Ornament is the leading magazine celebrating wearable art. Explore jewelry, fashion, beads; contemporary, ancient and ethnographic.
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57 ORNAMENT 35.5.2012 CASCADING RED CIRCLE EARRINGS of mixed plastics, oxized silver; 10.2 x 2.5 x 2.5 centimeters, 2012. like five images, and having those really represent the breadth of my work was hard." While it may defy traditional classifications, the work is well received, garnering an Award of Excellence at the Bellevue Arts Museum's Indulge show and an Award of Distinction at Craftboston this year. Despite her uncommon materials, the audiences attracted to these shows and the galleries that carry her work understand her challenging aesthetic. She does do limited production of sorts, always incorporating new ideas into a larger, existing body of necklace, earring, bracelet, and ring designs. Unsurprisingly, with the rotation of unique materials and the sheer amount of labor that goes into each piece, every item remains unique. "I find it really hard to copy myself," Donald says of production work. "Things always happen when I'm making something and there's always a development. I do have some things that I repeat, but it is extremely difficult for me to stay with something because there's so much learning, there's so much variety; there is just no end to the slight changes, which is both a blessing and a curse. It's a curse when you're doing wholesale and people want to order really specific things." Regardless of what she is doing on the public front, Donald has always remained one hundred percent committed to her art. Since those early days of paper jewelry, she never stopped making her work, growing her skill set and artistic palette. It is clear her jewelry is as much personal sustenance as it is a profession, and she seems to reap as much pleasure from the journey as she does the final destination. "There is never enough time to make things," she says. "Because I love to experiment, I never know if something is going to be successful, and there's nothing more compelling to me than an idea that's just waiting for me to do it." The time-intensive nature of both her designs and her material love also means she may spend days on an idea that does not translate into a wearable piece—or at least just not yet. One feels that for Donald, the process does not work in stops and starts and clean transitions, but rather a continuous progression of discovery, uncovering beauty in unexpected places. For more images visit Web Exclusives at ornamentmagazine.com SUGGESTED READING 500 Plastic Jewelry Designs: A Groundbreaking Survey of a Modern Material. New York: Lark Books: 363. Lewis, Frank C. "Exhibition in Print." Metalsmith Magazine, Vol. 18, No. 4 (1998): 16. Le Van, Marthe. 1000 Rings: Inspiring Adornments for the Hand. Asheville, NC: Lark Crafts, 2004: 182, 193, 361. Points of Departure: Helen Shirk and Alumni of SDSU. San Diego State University: www.aandibooks.com, 2010.