Cameo

There was an assignment in Advanced Jewelry where we had to create some sort of cameo. We're accustomed to the image of the Roman-inspired cameo, where layered agate is carved into a profile portrait, usually of a beautiful woman.

This assignment was meant to elaborate on the idea of a cameo. What makes a cameo? What qualities does it have? How does it describe a person differently than an actual portrait? Narrowing this down, we came up with a few criteria: cameos were usually in relief, and they described some attributes about their subject - physically or emotionally - without including a background or context.



This project was difficult for me to start, but the result was my favorite piece - inspired by stories from my beekeeper friend Jacqui (jacquialexander.com) and by the beautiful image above (not by me - but I can't find the artist's name.)


(photo: "Elegy". carved boxwood, sterling silver, nickel silver, onyx, dyes. copyright emi savacool, 2009. photo credit: ken yanoviak.)

back it up, back it up...

I've been trying to post my pieces in order, but I got a bit ahead of myself in excitement. Here's two related pieces that I completed in the fall of 2008. During the summer, I had been picking raspberries in the backyard of my parents' house. In the woods, I came upon the perfect skeleton of a deer lying curled in the leaves. In the hot, quiet afternoon, it looked as if it were sleeping.

I couldn't stop thinking about this skeleton for weeks and weeks. The day I left to go back to Philly, I took a big bucket out into the woods and collected the entire skeleton.

(photo: "Osis Mantodea". carved boxwood, sterling silver, ruby, stainless steel, bone, pigment. copyright emi savacool, 2008. photo credit: ken yanoviak.)

"Osis Mantodea" was the first piece featuring a bit of this gorgeous skeleton. My teacher had suggested that I try and invent imaginary bug forms instead of using existing ones. This piece was completed for a project where we had to make something in one week. (?!! Why did I decide to do this?!! I'm a lunatic...)

(photo: "Remnant Curios". carved boxwood, bone, pigment, sterling silver. copyright emi savacool, 2008. photo credit: ken yanoviak.)

I love these little guys. They were originally imagined as pins, and could definitely still be worn, although I think I prefer them as little objects. They are totally weird. One of them is completely carved boxwood, with no bone in it - can you tell which one?

Exciting New Photos!

My photos are done! I'm so excited to share with you my pieces from the Crafts Senior Show, Out of Hand. I'm going to span them out a little so I have space to tell you about each one.

This piece may look a little familiar. It was photographed in progress (only the paper parts) for the Out of Hand gallery book and invitations. This piece was inspired by the life of the cicada, who emerges from the ground after 17 years to mate and die. Their transformations leaves behind piles and piles of shed skins.




(photos: "Emergence". carved boxwood, sterling silver, moonstone, copper plated chain, paper, gold leaf, pigment. copyright emi savacool, 2009. model credit: kaitlin kerr. photo credit: ken yanoviak.)

Renderings to tide you over.

I'm waiting on some images of my work from photographer Ken Yanoviak, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share some jewelry renderings from this semester.

Jewelry renderings are scale designs of jewelry. They can be done in most mediums, but are supposed to be fairly true to what the piece would look like in real life. I prefer to make my renderings in gouache and watercolor on bright paper. I am working on making the earrings on purple paper in real life - I'll keep you posted!

a brief update...

I know it's been awhile since I last updated, but I've been totally swamped with work for the senior show. Now that the show is over, I hope to be making more regular updates. My portfolio website will also be up and running soon.

In the meantime, to tide you over, here are some images from the UARTS Crafts Senior Exhibiton, "Out of Hand".






(me and the family in front of my display)