Indulge overview

annie and me opening night

at the very beginning of november i received my invitation to participate in indulge. by the end of the month i had quit my job and signed on for the show. i really don't know what i was thinking, at that point i had not finished anything that i was proud of since i had graduated in 2007. i only had two months to create a body of work, along with the display and all of the other little (and big) things that go into putting together a show. throughout the entire process my biggest fear was that i was going to come off as unprofessional and make a poor first impression (at a well known craft museum.) the good thing about realizing my fear was that i was able to figure out how to prevent it. as cheesy as it sounds, i had to be true to myself. indulge is a retail show, but i am really not a production jeweler and i did not want to falsely represent myself . so i decided that its my booth, i am going to do it my way. my plan was to make a series of one of a kind work and a limited collection of multiples inspired by the series. then to display it as if it were a gallery. i really didn't know how that would go over at this type of show, but that was how i wanted to represent myself. i was terrified. after it was all put on display i was very happy with the outcome. i am also so happy to say that i felt supported in these decisions by the museum curators after receiving the emerging artist award for the event. this entire experience was full of learning opportunities, but the one thing that i will always remeber is "above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it."

this is where i spent the better part of those two months

my coworker and daily uniform

(yes being a jeweler really is this glamorous)

i tried to clean my bench a couple of times a week...

but it would look like this within an hour anyway.

eventually the show took over our entire apartment.

my booth when i arrived

starting to come together

(thanks brandt)

trying to smile

multiples display

one of a kind display

now its over and i can say that i am very proud of my new work, my booth display and mostly of myself, for pulling it all together.