July 26 – August 14, 2019

AMELIA TOELKE
Seeing Stars

View works in our SHOP
For as long as humans have been wandering the earth they have been looking up to the sky for answers. The clusters of bright stars that appear as shapes amidst the specks are like gifts given just to us to help us make sense of a world and cosmos so vast and incomprehensible. Most often representing animals, a mythological person or creature, or a god, constellations have been used throughout time to tell stories of creation and belief, and to help us physically navigate across the globe. 
Charm bracelets function similarly. As we collect charms that symbolize experiences or rites of passage, the charm bracelet stands in as a personal timeline—again, helping us make sense of something as abstract and esoteric as the meaning of life. Amelia Toelke’s Seeing Stars plays with the format of charm bracelets to make wearable versions of constellations. These miniature maps of the universe are like personal compasses that connect us to the past and orientate us in the present.
All works in the Seeing Stars Series are made of sterling silver and in an edition of 5. 

 

Amelia Toelke’s diverse art practice draws on her training in jewelry and metalsmithing yet transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. A combination of sculpture, collage, and installation, Toelke’s work lies at the intersection of the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional, and challenges given conceptions of object, image, reality, and representation.

A graduate of SUNY New Paltz’s bachelors’ program in Jewelry and Metals and with an MFA from University of Wisconsin at Madison, Amelia was selected as an artist in residence at Lanzhou City University in Lanzhou, China in 2015. She has been an artist-in-residence at  the Brush Creek Center for the Arts in Saratoga, Wyoming, participated in the  international exhibition and art symposium in Tbilisi, Georgia, and most recently hosted a workshop at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Amelia is currently working on a book of drawings and writings incorporating the world-renowned jewelry collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and a collaborative project focused on the use of jewelry and adornment as a tool for action and protest. Amelia strongly believes that jewelry can and should bring joy.