I am a jewellery artist from the United States currently pursuing a PhD in the Contemporary Jewellery. She holds a BFA degree in sculpture and traditional black and white photography, a MFA degree in sculpture and installation (US) and a MA degree in Jewellery (EE).
I have exhibited my work in solo and group exhibitions in the US and internationally, highlighted by her selection for Schmuck 2018 & 2020, SOFA CHICAGO, the 21grams touring exhibition, and NYCJW 2022. I was awarded the Galerie Marzee Graduate Prize (2019) and named an upcoming design star by Wallpaper* Magazine (2020) and awarded the Young Estonian Writing award (2018). I have participated in numerous international artist residences and my work is in gallery and private collections across Europe and the US.
I have experience as an adjunct professor of Fine Arts and Art History, Photography, and Sculpture in the US since 2008 and as a guest lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts teaching bronze casting and professional development courses in the department of Jewellery & Blacksmithing. I am a published author on topics related to contemporary art + design, jewellery, and philosophy and my articles have appeared in print and online, to include Art Jewellery Forum, Klimt02, Sirp, and several artists' catalogs in the US. I am also the founder and writer for the online journal Louise & Maurice (www.louiseandmaurice.com) where I write about contemporary art + design, philosophy, artists, and collecting.
Title of thesis: Presence in Absence as Presence: A studio enquiry into the relationship between loneliness and jewellery
My PHD research lies within the discipline of jewellery framed within the larger art and craft fields. Through the lens of my own practice, I examine the relationship between the personal felt experience of loneliness and jewellery that rests against the skin and their possibilities to act as a surrogate or placeholder for an absent significant other who has never been present (as not to be associated with bereavement or mourning jewellery), and/or as a potential suspension of what ails us emotionally as it pertains to loneliness.
From the maker’s perspective, I am investigating why we make, why we make jewellery, and why we make emotional jewellery. I am interested in an interdisciplinary approach that combines theories relating to creative art practice and art jewellery with phenomenology and the psychology of loneliness and singleness.
Supervisors: Dr Roberta Bernabei and Dr Ken Ri Kim.