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How does your participation in Make-It-Pop! resonate with the exhibition's emphasis on vibrant colors, graphic styles, and ironic subject matters?

The brooches I created for Make-It-Pop! are mash-ups of pop-culture ephemera, protest messages, and bling-y jewels. They’re meant to be fun but also comment on the struggles, celebrations and excesses of modern life, as was also the case with the original pop art of the 60s.

What are your aspirations for viewers' takeaways from experiencing your artwork showcased at the Make-It-Pop! group exhibition at InLiquid Gallery?

My hope is that viewers first covet the brooches because they are eye candy—Smiley faces! Bright colors! Sparkle!  And then they notice and consider the messaging—Voting, LGBTQ+ rights, Black rights, Global warming, Science… Making a difference can start with a conversation, and these brooches are definitely conversation starters.

Each of your works includes a unique combination of social action buttons with vintage brooches, jewels, and findings from your fashion brand, John Wind Jewelry. How do you source and/or select your brooches and how do you decide what to pair for each of your materials for your collage works?

The jewelry components come from decades of sourcing with vintage closeout jobbers, flea markets, and jewelry component makers, as well as designing new components and finished pieces with jewelry factories in the US and internationally.

The social action pins are a newer collection that I embarked on a few years ago for my sculpture series Whiskey Rebellion—finding examples both at flea markets and online.  And then my activist/artist friend Arleen Olshan and her wife Linda Slodki gifted me with their collection of 50 years of protest pins—hundreds of amazing pieces that I’m now incorporating into the new brooches!

The pins are inspired by figurative decanters from your 2024 Whiskey Rebellion show at the Museum of the American Revolution. How did that museum project spark this wearable series?

I have sold my jewelry collections to museum stores since day one.   But since this was my first solo museum show, I wanted to make something special for their museum store to sell.  The brooches were specifically inspired by the clusters of pins and charms worn by the ceramic figures—just scaled up and wearable...

Your art is described as an exploration of the intersection of art, commerce, portraiture and history. Where do these interests come from and how do they connect in your work?

I’m always looking for synergy across my activities—integrating commerce into my art connects my ‘day job’ as a jewelry designer with my more personal artistic practice.  

And then portraiture for me is about how objects can tell our stories—whether it’s a charm bracelet or an encrusted life-sized mannequin.

Applying this practice to historical subjects satisfies my own interest in history while challenging me to make the past relevant and engaging to others as well.