Katherine Marie Spahr
Jewelry
From the time Katherine was a little girl she was always interacting with nature. Searching for neat rocks and gold flakes in the streams and rivers, what seemed to her to be a typical type of children's play. Later it became evident that these were the early callings of her true passion and career path. Fighting the current of what she was told she should do and learn when attending college, her passion found its way again through an accidental class she enrolled in. By the second Blacksmithing class she was hooked and what came to her was the underlying truth, she was to live her life as an artist. No matter what that decision brought. Even through the various challenging unconventional societal norms she would have to go up against, she would live out her dream of being an artist.
"The connection to nature and artistic creation go hand in hand. When I walk through nature I am reminded of what we are and what we came from. The raw human in nature interaction is what calls to me and rewards me with ideas from which to create. I believe deep within is where you can tap into the most beautiful designs. This is why when I teach others to create their first items of jewelry, I give them wax and carving tools. I feel that wax is like a plain sheet of paper, blank and ready for anything to be created, with few limitations. I believe it is important when starting out, to embrace our inner voices and record them. Whether it is paint on canvas, wax cast into metal, or raw stone carved into being, each inner vision and story is a beautiful piece of art to view! Sometimes the only way for me as an artist to understand and to analyse concrete forms and ideas is to recreate them from my hands. I build from a single or several mediums, piecing them together or carving them into one single form. Only then can I see, understand and feel something solid.
To not only learn but to know the tools of your craft allows you to use them as an extension of your mind."- Katherine-
"The connection to nature and artistic creation go hand in hand. When I walk through nature I am reminded of what we are and what we came from. The raw human in nature interaction is what calls to me and rewards me with ideas from which to create. I believe deep within is where you can tap into the most beautiful designs. This is why when I teach others to create their first items of jewelry, I give them wax and carving tools. I feel that wax is like a plain sheet of paper, blank and ready for anything to be created, with few limitations. I believe it is important when starting out, to embrace our inner voices and record them. Whether it is paint on canvas, wax cast into metal, or raw stone carved into being, each inner vision and story is a beautiful piece of art to view! Sometimes the only way for me as an artist to understand and to analyse concrete forms and ideas is to recreate them from my hands. I build from a single or several mediums, piecing them together or carving them into one single form. Only then can I see, understand and feel something solid.
To not only learn but to know the tools of your craft allows you to use them as an extension of your mind."- Katherine-