chewed.up
This piece was started at the Center for Metal Arts (CMA) in Johnstown, PA during my winter forging residency. Conceptually, the work speaks about fatigue and the aftermath of physical and mental exhaustion. The piece takes the form of a…
Non-functional
Life’s Struggles
During the election cycle of 2020 I created this teapot in response to Trumps rhetoric about immigrants and all the possibilities of losing insurance etc. it is a fabricated, brass teapot with silver. It was crafted beautifully before I distressed…
Laughable Loves: Kiss Vessel
I create works that play with the traditional materials, processes and typologies of metalsmithing, but often with a twist of dark humor. I typically create works in series that play with familiar forms and themes. Subtle metaphors are integrated into…
It Sings a Song of Sorrow
Touch and interaction are an inherent outcome in jewelry. I use ‘desire of touch’ as the basis for creating the work in my series “When…” With each piece, I try and find a balance between material and concept. My works…
Dotard. Two Finger Racist Ring
Over a five decades-long career my studio endeavors has engaged in an extensive study of Political and Social themes that contemporized terror driven issues keeping a jewelry idiom as a platform to launch my narratives. These many years of research…
Life Sized Black Chicken Sculpture, Public Art Piece for Brockway High School, Future Farmers of America
A fundamental aspect in my own work is the development of individual expression through metal. As a metalsmith I consider function to be an important aspect in my jewelry, wearable art and objects. I design jewelry that can be worn…
“I don’t know if the deer or the combine have taken more soybeens out of that field.”
Home. Nothing has been so central to my identity. 200 odd acers of the poorest dirt money could buy has shaped my family for nearly as many years. It has made us rich, then left us poor, and now it…
Sandbag in Suspense
Construction sites fascinate me. The orange construction sandbags are used to hold down construction signs. Necessary, temporary, seen, then discarded. Their anthropomorphic forms draw me in every time I pass them by. Some bags seem to be holding on with…
Device for an Open Throat
The throat is the center of communication and self-expression, the site for manifestation, transforming ideas into actualization. Related to the chakras of Vedic philosophy, in Human Design this energy center is a nexus- this crossroads may creatively “voice” through its…
The Interpretation of Biological Inclination as Demonstrated Through the Illusion of the Cyclopean Finger Sausage
This is a mental image of a scene created by the brain through the process of combining two images received from both eyes. The finger sausage is the silliest yet easiest demonstration of this stereo-vision which brings into play perception…
LTSCJN1 Dimensional Necklace
I explore space, movement, and surface by layering materials and patterns, drawing inspiration from the subtle intricacy of systems and minutia of visual life, objects and nature. My infatuation with the process of discovery is evident in the juxtaposition of…
Asclepias syriaca (a single flower)
Once thought of a weed by the wayside, the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is now recognized as a vital link in our increasingly fragile ecosystem. Entire species depend on this humble yet beautiful plant. Its decline due to current wide-scale…
Waterpot
Jim Cotter handcrafts each piece of work, from start to finish, in his Minturn, Colorado studio. Specializing in the lost wax casting process his designs are full of movement, fluidity, and texture. Jim is known as a maverick and pioneer…
Resiliance
My work is the manifestation of the sacrifices and resilience of my ancestors. The symbolism and iconography represented is a visual iteration of their genetic, cultural, and spiritual kinship that has a common foundation in the land, animals, and resources…
Kindred III
In making new work, I look to preexisting forms and structures that share a background of utility and functional design. My spoons are part of an ongoing series that explores emotional connection and complexity through metaphors of hybridization, abstraction, and…
Darach ársa
I was given a slice of Bog Oak maybe 10 or 12 years ago by a friend and have intended to create something beautiful with it ever since. This year I decided to finally make the first cut into this…
Untitled
This is one of the smaller hollowware pieces I make. Some of my work takes an enormous amount of thought to decide what imagery (usually kind of surrealist) to chase into the side of the vessel. Not this one! Just…
Cornish Sea Stone Ring
Inspired by the bays along the beautiful north coast of Cornwall, this ring holds a piece of one in its heart. Silver tendrils of seaweed and bubbles suspend a found Cornish sea stone over a pool of shimmering ocean-colored enamels…
Fruit Ants
This piece is an all around laser etched ants and pierced mother of pearl fruits with sterling silver backings, and 18K yellow gold prongs.
Object of Transition: Devotion #1
Creating work on loss, for well over a decade, has given me a unique perspective on compassion and enduring love. I am using the past work and ideas as a springboard to look deeply at what empathy means and what…
Sublimate
The division between fiction and reality can be a struggle to distinguish. From Cabinets of Curiosity of the past to deep fakes that flood social media, people feverishly consume these fictional narratives and are often duped into believing in their…
Morning/Mourning
This piece is one of nine which hang together as a whole in a 3 x 3 configuration. Morning/Mourning was begun in the second year of the COVID pandemic when I fully realized I would not be traveling to show…
Lavish: Trapiche Emerald Emerald Study II
This body of work is the beginning of a line of research in which I am referencing one of the historic purposes for enamels, to mimic gemstones, while considering the function of jewelry as a symbol of economic status. How…