In brief, the ellipse earrings function as exploration of relaxation. Not making without consideration, but without complication. Almost nothing, but still funny. Light in mood, weight and meaning. Made from an old earring with a new compliment.
Made after a two-year degree accomplishment (MASieraad, phew!) then inserting myself in a new country: from Flanders, Belgium to Catalonia, Spain.
New studios, new air and views, people, connections, new torches,
new brains, new eyes, new ears.
Artist bio:
Jana Brevick
Biographical Note/Abbreviated CV
September 2024
Master of Fine Art Magna Cum Laude, 2023, MASieraad H+A hosted by PXL-MAD School of Art, Hasselt, BE + Amsterdam with Ted Noten, Ruudt Peters, Gijs Bakker & Liesbeth den Besten.
Bachelor of Fine Art 1999 in Metal Design at University of Washington, Seattle, USA with Mary Lee Hu & John Marshall.
Bachelor of Art 1995 in Apparel Design at Western Washington University, Bellingham, USA with Dr. Rosalie King.
Associate degree 1991 in clothing and metal design at University of Idaho, Moscow, USA with Kathy Kearney & Curtis Nelson.
My work as a visual artist in jewelry, sculpture, installation and apparel began in 1988. It has been under my name, not so much as a brand, but an extension of my identity. I have spent over 25 years working in galleries, both jewelry and multi-media arts. My apparel work shifted from design to on-set wardrobe styling and art direction for still and film.
Teaching opportunities have included schools in the USA: Penland School of Crafts, Penland: Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle: Eastern Colorado University, Fort Collins and University of the Arts, Philadelphia.
Bellevue Art Museum, USA, held a mid-career retrospective This Infinity Fits in My Hand in 2015 with 85 jewelry and sculpture works loaned from my private collectors and an installation of a spaceship that I built for the exhibition containing over 30 new works.
Other jewelry solo shows include ComLink, 2011 and Intergalactic Parallax 2014, both at SOIL Gallery, Seattle.
Group exhibitions span many years and countries. Some highlights are a narrative show called Attitude and Action! North American Figurative Jewelry, at Atrium Gallery, University of Central England, Birmingham, 2000, SCHMUCK 2001, Handwerksmesse, Munich, Germany and the follow-up exhibition Avant Garde Jewelry, Wilhelm-Wagenfeld-Haus, Bremen, Germany. In 2013, I was invited to join international multi-media artists in 0-60, The Experience of Time Through Contemporary Art, North Carolina Museum of Art. I showed at Joya Barcelona in 2019. As students in MASieraad, we put together two shows, 2021 and 2022, during Munich Jewelry Week. The graduation show for MASieraad in Amsterdam at Looiersgracht 60 was in July 2023.
