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Andrea Corson lives, breathes, and eats her art. Well, not so much eats, but she’s thoroughly immersed in her creative life. Her designs are exciting and so breath-taking that we just had to know more about her artistic process and lifestyle. She graciously agreed to be interviewed by us and we’re delighted to be able to share it with you.
When we first saw Andrea’s designs it seemed a natural progression for her to have moved from sculpture to jewellery making, but we found out it was her interest in jewellery that came first. She learned the techniques in high school and college, but sculpture came to the fore for Andrea at university, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Syracuse University and then an MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art.
The Beauty, 2009. Installed at The Contemporary Art Museum, Houston. Brass, bronze, thay gold.
Octopus necklace. Wearable sculpture. One available for sale, click image for details.
Oye Modern: What made you return to jewellery design?
Andrea: Several years after graduate school, I began to play with jewelry again. I did not stop making sculpture and drawings, but I was curious about shifting my focus on the ideas of the function of an art object. Sculpting wearable pieces seemed to make sense for me.
The Rock ring: a multi-faceted cluster of silver gems. Click for more info.
Oye Modern: Tell us a little about your creative process
Andrea: I try to take a fresh and innovative approach to making jewelry. I will sketch ideas once in a while, but prefer to write about my ideas in my journal, and/or I just sit down and make what I am envisioning. My creative process, whether planned or intuitive, can be quite labor intensive and includes a lot of experimentation. I work alongside my collections of everyday recognizable shapes and symbols, toys and curious objects. Their detail and colors are very inspirational, and the objects are often included in my work. I hand drip all the balls of the caviars styles, and each link of every chain is individually made. I do love to work from scratch. Using only a few basic wax-working tools, my hands, wax and other materials, I sculpt until an idea and form is translated.
Andrea's wax working bench
Wax modeling: the tool draws hot wax from the tin, which is then dripped to form the balls of the caviar.
The finished product: a Cocktail caviar ring in sterling silver, cast from the wax model.
Andrea's metal working bench
Oye Modern: What are you working on this week?
Andrea: This week I am working on new caviars styles, a ‘puffy’ hearts cuff, and ‘puffy’ stars earrings I am also hand finishing a new silver chain that reminds me of berries on a tree with the feeling of a tassel, and a new natural rock inspired ring. These pieces will be in an exhibit coming up this July, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Oye Modern: Can you tell us a little about where you live and work, and how that has influenced your jewellery?
Andrea: My fiancé, Christopher Yockey, is a sculptor and an assistant to a world-renowned artist. We live at the artist’s studio, where Chris also has his own workspace. The studio is on a pier on the east river guarded by 5 rambunctious dogs. It is a unique community of creative minds, neighboring Socrates Sculpture Park. The view of Manhattan and the sunsets are fabulous.
NYC is endless and full of surprises – never a dull moment. I like having many resources within reach, and there is so much creativity and diversity here within my friends, fashion, galleries, museums, architecture, restaurants, and so much more. I also love my daily street run, a day at a botanical garden and playing tennis in Central Park.
Oye Modern: Wow, we love Christopher’s sculpture, and huge congratulations on your recent engagement, we’re so thrilled for you! When we met in New York in June, I was blown away by the awesomeness of your engagement ring. Can you tell us a little about it?
Andrea's engagement ring
Andrea: In 1997, my mother died of cancer. I inherited her jewelry, including her engagement ring. The stone is beautiful and the setting unique to the 1950s. My mother’s ring carries 39 years of her wear and history. I wanted to keep memories alive by keeping her ring intact, and I wanted to turn the ring into something contemporary and very, very my style. I created a baroque-like casing for my mother’s ring to sit into. The casing enhances her engagement ring that has now become mine.
Andrea’s engagement ring. Self-made sterling silver casing surrounding her Mum's original platinum and diamond ring.
Huge thanks to Andrea for sharing all this with us, we can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with next!
Here’s a taste of some of Andrea’s work available at Oye Modern. Get some for yourself!
The Surface style ring. Each one unique with it's strands of molten sterling silver drizzled around the finger.
The Fly away bird ring. As though standing proud and sunning himself after a birdbath, this little guy seems about to take off.
The Starfish ring. All the way from the bottom of the deep blue sea, a ring moulded from a natural starfish.
The Secret garden ring. A Spring posy and four ladybugs plucked straight from the garden of Andrea Corson's dreams.
The Dentritus ring, named for the Goddess of Trees, is moulded from tree bark and solidified in silver.