Category Archives: Pro Nailz

Vogue Italia

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My knuckle dusters are going to be in this months Vogue Italia magazine! So, if you see this amazingly overthetop cover on news stands, buy it! I’m honored to be included in this publication, especially considering the theme. I can’t wait to see which story my work ends up in… It would be amazing if it were on Joan Smalls! Just look at how amazing her nails are!

COSTUME COSTUME PHOTOS

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The New York SOFA show was last weekend, and I was thrilled to have my work taken to the exhibit by Sienna Gallery and The Opulent Project. TOP organized a display called COSTUME COSTUME, which featured handmade contemporary jewelry by emerging artists who deal with the subject of adornment, costuming, and jewelry. TOP installed a photobooth in their space so that attendees of SOFA could don their favorite jewels and have their picture taken wearing them! I hear the lines were long for the photobooth, and that it was a ‘mindblowing‘ installation… Congratulation to The Opulent Project for having such a stimulating and successful exhibit!
I’ve selected some of my favorite photobooth photos of people wearing my work below. As I wasn’t able to get down to NYC this past weekend, it was great to be able to check out these images and to see people were enjoying themselves.







COSTUME COSTUME

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I’m excited to be part of The Opulent Projects upcoming project, COSTUME COSTUME, which will be making it’s debut at Sienna Gallery’s booth at the NYC SOFA exhibit from April 14th through the 17th. I’m really excited to be part of such a fun and conceptual project that presents handmade, contemporary jewelry at an accessible price to young collectors.

COSTUME COSTUME is a collection of work made by emerging contemporary art jewelers. It is an exploration of costume jewelry as subject, jewelry about jewelry. You’ll find the COSTUME COSTUME show in the Sienna Gallery booth (#301), their installation includes a photo-booth where the guests are invited to document themselves wearing the opulent baubles that are part of the show.


Participating artists as of April 2011 Mikael Arsjö, Kate Bauman, Michael Dale Bernard, Thyra Bessette, Sarah Kate Burges, Erin Gardner, Anna Hinkes, Rory Hooper, Courtney Kemp, Julia Elizabeth Louise, Jimin Park, Mary Hallam Pearse, Earl Ross, Leslie Skalin, Theresa Sterner, Monika Strasser, Kristi Sword, Islay Taylor, Melissa Tolar, Ben Ulsh. Organized by Erin Gardner from The Opulent Project.

For the sake of Opulence…

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I am flattered to have recently been asked by The Opulent Project to participate in one of their ongoing projects, COSTUME COSTUME. As a result, I’ve been working on making lots of the Pro Nailz pieces the past couple of weeks. As you can tell from the image to the right, I’ve logged many hours painting nails while watching hours of terrible movies. I can barely tell the difference between my living room and a professional nail salon at this point.


The exhibition that I’ve been making the work for, COSTUME COSTUME, investigates the nature and subject of costume jewelry… Costume jewelry has been traditionally viewed as a mass produced, low price point, fashionable yet disposable variety of jewelry. According to The Opulent Project, ‘the original intention of costume jewelry is not to become collectibles or heirlooms but to be fashionable and dispensable when the trend passes. Frequently this jewelry is a mimicry of existing unattainable luxury jewelry or simply of a notion of traditional jewelry.’


The goal of COSTUME COSTUME is to present the limited edition works of designers who have tweaked the identity of costume jewelry to address the conceptual issues associated with this genre of jewelry. The pieces that are represented in this show challenge concepts of value, material, historicism, and identity. ‘By replication and alteration we seek to further remove the simulated jewelry from its origin, thus costuming the costumed…. COSTUME COSTUME.’

I shipped the work that I’m contributing to COSTUME COSTUME out this morning to the ladies of The Opulent Project. It all fit into a small sized USPS priority rate box, which is always nice because the shipping rates are tolerable but also discouraging because it seems like so much artwork and labor should take up more physical space.

Check it out: COSTUME COSTUME will be exhibited with Sienna Gallery at SOFA NY in April 2011, and will then travel to the Heidi Lowe Gallery in August.

Pro Nailz!!

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I am so excited to have my most recent round of documentation back from my photographer, Maureen Keaveny. The images came out wonderfully, and she really did a wonderful job capturing the essence of the pieces that I’ve recently completed. I’m most proud of the series of knuckle dusters that I’ve been working on, which feature bezel set acrylic nails.

I’d posted a while back about the process of teaching myself how to paint fancy nails, as well as the process of building the rings themselves. Now after unknown hours invested in this project, my first round of finished pieces has been completed, and I am thrilled.
Also, be sure to check out the music video for Kid Sister’s song Pro Nails, below. I’ve become completely obsessed with this video, and have to admit that it was a major inspiration for this project.