Earring #5

brass, sterling, cotton, plastic, glass

3.4 x 2.5 x .5 in

As a contemporary art jeweler, my work demonstrates a continued interest in ornamentation, structure, texture, and color as bionic amplification for the body. I create forms that operate as both signifiers and ornaments, investigating the parallels between plumage and badges, status, sexuality, and honor.
Using forms of communication both in the natural world and in societal structures, I amplify, hybridize, and alter militaristic badges and bird plumage to create a new language. In the natural world, red is the color of warning or symmetry; its relationship to poison, or the iridescence of a skin's surface, exists as an optical trick to confuse a predator. In military outfitting, colors also signify status: purple for honor or green representing saving a life in the field. Recreating natural and military patterning through haptic (piercing) and digital (laser cutting) means allows me to seamlessly incorporate various types of materials, such as plastics, leather, paper, and metal, in my multilayered forms. These structures interact with the body and bring the visual languages of both the digital and natural worlds to life. While my forms may vary depending on the site, all retain the themes of ornament, pattern, and signification of color. Through my process and materiality, I create works that illustrate how the languages and expressions of ornamentation can consume the body.

Artist bio:
Lyndsay Rice received an MFA from the University of Oregon in 2012 and a BFA from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 2006. Rice was recently featured in the Art Jewelry Forum for her new body of work False Plumage. Her work will be exhibited at the Gallery L.A. Pai this fall in a solo exhibition. Her work is being published in “JAMS” a SNAG annual publication and Author Magazines Beauty issue. Currently, she is working on curatorial projects such as Reliant Objects which was installed in Portland, Oregon and is traveling to Calgary. Alberta in 2020. Her work has been exhibited across the world, including recent shows at Visual Arts Scotland in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Amplification at the Jam Factory in Adelaide, South Australia, and Worn|Unworn in Portland, Oregon.