Artist’s Statement

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Claudia:

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Claudia:

I know from talking to you before that you were a psychotherapist in private practice before becoming an artist. This is quite a career move…what happened?

As a therapist, one of my guiding principles in my work was helping people to strive for balance in their lives. My ethics in life were and are “to do unto self what you do unto others”…Through self exploration -an ongoing requirement for therapists to be effective- I noticed this growing dissatisfaction in my profession, and I came to the conclusion that I was in a state of imbalance.
Up to that point, the pursuits in my life had been primarily leaning onto and brought forth by my intellectual side and skills. I had decided on my career very early in life…and I was very driven, enthusiastic and focused. Most of my other interests and talents had fallen on the wayside.
Recognizing what was going on with myself made me want to change course. My former colleagues told me often enough that I was using a lot of creativity in my therapy…but it obviously wasn’t enough for me…or maybe not the right “kind” of creativity. I longed to do something where the intellectual was neither the driving force, nor the medium.

So you had this idea in your head about wanting to achieve more balance through changing professions?
Yes. And I am an action oriented person. I move easily form an intellectual concept to putting plans into reality. When I went scuba diving, one of my major inspirations in life….now also for my jewelry, I made new friends, one of them being a woman artist, and great person all around…and through lots of talks I was able to reconnect to all those moments in my life when I wanted to create, but had not allowed myself that freedom-or not to the extent necessary for me to be fulfilled by it. I mentally immersed myself into this new possibility of myself, this new identity…”I mentally tried it on for a change” intuitively, which is -by the way- a very successful strategy to move from concept into action. And it felt so right! What an exciting time!

What happened next?t There are still a lot of steps between knowing what one wants to do and actually doing it…
Claudia: True enough. Well, at that point some of my friends thought me completely crazy, because I closed my practice within months of returning from my vacation. I also quit teaching at various Universities with the end of that summer semester. Then I allowed myself the time to try out different mediums…I worked a lot with wood, and I surprised myself actually arriving at metals and gem stones.

How is that?

Well, when I previously had intellectually evaluated metals and gem stones I thought of them as hard, unyielding and cold…and then when I worked with them, I experienced internally almost the opposite. Working on jewelry pieces puts me into a trance…my world narrows down to myself, my elemental self, and the piece I work with.

Your elemental self, what do you mean?

Like I said, anything outside of myself and the jewelry piece virtually ceases to exist…and I function differently on a more instinctual level. Intellect moves into the back ground-way back-and I process the information sensually with my hands, even my breath. My breath is what moves me, what accompanies me, and what gives me feedback as to where I am with my jewelry piece. There are huge parallels to how I feel when I go scuba diving… Except that in my work with PMC I have these feelings and can pour them into creation by using precious silver, gold, and gem stones. The actual experience of working on my jewelry equals unbelievable happiness.

You are happy making jewelry?

This feeling is addictive! It is what drives me. I am “me” when I work. To be in this space of time in such a trance is soothing, humbling, exciting, and stimulating, and very alive, all at the same time. It is bliss-many times over. And I am very thankful to feel all of this.

This sounds incredible…I am jealous! But work is still work, and nobody can feel like that at all times…

You are right! There are moments that are less pleasing…but I can find a lot of joy in even the repetitive tasks, if my designs “work” for me.

O.k. back to earth….When you closed down your practice and jumped into indulging your creative side how did you make money?
I didn’t in the beginning. Luckily for me, my personality is not terribly concerned with making money…it is definitely not one of my goals when I do anything …money per se does not motivate me, even though I enjoy having money just like everybody does or would…But I have to be very clear about how lucky I am for the support of everybody involved in my life. My friends helped me with my ever inquisitve mind by answering a 1001 questions about how to learn to make jewelry, as well as how to set up an arts business. My mother was hugely supportive of my pursuit of happiness. And my husband John… who clearly suffered the most with all this emotional upheaval, as well as the unbelievable financial burden I created for our household…he was and is my greatest friend, support, and technical advisor. He obviously loves me a lot, and I am blessed to have a husband who cares so much about my well-being.

How do you get inspired to create your jewelry designs?

There are different ways…on different days. Let me tell you something about the general creative process first…how I experience it….and then I can tell you more about my individual designs….ok? Yeah?
Here is goes….
The first component of my inspirational process has to do with the materials I work with. When I look at metals, precious stones, sapphires and rubies, they are so stunningly beautiful, they literally move me….the material creates emotion. The sparkle and shininess for example are forever fascinating to me. The materials create desire-a forward moving energy. I definitely want to touch them, play with them, hold them into the light etc. The material always fills my mind with wonder, admiration, and drive.
Then…there are the very basic shapes…squares, circles, triangles, rectangles etc…. they are around us all the time. I am talking about the literal architecture of all life around us. I am continually in awe over how “things” are put together, and how everything in the end comes down to recognizable basic shapes in an infinite variety of structural combinations. These basic shapes also have a different meaning in a different context. Based on my previous profession and the knowledge derived therein I find myself often interested in symbols in conjunction with a cultural, psychological, or gender based interpretation over time, or at a very specific time/place in history.
I often have a unique design flowing out of from deep within myself, you could call it my subconscious if you wish. It is definitely a process that does not use an intellectual fabrication schedule or plan. It rather feels…like it just comes to me…when in fact it is the sum of various triggers…I then may dream or day-dream of it, wake up, and I feel full of energy and ideas, and I know exactly what I am aiming to create. Or I could describe it as a feeling or mood regarding a place, an image, a sound around me, here and now, from my past, lived by myself, or told to me from someone else’s life, that fit with a design, or the design is the accumulative result of a combination of those triggers.
The creative process is very complex…and different for every person…I need to allow myself to soak up and feel life around me, and then… I have to give myself time…to wait for the echo within…and see if this can be realized in a piece of jewelry.

Wow..You are great in detailing your intemal experience..this is
quite an education!
Thanks! I wondered if I wore you out (laughs)… you stil want to hear
about the individual pieces?

Definitely! I am eager… this is inspiring!

O.k.
I’ll just go through the designs in the order they are presented on the gallery/store page.

Interview by Katja Bussmann