Metal Arts Guild San Francisco | Sherry Cordova Jewelry

25 June 201131 August 2017

Outta My Head, Into Metal

The 2011 summer edition of San Francisco’s Metal Arts Guild newsletter showcased me as an artist member. Since the newsletter is printed in black and white, we thought you might like to see some color pictures of the inspirations and work described in the article.

On a SCUBA diving trip to the Sea of Cortez in 2009, a pod of dolphins played with the boat while we traveled to the dive site. Luckily I was taking a picture of a flying dolphin in the boat wake at the same time one of the larger dolphins did a belly flop, soaking my back.

The flying dolphin that saved the camera

The dolphin who soaked us with a belly flop near the bow

Once we were in the water, the dolphins apparently stayed close, although out of sight.

Under water we were treated to an amazing experience of being encircled by a large school of sardines during the entire dive. Usually a school will come across divers, or vice versa, and keep traveling. The three of us watched in amazement as the school changed shapes and directions and yet stayed close to us; we all knew this was a special treat.

When we surfaced from the dive, we noticed that the dolphins were nearby and asked the boat captain if he’d been watching them during our entire dive.

The captain told us that the dolphins were circling us throughout our dive, thus explaininig the mysterious behavior of the fish school. The wall of sardines had been so thick that we missed seeing the dolphins on the other side of the ‘wall’.

The eye of the swirling school

“Swirling School” Pendant

Even while diving, I knew I had to recreate this experience somehow in jewelry. I wanted to elicit the sensation of the school swirling around us, and the individuals in the school, as well as the space in between the fish and us.

“Reflections” Earrings

I began by creating swirling filigree forms. And, I also designed and made some earrings that incorporated open space, togetherness, and yet non-uniformity.

Something was still missing that tied the whole experience together. I had a vague idea that I wanted the “Reflections” style earrings to be static yet kinetic. While I let the idea simmer in my head, I wore a pair of earrings that reminded me of my goal.

Prototype Earrings

Almost eighteen months after the dive, here are the earrings that were percolating in my head all that time

Sterling silver "Sea of Cortez 3D Kinetic Earrings" — “Sea of Cortez 3D Kinetic” Earring Extenders with Stud Earrings

24 November 200931 August 2017

Taking Shape: Throw back to the 40s and 50s

Urban Renaissance Show — “Urban Renaissance” Show

Last Sunday I spent a couple of hours as a show docent at the ACCI Gallery in Berkeley, California.

My piece “The Earth is Our Ashtray” Ashtray is in the show along with the work of over 40 artists from the Metal Arts Guild based in San Francisco.

Copper ashtray edge detail: grass and plants trying to take root

I was very pleased when a friendly woman told me that the ashtray made her think of ashtrays she remembers from when she was growing up: styles from the 1940s and 1950s. The ashtrays she remembers often had a tall center and curved and angled sides. I was pleased because those are the ashtray shapes that were in my head when I was creating the copper ashtray.

: Forming copper over large mushroom stake

To form the tray, first I used shears and a large mushroom stake, then I moved on to using a shot bag ,and then an anvil with a nice pointy horn.

Adjusting the copper ashtray on a shot bag

Anvil used to sharpen fold of copper. The anvil needed some cleaning before it could be used….

3 November 200931 August 2017

“The Earth is Our Ashtray” Ashtray

Ideas born a year and a half apart come together this week.

When I painted a large ceramic globe bead with fine silver as a class exercise, I wondered to myself what I’d eventually do with it. The bead came out of the kiln looking like the earth would after we’ve caused some serious damage.

One day I found countless cigarette butts on the beach in the surf zone. We also find them on the street outside our house, waiting to be washed down into the gutter which leads to San Francisco Bay if we don’t pick up someone else’s trash first.

The question: “Is the earth an ashtray?” kept popping into my head.

The Earth is Our Ashtray Ashtry Fine silver, copper, ceramic, wooden matchsticks. Hand fabricated, kiln fired, torched — “The Earth is Our Ashtray” Ashtray by Sherry Cordova. Fine silver, copper, ceramic, wooden matchsticks. Hand fabricated, kiln fired, torched

Also last year, the Metal Arts Guild of San Francisco (of which I’m a member) proposed a show called “Urban Renaissance”. I decided it was time to make an ashtray tying all these thoughts together. You can read the artist’s statement for the piece and also see it in person at the ACCI Gallery in Berkeley, CA starting Friday November 13th. The show’s opening reception begins at 6pm.

Urban Renaissance. Metal Arts Guild. Berkeley CA

URBAN RENAISSANCE

CONCEPT: What does it mean to live, work, dress and move in today’s urban environment?

“Urban” means many things today: cosmopolitan and sophisticated, popular culture and ethnic diversity, street savvy and fast pace living, plus museums, shops and a multitude of architectural styles. Our cities throb with energy, creativity, and diversity—5 star restaurants, upscale fashion, high tech, and a banquet of cultural wealth contrasts with congestion, pollution, homelessness, and garbage-laden alleyways.

Urban Renaissance explores these contrasts through the use of materials, form and construction, drawing from a spectrum of conceptual pieces to wearable jewelry, sculptural works to wall-mounted art, traditional metal work to pieces which utilize alternative materials.