Pacific Northwest Jewelry Artists Exhibit at BAM

Una Barrett Exhibits this Necklace at the BAMArts Fair 2018 in Bellevue, Washington.   We invite you to see the work of several Pacific Northwest jewelry artists. Every year, the Bellevue Arts Museum showcases the artwork of more than 300 American jewelry artists during the annual BAMArts Fair. This year, Pacific Northwest jewelry artists Una Barrett, Han-Yin Hsu, and Nurit & Mick Vagner submitted gorgeous pieces. They go on view at the museum this Friday through Sunday.

Pacific Northwest Jewelry Artists

Una Barrett - Eugene, Oregon

Una Barrett grew up off the grid in eastern Tennessee. Her parents owned a self-sufficient farm, and Una grew to understand the natural rhythms of the earth. Her sculptural jewelry reflects her intimate connection with these natural processes, specifically the cycle of growth and death. These natural rhythms form the foundation for every one of her jewels. In her Eugene, Oregon studio, Una uses traditional, as well as contemporary metalsmithing techniques. In conjunction with her use of mixed metals and other found objects and materials, she immerses herself in the full scope of the creation process. Drawn to many different cultures, she is most inspired by the sacred and functional objects used by different people groups. She interweaves her unique interpretations of these objects with contemporary forms associated with industry and architecture. As a result, Una has found a way to cross the divide between ancient practices and modern technology.

Nurit & Mick Vagner - Oregon

Nurit & Mick hand fabricate and construct precious metals into 3D organic fluid shapes. Using various surface techniques, they give their jewels rich textures and gorgeous finishes. Like Una, they weave together elements from the ancient past with contemporary art principles. They fashion pieces with organic and geometrical lines using traditional, as well as contemporary silversmith techniques. The couple states that living in the Pacific Northwest profoundly impacts their current body of work. As a result, they transitioned to fashioning biomorphic scultpural jewelry. Biomorphic jewelry is jewelry that includes design elements reminiscent of nature and living organisms.

Han-Yin Hsu - Seattle, Washington

Han-Yin Hsu moved to the US from Taiwan. After graduating with a Master's in Architecture, she worked for many years as an architect and interior designer. After a while, Han-Yin realized she needed a way to express her ideas more intimately. She wanted to use her skills to design jewelry that could be seen, touched, and experienced physically. As a result, she founded her jewelry design firm, ANNXANN Design, in Los Angeles in 2013. Han-Yin later moved her studio and business to the greater Seattle area. She continues to use her architectural training, including techniques and her unique sense of space. These techniques, in combination with 3D-printing, allow Han-Yin to create jewels that embody the personalities of people she experienced in life. She looks at the human body as a landscape for jewelry. Her designs express the elegance of the body as a landscape, as well as the gesture each element of her jewelry makes as it rests upon the skin. Han-Yin considers her jewelry a way for the wearer to see herself in new, unexpected ways. She hopes that her designs will inspire people to imagine possibilities they have never known before.

BAMArts Fair This Weekend in Downtown Bellevue

This weekend, visit BAM for a look at Pacific Northwest jewelry that is directly inspired by life in the Pacific Northwest. For more information about Bellevue's Arts Fair weekend, we invite you to visit the BAMArts website.