Creating Jewelry with Found Objects
Presented by Jillian Sortore,
Last Year’s Penny Redmon Artist
Saturday, March 8th | 10:30AM - 4:30PM
204 S Austin St Rockport, TX
$40 Supply Fee | Members Only
Class Description:
For this one-day course Students will learn how to saw copper sheet to create settings for found objects. These settings can be easily made into pendants or other wearable pieces. The metal will be provided, but the students should plan on brining in some found objects. Found objects can carry meaning, represent a memory, or just be a fun and quirky way to make some statement jewelry.
Don’t be shy with your objects and bring in as many as you want. Some may work better than others and once you learn how to set them, you will have endless options. Good choices for objects tend to be lighter materials but can be pieces of something else or manipulated. Some examples might be:
Buttons
Rusty hardware bits
Small stones/coral
Driftwood/bark
Plastics/toy parts
Coins
Glass or ceramic bits
Cabochon stones or items with a flat back
Wooden objects
About the Instructor
Website Link: jilliansortore.com
Instagram: @JillianSortore
Jillian Sortore received her MFA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2010 and her BFA in Jewelry Design and Metals from Pittsburg State University in 2006. A variety of materials inform her work, which ranges from cheerfully lightweight and bright earrings to sculptural adornment. In addition to maintaining an active studio practice, Sortore is currently a full Professor of Art at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Artist Statement:
Jillian creates wearable and sculptural objects from wood and metal exploring avian characteristics, instincts, and sexual dimorphism as a metaphor for human relationships. These works are part of a series that represent the vulnerable moments in our lives and the instances that are often forgotten created in the form of amulets. In this ongoing series she creates wearable and sculptural pieces that reference both decorative and cryptically colored plumes. By investigating the dichotomy of male and female plumage, behaviors, and display, these pieces acknowledge emotions of attraction, cognizance, and vulnerability. Jillian is interested in how art can be activated on the body and how the body engages the work.
About the Penny Redmon Visiting Lecture Series
Established by Mary Evelyn Atkinson in 2016 The Penny Redmon Visiting lecturer Fund promotes artistic excellence in adult learners. Visiting lecturers put forth a lecture and then a lesson plan featuring innovative art techniques, methodologies and use of atypical materials to create art. Since 2016 the Fund has brought a total of 11 artists from different parts of the United States to teach non-traditional, new artistic techniques. Workshops and lectures are offered free to members of the Rockport center for the Arts. Through The Penny Redmon Fund, Rockport Center for the Arts maintains Rockport’s long-standing tradition of artist mentoring and the promotion of excellence. Atkinson was Rockport Art Festival Master Artist in 1998.
REGISTER FOR CLASS
Saturday, March 8th, 2025 | 10:30 AM - 4:30 PM
$40 Supply Fee - Members only