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Metalsmithing

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/180170

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Browsing Metalsmithing by Author "Hettinger, Jamie, artist"

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    Jamie Hettinger: capstone
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Hettinger, Jamie, artist
    The artist's statement: My recent artwork reflects the stresses I feel personally about my own home and my resistance to live peacefully within it. As a result of this, I began thinking about what makes an ideal woman and where I belong in this ideal. External dictates of what is beautiful, what is appropriate, and what is needed to be successful or loved, fuels my passion for this work. My pieces expose the oppressive nature of domestic life and my response to these pressures through the use of materials from the domestic sphere that are often seen as weak and easily manipulated. Within this work, I explore the strength in fragility and transparency that is natural to these materials: plastic wrap, paraffin, thread, pins. Each material reacts differently to the stress of heat and pressure: the molten metal must be carefully watched, wax quickly melts and runs away, the plastic wrap clings and forms into itself. These reactions seem a sign of weakness, until the final forms emerge as unexpected realities standing strong as newly empowered objects. This new power, contrasted with the fragility of the materials, creates a push/pull dynamic. The viewer may be drawn in, but the way in which these pieces are made create between the viewer and the audience. The space in which you can move into is limited, yet still communicative of the perceived boundaries that are set upon feminine culture and the intentions of possession. Through reshaping and recontextualizing these materials, new emotions are wrought. Texture, color, and surface become important in expressing multiple moments in each object's making and origin. When a material with the purpose of preservation is manipulated, a piece of interest is formed. Similarly, when a woman's idea of self is altered, her interests can transform. Only you can dictate what is beautiful to you, what is appropriate for you, what is success and whether you are loved.