|
Presents Featured Jewelry Designer
Pamela WOLFERSBERGER by lisa lilla |
|||||
|
“I love glass! I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else” Inspired by a magazine ad for a lampworking kit, lampwork artist and jewelry designer, Pamela Wolfersberger, ordered her first torch in 1998, and began making beads soon after, incorporating them into her jewelry designs. Her love for glass, however, arose much earlier in life… In the seventh grade, she entered the science fair with a project on glass. “I wanted to melt glass really badly even back then,” she recalls.
“Everything I have done revolves around the use of color (and has) broadened my ability and desire to work with color and form,” she offers. Like her elaborately colored beads and vessels, Pamela’s home reflects her love of color; each room in it is a different color. “It makes me happy,” she smiles. Not only is Pamela’s happy home very colorful, it is also “very supportive.” Her husband and father of her children (Nicole, 27, and Stosh, 24) built her a “pretty cool studio” and also helps maintain its safety. “It’s awful nice having a supportive husband,” she says.
photo by Jerry Anthony Looking at Pamela’s glass jewelry, one can appreciate the sense of excitement in her creative process. Each piece is whimsical; every necklace has a feel of its own. Like ornamental icicles, vessels hang between glass and metal beads. Pamela makes many of her own metal pieces; she also buys some from Feather Spirit.
photo by Jerry Anthony “In all honesty, I don’t like to look at other people’s work, and I don’t like to look at current color forecasts,” Pamela says. Pamela finds inspiration in designers whose work is uniquely their own and “feels good” knowing similarities seen in her work and that of others is a “meeting of the minds” rather than art imitating art. She does love other jewelry, especially the seed bead work out today which she calls “incredible.”
Shrugging off a preferred technique, Pamela reveals her recent migration toward more “organic” styles. She explains, “I make whatever pops into my head.” Boasting a vast variety of color combinations, each vessel is a uniquely adorned, elegantly shaped wand; exotic to behold. Some vessels are reminiscent of totem poles while others look like batons. Her teapots range from reminding one of fish to resembling roses. Their arrangement in her jewelry is equally arbitrary. While she often designs around her beads with a color palette in mind, she “still (doesn’t) like planning a design.”
photo by Paul Avis
|
photo by Jerry Anthony Pamela’s vessels are her signature. She has been making them since she began lampworking. “I knew when I ordered my first torch I wanted to make teapots and vessels. Teapots got a bit boring, but vessels… Ah!” she sighs, adding, “I go back to vessels because I don’t get bored of the variety of shapes, and of course those pesky handles… I most enjoy getting a beautiful, balanced, and proportional set of handles on a vessel. Crazy huh?"
photo by Jerry Anthony ”Inspired also by former mentor Loren Stump, Pamela declares, “Loren, if you’re reading, there are people who understand what you have given them! (In class I remember him saying he wasn’t sure that they did!).” Loren’s course is the only one Pamela has taken; she is largely self-taught. When Pamela embarked on her lampworking journey, little navigation existed though Cindy Jenkins’ book proved useful. Says Pamela, “It was like a box of candy to me.”
photo by Jerry Anthony Turning towards newcomers to the bead scene, Pamela preaches to keep their studio “simple and safe,” learn the technical aspects of stringing, make your work look professional, and most importantly, “Do good work you are proud of! Work you would buy.”
photo by Jerry Anthony “I love glass! I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else,” Pamela confides. Pamela has sold her work all over. Galleries that have featured her work include Riley Hawk Gallery, Mostly Glass Gallery, Arts Afire Gallery, Sherrie Gallery, Peter Vale Gallery, Cool Arts Gallery, and some others. Pamela also suggests art shows as an avenue for selling one’s jewelry. She also hosts her own website. Pamela has also been featured in Lap journal, Larks 1000 Glass Beads, and gallery pages of two other publications. She was also “fortunate enough to be asked to teach by B&B magazine this past year.”
photo by David Orr
photo by Jerry Anthony photo by Paul Avis
|
||||
