Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Wilderson.
Hi Amy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
In 1996, right before I opened a funky-eclectic book & gift shop in Minneapolis, I took an intro to wirework jewelry-making class. I swear, as soon as I picked up the pliers and bent a length of silver wire, I knew I’d found my medium. I used to practice during quiet moments in the shop but soon customers started asking me to wrap the tumbled gemstones I carried in the shop. Then I started making custom pieces and eventually created a jewelry sideline for the shop. But I wasn’t identifying as an artist yet.
That took many years. We eventually moved family and shop to South Carolina and I continued making jewelry for the shop in between running the shop and homeschooling my five children. In 2012, I moved back to Minnesota. Rather than re-open the shop, I turned my attention to my jewelry but still with a designer mindset than an artist mindset. The catalyst that got me to start thinking of my work and vision outside of the designer model happened when I entered a grant/competition for jewelry designers that required me to submit a collection of pieces and a business plan. Well, I didn’t win the competition but what really made me pause and reflect was the feedback I received. My business plan was solid – which I already knew – but the critique of my collection was… leaning toward brutal. It just tore down every aspect of my work: my materials were weird and weren’t going to appeal to a large enough audience to sustain my business, my designs were inconsistent and just as weird, etc. I read the rejection letter several times. Rejection is always a part of the process, so that wasn’t what got me. It was that, in kinder (snort) words, someone was telling me that I had no business or no future in making things. So in the course of ranting at the letter and calming myself down, I blurted out a few truths: 1) Oh, hell no – there’s no way I’m not going to create and I’m always going to make jewelry. 2) This is just someone’s opinion. 3) This person and this format are not where I belong, we are not a good match. The things they said might be true in the context of this competition but they are not true about me. Onward.
That’s how I began to consider myself an artist instead of a jewelry maker or designer. The shift wasn’t magical and instantaneous but now I say, “I am a jewelry artist” with such confidence that I rarely get countered with “but what is your real job?” I am also a teaching artist and I absolutely love it!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth? The laugh I just laughed! I would not say it’s been a smooth road at all, more like a circuitous path leading to a rollercoaster or something. I don’t think I mentioned that while I was running my book & gift shop and making jewelry, I was also homeschooling my five children. In the shop. Most of them from kindergarten through to college. Homeschooling (unschooling) wasn’t what I had ever planned to do, but it quickly became clear that it was necessary. So I put my increasing desire to create on the side burner and focused on the shop and the kids.
The side burner is not the back burner, and I never turned it off. I just had to get creative in finding time and ways to support my art. Enter Upcycling. The costs of managing 5 young people and running a business did not leave much room for me to purchase the materials that I wanted, so I adapted, using surplus copper pipes for bezels, and incorporating super-unlikely elements into my work: I found a stash of surplus bra underwires at a clothing bank and I used them as collars and frames for my necklaces; one of my daughters had a work-study job in college and when the department replaced their damaged computers, she convinced them to give me a few units to see if I could harvest parts, rather than throw them in the landfill. I made my first motherboard pendants from those computers. I am still using all of these elements in my work. The obstacles challenged me to expand my perceptions, my skills, and my techniques.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a jewelry artist, I use metalsmithing, wire-working, and knotting techniques to tap into memory, culture, and heritage by reviving forgotten treasures (orphan earrings, broken dishes, souvenirs, etc.) along with surplus or discarded items (computer elements, bra underwires, vintage glass Mardi Gras beads) and reclaimed metals, connecting them to gemstones that are associated with myth, power, and healing to create wearable, living stories.
I am also a teaching artist specializing in Creative Aging/Artful Aging methods for people ages 55 and up. I use cold connection wirework jewelry-making as a platform to encourage participants to explore creativity, heritage, and culture
Myth, power, and healing are elements that show up both in my jewelry and my teaching as legacy, culture, and heritage. In my recent work, I revive my forgotten treasures, along with the things we use all the time but don’t give much thought to, breathing new life into them, and telling both their origin story and their new narrative. What I love about jewelry is that it is both personal and public. Wearable art is a wonderful vehicle to convey information, reveal our personalities, and explore perspectives.
2022 was an interesting year for me. I had lots of whoa + proud moments, pretty much starting with my 60th birthday in February and being awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board grant. I recently won two grants from sources that early in my career I wouldn’t have dreamed of even applying to. I am one of 6 recipients of Midway Contemporary Art’s Visual Arts Fund – part of a re-granting program from the Andy Warhol Foundation for Contemporary Arts. I also am one of 6 COMPAS Teaching Artists to receive the Cultural Heritage and Community Identity grant from the Minnesota Humanities Center to develop and lead a teaching artist residency in our chosen community. My residency is going to be at the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery.
I’ve also been asked to give a talk at my alma mater, Tulane University – Roll Wave – as part of the Alumni House Career Development series. I am completely honored because yeah, my college career was as circuitous as my art career has been but I guess it’s interesting (inspiring?) enough to let me loose and talk in front of a bunch of current students and alumni. I also was chosen for a multicultural ad campaign for UCare. Not only that, but the advertising agency asked me to wear my jewelry for the ad!
Do you know how wild and awesome it is to see yourself wearing earrings you made and smiling from billboards?! Surreal.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I firmly stand with Team Seneca and the quote, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”. Here’s an example:
So, I was chosen for the UCare ad because I responded to a call to submit a selfie (after I called to make sure it was legit). It was a paid modeling gig, which somehow slipped passed me when I submitted my photo (I still chuckle at technically being a professional model). As soon as I got the acceptance news, I went to the laundry room on the floor of the live-work artist community where I live to do a happy dance in peace. In walks Amanda Wirig, an artist and musician who also lives on my floor. She tells me that she has been accepted for an artist residence at the Stay Home Gallery & Residency in Paris, Tennessee, and they have extended another residency for her to offer to an artist she knows. Moi. Then she tells me that the costs are – get this – the EXACT amount I just earned as a model for the UCare ad campaign!! I kid you not.
Is that luck? Yes! Was it also preparation? Yes! Did I take advantage of an opportunity? Absolutely!! I am prepared and open to the most unlikely and wonderful things coming into my life and my career. Amanda and I are going to do a whole artist talk about our trip and the art that has come out of it, so stay tuned.
I have had so many experiences or opportunities that, unfortunately, some people attribute to undeserved luck, which negates my talent, my willingness to put myself out there, and my determination to keep on moving, even in the face of rejection (which is a byproduct of trying – no one wins every single time). Onward.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://amyajewelry.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyajewelry/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmyAJewelry
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amywilderson/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmyAJewelry
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@amyajewelry
- Other: https://www.compas.org/artists/amy-wilderson
