Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Guest Post: Art in the Office

Today's guest post comes from jewelry artist and Art Bead Scene reader Kaushambi Shah.  I thought our readers would enjoy how Kaushambi took the Art Bead Scene's inspiration and channeled it into an art exhibit at her workplace.

Art in The Office
10 July to 31 August, 2012
RTKL, Washington DC

Art in The Office is a monthly event in RTKL’s Washington DC office, where employee artists are encouraged to curate creative endeavors beyond the workplace.

Displayed in the chic entry lobby of our 60,000 SF Downtown DC office space, my exhibit kicked-off with an Artist Talk & Happy Hour.

Inspired by paintings of some of my favorite artists in my growing years, RTKL’s encouraging platform, and the Art Bead Scene community’s monthly challenges, I decided to extend my hobby of handcrafting jewelry towards 10 jewelry pieces themed around 10 paintings of different artists.

While taking cues from the painting style, historical context and color palette during the design process, I carefully chose beads of appropriate materials and textures to go with the overall theme. And amongst this material palette, many are “art beads”- beads handcrafted by other artists.
At all points in the design process, my primary aim was to capture the mood and spirit of the painting. And I used different techniques to enhance each design.
Three out of ten exhibits are hereby shared in more detail.

Click on the images below to read a sampling of Kaushambi's inspiration for each piece.




Artist Bio: Kaushambi Shah

While work largely involves large scale envisioning and designing as an Urban Designer, I enjoy conceptualizing and handcrafting small things at home.

Handcrafting jewelry has been a recent hobby­ - and bringing together different materials, textures and colors excites me most.

While most of my design themes revolve around things found and experienced in nature, I also like to draw inspiration from artists who find their muse in the natural world.

In this series, I have drawn inspiration from some of my favorite artists—Van Gogh, Monet, Gustav Klimt, Georgia O’Keeffe, and others.

For more information please contact the artist at  kaushambis@gmail.com


28 comments:

peacockfairy said...

Amazing! What a great idea!

Spirited Earth said...

i love this idea..and the presentation in the office..
the jewelry pieces beautifully represent the spirit of each painting..very inspiring

sandi m said...

Beautiful, beautiful display.

Gardanne said...

Just beautiful I love the linen display, a simple background is the best way to display jewelry or beads.

TesoriTrovati said...

Miss Kaushambi! I am so very impressed by this! First, it must be so wonderful to be working in a place that fosters and supports creative endeavors. Are they hiring? ;-) Second, I love this for many reasons, but mostly because my own first solo exhibit was a similar journey. I was inspired by the artwork of our local artists at the gallery where I present my work in 2010. And third, the way you displayed all of these and showed off the paintings with the descriptions is just perfect. I wish that I could be there in person to see this, but this is the next best thing! Congratulations on your exhibit! Enjoy the day. Erin

Rising Designs said...

I Love this. And I wish i could see more.

Julie said...

Stunning display! Wish I could see more!

Santho said...

Lovely work!

Malin de Koning said...

Love love love this!!!!!
Well done Kaushambi Shah!
Everything about this exhibition of yours is fantastic. Beautiful art, stunning jewelry, awesome display.
Very very inspiring.
Thanks Heather for sharing.

aneri_masi said...

Wow!!!! How very awesome! Love the idea and the pieces and every thing in here!!!

Cyndi J said...

Fantastic idea. Fantastic jewelry. Fantastic execution.

Heidi Post said...

Congratulations on the beautifully executed manifestation of such an original and inspiring concept! Brava!

SummersStudio said...

Fantastic! I truly love this idea and the jewelry is stunning.

Karen Totten said...

Absolutely brilliant!

Unknown said...

I love this! Thank you for sharing!

Gale said...

I sure wish we had some displays like yours in our college halls (instead of those boring portraits). But then I guess someone would want to wear all that great jewelry... Love how you incorporated elements that are so representative of each painting!

Bobbie said...

Fabulous work, and the display is so elegantly understated. Truly elevates your pieces to the artistic status they deserve!

Aanal said...

This is such an awesome idea and the jewellery is just gorgeous, especialy "The Tree of Life". Loved that the best. Having you describe what themes you used to inspire these pieces makes it more meaningful. Very well done!!! Aanal

Marie Cramp said...

This is fantastic! More people should do things like that at work! You so perfectly captured each painting, I would really love to see the rest! Maybe a follow up post is in order. Fantastic designs!!

Sandra said...

very cool! thanks for sharing!

Azure Accessories said...

What an amazing way to display your work...I'm impressed your place of work was willing to support an artist in this manner!!

Your pieces are wonderful interpretations of the art!

Congratulations to you and to the people you work for...

Cheers

Marsha of Marsha Neal Studio said...

This is so fantastic!! I love seeing the wonderful jewelry creations displayed like that and with their inspirations. Great idea!

Monique (A Half-Baked Notion) said...

Ms. Shah, your employer sounds like a natural fit for such a wonderful initiative. I enjoyed reading about your interpretation of these paintings, particularly O'Keeffe's "Santa Fe Trail": that pendant by Birgitta looks like it was made especially for your creation!

Unknown said...

This is so amazing! I love the concept and seeing the 10 pieces lined up. I love that your employer creates this wonderful environment to showcase creative hobbies. Beautiful work!!!

Kimisjewelryandgifts said...

This is a wonderful Idea. I never know what to do with my challenge pieces every month. I love them and dont want to sell them. I dont like them sitting and getting dusty. Im going to get canvas and hang mine. Then paint a few little details around them to give some color to the canvas. Thank you for this wonderful inspiring idea. What beauty you have created. Your own museum of beautiful beaded treasures. Happy Creating everyone.

SueBeads said...

What an incredibly impressive person and works of art! I'm in awe!

Becky Pancake said...

A very creative display.

Alicia said...

Beautiful idea - truly inspiring!