Loose Ends VII

Sterling silver, lacquer

5.08 cm x 3.81 cm

Unfinished knots and loops, methods of connection that bind physically and emotionally; these are the foundations in which I think of my jewelry.

In the space between my hands, a language is assembled. The language of beauty, movement, process, and technique. The jewelry created is then held in a state of tension. Individual pieces are made, unmade, and remade to capture the truth of my chosen material, sterling silver. The completed pieces act as vessels for self-expression, reflecting the way individuals might construct themselves. The jewelry bears the marks of their making, seams highlighted or hidden by color and finish. Every distortion and fragment is carefully reconnected, while each alteration or error is openly revealed. In a world of invented languages, these pieces of jewelry act as vessels for self-expression where the wearer becomes a storyteller and the observer a participant. Through binding itself to the wearer, each piece becomes a way of projecting beauty and shared meaning outward.

Rooted in tradition, my jewelry speaks to the intimate and communicative power of jewelry. The body becomes the landscape and location for personal history, the jewelry becomes the history of that landscape.

Artist bio:
Lydia Martin is a contemporary jeweler living and teaching in Little Rock, AR. Her work, built upon the foundations of technical skill, is an exploration of surface, process, and materiality. Through the use of traditional metalsmithing techniques, Lydia creates forms that are caught in the act of movement. Lydia received an MFA from SUNY New Paltz in 2017 and a BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology. She exhibits both nationally and internationally and is represented by Jewelers’Werk Galerie. Currently, Lydia is the Visiting Assistant Professor in Metal at UA Little Rock, where she heads the jewelry and metalsmithing program.