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 Katherine Swift
Jewelry
Artist Statement
I
believe in designing and creating jewelry that is distinctive, while
being fun for someone to wear. Much of my inspiration comes from the
simple aspects of life; I love being able to express my love or
fascination with a dream, place, idea or vision in a piece of jewelry.
By incorporating a combination of color, texture, movement and dimension
in all of my pieces, I am best able to communicate my perceptions.
Success for me is when my jewelry becomes a piece of contemporary art
suitable to start a conversation.
I
have received influences from many sources. Every artist I meet
inspires me in a distinctive way. Each person has their own techniques,
but more importantly has their own vision. I experiment and learn more
after sensing someone’s mental picture. Much of the inspiration for my
jewelry comes from my time spent with my original teacher. She taught
me all she knew and encouraged me to go and seek more. It was this that
finally led me to the Penland School of Craft. There I was able to
learn additional skills to free my imagination.
I
create my jewelry to incorporate a combination of color, texture,
dimension, and movement. All of my jewelry pieces are hand fabricated
and constructed; no wax casting is used. In order for me to do this, I
use a collection of precious and semi-precious stones, along with
non-traditional jewelry metals such as bronze, brass, and copper.
Incorporating these metals and stones along with the conventional metals
of gold and silver, I am able to craft a piece of art. When creating a
piece, every part, no matter how small, must be an integral part of the
work.
Artist Biography
Katherine Swift
grew up on a dairy farm in Loudoun County, Virginia close to Washington,
D.C. She was always fascinated with many aspects of fine art, but chose
to follow another dream, becoming a large animal veterinarian. It was a
chance meeting of another artist in years ago that renewed Katherine’s
interest in pursuing an art career. She took a beginning level
metalsmithing class and immediately found the way to express her vision
and creativity. Since then, she has studied at the University of
Florida and the Penland School of Craft to hone her skills. In 2002,
she applied to an art show and as they say, “the rest is history”.
Today Katherine participates in several shows a year along with gallery
exhibitions.
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