Raïssa Bump studied jewelry at Rhode Island School of Design and Alchimia School of Contemporary Jewelry under Giampaolo Babetto. She has been exhibiting her jewelry for over ten years and is skilled at making both intricate one-of-a-kind pieces and beautiful edition collections–all of which speak to her interest in wearable arts, textiles & textile techniques and slow & methodical handwork. Raïssa is a keen observer of her environment, very curious and enjoys adventure–her jewelry is a reflection of this. She collages together her observations into pieces that are bold from a distance, yet draw you in, ask you to look closer and notice subtle details or how light coruscates across surfaces.
‘Likenesses depend on the transformations an artist sets in motion: consider the way in so many of these pieces, hardness is worked into flexibility, opacity is made to reveal a hidden clarity, how a cut-out, petal-like design suggests an abundant offering of flowers, and then, step back a bit – even the spaces between the blooms themselves form airy bouquets. The emotional qualities of materials, too, might be expressed by way of metaphor: in Raïssa Bump’s hand, a brooch can be complex, nuanced, full of lively contradictions like the best conversationalists — both open and self-contained, inviting and sharp. Spend time engaging (brooch or person) and it’s clear: what’s just below the surface unexpectedly asserts. What’s on top, unveils itself slowly. The urbane has its rough spots; that which is raw, its elegance.’
– excerpted from On the Poetry of Likeness: Raïssa Bump by Lia Purpura, 2014.
Exhibitions
2016 project space: Raissa Bump
2014 Seeing The Familiar
2009 Reflections
2007 Complements
Publications
Raissa Bump | Seeing the Familiar with essay by Lia Purpura
Raissa Bump | Complements with essay by Marjorie Simon
Artist Statement
My newest work is about a specific shape that recurs over and over again in my life—an alignment that is too numbered to not pay attention to. Scallops in the clouds or mountain peaks or in the waves rolling in, scalloped patterns in the beaded dress & purse or in architectural details & sacred geometry. Always pleasing to my eye, there is consistency and understanding, comfort and recognition in these permutations. I do not seek them out, yet over and over I see, read and listen to variations on this theme. Many of these recurrences and concurrences collide in this exhibition — quilted memories of things, places and people over time. Each work encompasses all of a piece of this story.