I’ve been working in jewelry studio the whole time. Over a year ago I closed my bricks and mortar storefront in Pinedale to focus more fully on jewelry design and creation. Currently my jewelry can be found here on my website, in select stores, and I will be attending some summer art fairs this year. For my local Pinedale people you can find my jewelry next door to my store at the Cowboy Shop. I want to give a quick update of what’s been going on in the studio:
With my more flexible time I’ve been making jewelry that is a little more time consuming to produce but also challenging and fun for me. This week I finished a small collection of handmade lockets; each locket is one-of-a-kind and feature a handcut gemstone heart on the front. I hadn’t tried cutting a heart shape before so that was a fun new thing to do.
Also in my recent new jewelry designs is a growing collection of cuff bracelets. I’ve been finding that I really like the palette of the wrist for being able to work with larger designs and stones. A few from the past months are a powerful geometric design, the “Wonder Cuff”; a 1920’s art deco inspired “Glamour Cuff”; and Wyoming big game antler favorites: “Moose Antlers” and “Elk Antlers”.
2017 was the year of the Great American Eclipse. The total solar eclipse passed right through the middle of Wyoming so my husband and I camped out on a nearby peak and were completely awed by the most amazing natural phenomenon we witnessed. We were on a peak in the nearby Gros Ventres Mountains and from there had 360 degree views of four mountain ranges: the Gros Ventres, the Grand Tetons, the Absorokas and the Wind River Range. I made a limited edition cuff bracelet celebrating this event with the sun and moon phases on the outside of the cuff and all of the states in totality along with the eclipse date on the inside. I still have a few silver ones left for sale on this site. I was wearing a bronze version during the eclipse and like to think that it was with me during that event.
A wonderful art experience in 2017 was a one-month artist residency at the Jentel Foundation. I was awarded the residency to focus on painting and worked on largescale abstract watercolors. I’m exploring light, gems, and refraction in this work and it is continuing. I am now working towards a solo show at the Center for the Arts in Jackson, Wyoming where I will show this body of work; the opening date for that will be the winter solstice, December 21, 2018. You can keep track of new work on my Instagram account.
Also coming up will be a solo show at the Sublette County Library in Pinedale for the month of October, 2018. I will be showing my jewelry design drawings next to the final pieces so that people can have a peek into my process. I think it will be really fun to share this with all of my local customers. And for now, please follow my Isabel Jewelry Facebook page and Instagram accounts for frequent photos and event updates. Hope you are all well!