Chen, Tzu-Ju

My work is derived from my life experience: an intermingling of metalsmithing tradition and design, motifs, and materials reflecting places I have been. Inspired by the cultures I’ve seen during my travels, I work with native materials, combining the alternative and traditional to elevate the status of a common material by reassigning it a different function as jewelry.

Traveling snapshots and found vintage photos that once served as mementos turn architecture in antiquity into body adornment. Paper money (currency for the dead) is used to create pieces that suggest the notion of metal and hint at a sentiment of mourning.

Experimenting with traditional techniques, such as inlaying the kingfisher bird feather in an unconventional way as well as unorthodox binding methods like melting monofilament, connects mind and hands, abstract ideas and tangible forms in the medium of jewelry.

Familiar symbols like the phoenix are rearranged to create new silhouettes. Graphic elements are layered to create texture, and old photographs are incorporated to portray events. This is how I create new context.

These pieces are complete objects on their own but are enhanced when they integrate with the wearer by reflecting and shadowing their movements. Returning to the body as the pieces are worn is the pivotal moment when this experience becomes a creative continuum.

Tzu-Ju Chen

Please click on an image to enlarge.

click here to return to previous page

2100 Smallman St. Pittsburgh, PA 15222 | 412.261.7003 | www.contemporarycraft.org