Jan Smith Canada
Traces: Douglas Fir Needles brooch
Piece created for Challenge 2021 Jewelry and Nature
Materials copper, vitreous enamel, oxidized sterling silver, steel pin stem
Size 64x64x8mm
Jan Smith is investigating concepts that evolve from an intimate connection to place. Smith’s mark making is comprised of repetitive lines and dots pushed into a metal subsurface. Employing enamelling techniques that give a tactile delicacy she shifts how the metal is perceived, suggesting surfaces and textures from the natural environment. Jan is creating a language or code affording her a method of signaling or marking the body. Smith is memorializing and commemorating ephemeral moments of the natural world. Jan is asking us to reflect on what is fleeting, perhaps endangered, in these times.