Merry-Lee Rae
2nd Place – “Secret Garden”
Merry-Lee Rae is a gifted metalsmith creating incredibly personal pieces of cloisonné jewelry with the ultimate goal of touching the people who wear it, love it and see it. It is as simple and complex as that. These pieces speak to you with their color as well as their story.
Artist Interview:
Q. How did you come up with the title?
When you see the back side of the piece you will understand the title pretty instantly as it features a kelp garden, but is a secret unless you are the wearer.
Q. What/who was your inspiration?
Leaves actually! I facilitate a group called Passion Project where artists of all medias join to make themed collections. One month it was leaves and I started drawing a woodland scene featuring a woman clothed in leaves. Leaves became scales as the drawing progressed and this is the result.
Q. How long did it take to make the piece?
Three and a half years. I made it a practice to design with disregard to the materials and my skills. I finished the enamel in May of 2016, but worked on the metal framework sporadically. There were challenges that needed to be resolved.
Q. What challenges did you overcome while you were making it?
I pushed the materials very hard during the enameling process. I did the work on the concave backside of the piece first which involved maybe ten firings. I then started on the front side which required probably 50 firings. Every time the piece goes in the kiln at 1400 degrees it expands as it heats and contracts as it cools. The tension between the rigidity of the glass enamel and the fluidity of the metals results in some pretty dramatic warpage that begins to pull the wirework of the design apart.
For the metal work, the setting is completely fabricated and there would have been so many solder joints that would need to be protected along the way. I chose to fuse the gold rather than solder for a good portion of this piece. The fabrication was complicated and I set it aside for months at a time to try to solve the puzzle. It's always good to push the boundaries.
Q. What do you plan to do with the piece?
It is headed for a collection of one of my favorite people.
Q. Will this piece inspire other work?
Absolutely! It already has. I am already working on ideas for a Fox in a Secret Garden.
Saul Bell Design Award
Q. What did you feel when you learned you’d won?
So incredibly honored!
Q. Whom did you tell first about winning?
My husband.
Educational and Professional Background
Q. Of all the arts and crafts, why did you choose jewelry?
Jewelry chose me.
Q. What was the first piece of jewelry you ever made?
52 years ago, I made a very crude plique-à-jour bluebird for my father in a summer craft class.
Q. What was your training/academic background in jewelry-making?
I was a math major but took silversmithing classes at the local community college. I did not take an enameling class until I had been making cloisonné full time for 13 years! The Art of Enameling, a book by Margaret Seeler, was my guide. It has always been important to me to try to improve my metalwork to keep up with the enamelwork.
Q. What was the biggest challenge you have faced in your business?
You know, I love a challenge. My great pleasure in life is doing what others say I cannot do. I find this question a little bewildering.
Q. What is the best advice you received?
Take a semester off and make jewelry, said to me by my father when I was considering changing majors from math to medicine. I never went back after that semester as I have been too busy making jewelry since!
Q. What other awards, honors have you received in your career?
In 2014, I won first place in the SBDA's Enamel category. Last year I won First Place for Enamel in the MJSA Award of Distinction. Truly every moment has been an honor.
Q. What is your definition of “success”?
Doing what I love!
Creative Influences and Environment
Q. What or who do you think has been the strongest influence or inspiration on your work?
I see myself as a dedicated romantic, drawing inspiration from my surroundings. My father, my garden, animals, ocean dives, my imagination. I make what delights me. Sometimes, I make what scares me.
The materials I use will endure brilliantly for centuries. I feel somehow reassured that someone will hold this piece in their hands a long time from now and it will mean to them what it means to me now. That they will know me, know how much I love this life.
Q. What artist dead or alive do you most admire? Why?
Guillermo del Toro, because he never fails to inspire me. Michelangelo, because when I saw his work in person as a teenager it made me weep. Kent Raible, because he is the most brilliant gold fabricator I know. H.R. Giger, because he chills me to the core. Gustav Gaudernack, because his enamel constructions still fill me with wonder. Leonardo Da Vinci, because his combination of art and science is so compelling. René Lalique, because his work is just so hauntingly romantic. Ilgiz Fazulzyanov, because he dares to make what others only dream of. Artemisia Gentileschi, for her honesty. Nina Simone, because she sings to me. And Martha Banyas, because she is an enamel pioneer.
Q. Do you follow long term-trends? If so, why or why not?
Although I think we are all intertwined with our environment and cannot help but be affected by it, I am pretty oblivious to trends.
Q. Is the product or the process more important to you? Why?
It is absolutely more about the process and journey for me.
Q. What is your favorite tool?
My hands.
Q. What metals, gemstones, processes do you enjoy most?
I continue to be fascinated by the making of cloisonné. The fusing of glass to metal is fraught with technical difficulties and that challenge keeps me intrigued. And then the result is so gloriously seductive with the richness of the combinations of possibilities. Combining pure gold, pure copper, pure silver to predictable opaque, tantalizing opalescent and shimmering transparent glass. And it can all be done in a narrative.
Q. Describe your studio.
My studio is my oasis. I am profoundly happy isolated in my studio. It is located at our home in the countryside of California. My family is here. Our two cats, three dogs and five horses are here. Inside, I am surrounded by my tools and my books, by my projects and my materials. My dreams and ideas swirl in constant motion. My studio is ripe with possibility.
Interview by Marlene Richey