Heather Seawright – WMU Student Exhibit
Artist Statement
“I find things everywhere and sometimes I take them home, which means I’m a borderline hoarder. I find patterns in shadows, bark, leaves, wood grain, peeling paint, insect wings, and ice on my windows. I find smashed glasses in parking lots, feathers and animal bones on trails, remnants of wire and metal, and so many things on beaches. My family contributes by sending me armadillo scutes, desiccated lizards, old buttons, and foreign money. I save these items and images, ponder their possibilities, and hold them together to see if they might like each other…
When I have the fuzzy outline of an idea, I think about how I can connect the items, concept, and framework into a piece of jewelry or sculpture. I gather sheet metal and wire, usually silver, but occasionally gold or copper, and try to make sense of it all as the work evolves, sometimes in surprising ways.
My love of provenance and history is charmed by the tools I inherited from my grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s jewelry stores and now use on my own bench to explore texture, form, and concept in balance with color, sparkle, and imagination. As it turns out, my work is about connection, affinity, and challenge – the building blocks of relationships. It is my way of seeking and finding that spark in myself and others, a pipeline to understanding and shared experience.”
Venues
