Home 5 ARTISTS 5 Design Shop 2025 5 Category: King, Kathleen

Kathleen King

ABOUT THE ARTIST
I hold degrees in film and illustration. I am self-taught in computers, where I design my pieces, and in jewelry, learning what I need from classes or by figuring out how to achieve the effect I want as I go along. My background spans film, painting, photography, and 3D modeling. Each of those disciplines is ephemeral in its own way. At one point, I just decided to turn one of my digital 3D models into a physical object.When I first held it in my hand, I knew immediately I was going to use the computer to create small metal objects.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I design one-of-a-kind or few-of-a-kind sterling silver jewelry using a 3D modeling app called ZBrush. It feels like working with clay or wax, only without the mess. Once I have sculpted a design, I print it, have it cast, and then finish the piece in metal by hand. I also cut some of my own stones. As a one-person shop, I do it all. Silver, stones, and computers offer endless possibilities. I can make almost anything that comes into my mind with them. Sometimes the stones even tell me what to create. I love silver for its changeable color and its stubbornness. Each piece teaches me something new about my tools, my process, what I look at, the way I see. My processes are often labor intensive, which gives me space to think without words. I make the work to discover what I am thinking. The finished pieces are detailed, beautiful, and different. More than adornment, they are like wearing a story, a thought, or a conversation. For me, the work is exploration, which is art. I also want it to be worn, which is jewelry. Each piece is both. It is jewelry and art at the same time, an object that tells a story with a point of view.