The ‘Daily Artisan Spotlight’ is a regular feature on Mindless Pursuits intended to provide insight and exposure to the tons of talented artisans working today. Please comment and give them some encouragement and check out their work! If you would like to be in the Spotlight, click on the ‘Free Press’ link above!

What is your shop?
MKP Art Jewelry (http://www.mkpjewelry.etsy.com)

What is your art/craft?
Art Jewelry

Describe your style in 2 words:
Eclectic, fun

What is your favorite piece and why?
“Possiblities” I made this last year for a artistic challenge group I belong to. The theme was for mother’s day. I thought about mother’s day, and being a Mom myself, what it meant to be a mom. Some wonderful way it twisted in my head and I ended up making a piece of what it FELT LIKE when your in the process of becoming a mom for the first time. All the worries, all the hopes all the fears as you feel the little thing moving inside of you….. I wanted to design something that showed what that means inside a woman’s head. I sketched this out, and then did a dummy up in copper, wanted to make sure I could capture what was in my head. And this pendant is the result. It’s made with sterling silver wire, and a hollow lampwork bead by Jodie Marshall. I stuffed the lampworked bead with Swarovski crystals, all of my favorite colors, as many as I could fit and still have them tumble about like snow in a snow globe. Then I wired the ball between her hands, like a soon to be momma feeling for her child’s kick. Then I added just a thin red line in her face.. her smile. And realized it was a happy piece, and it dwelt on only the hopes and dreams of the soon to be born child.. it dwelled on the happy possibilities of that child The “baby” actually rotates on the frame, and I realized it was kind of like a lottery ball.. just like being pregnant you never know what number was gonna come up!

What is the most memorable piece of advice you’ve ever received?
I didn’t recieve this directly, I was listening to NPR and the guy being interviewed was a photographer. He was talking about his influences, and one of his idol’s told him to always leave a corner for the viewer to turn. This really hit me.. he was talking about photography, but it applies to any art.. always leave some of the story for the viewer to create within themselves. That’s the best kind of art, that invites the viewer to be apart of the story.

What is the one piece of advice you’d give?
Don’t be afraid of mistakes. you will make them, both business-wise and artistically. Just accept that, and try new things without getting hung up on if it’s “good” or not, or sellable or not. Just create for creation’s sake. You learn so much by not being afraid to try.

Meet the infamous Mutant Wobster Bear!

The story of the Mutant Wobster Bear is this: when I was first starting to sew a couple of years ago, I decided to make some stuffed animals. Of course, I wanted to start off by making a bear. However, I didn’t understand how darts worked, because I had never sewn anything that used them before. So I literally followed the pattern and this pink guy was the result. Because I didn’t know that darts were handled differently to achieve a rounded shape, this poor little guy ended up with a pointy stomach and back, and claw-like feet. Thus, he looked like a mutant bear/lobster hybrid.

I was going to take it apart and re-sew it properly, but my youngest daughter (who was 3) saw it and instantly fell in love with it so I let him survive. Because she couldn’t pronounce ‘L’ sounds, he became the ‘Mutant Wobster Bear’ and she carried him around like mad for about a year and a half.

He’s currently working as an intern for me at the office to provide demonstrations on what happens when you just follow instructions and don’t understand the context of them!

In the last few weeks, Mutant Wobster Bear has had some gene-spliced offspring and so will be the spokesmutant for a new shop I am going to open in the next few weeks called ‘Kaiju Creations.’ More on this in a later post!