Emily Hickman's Timeless Hammered Silver Jewelry

Sometimes, an inclination toward something takes hold very early in life.  For Emily Hickman, jewelry was just such a thing.  Picture it if you will: little Emily, forming rings out of aluminum foil, and trying to figure out how to make them even shinier by adding rhinestones!  I bet you can just see a cute little blonde girl walking around, proudly holding out her hand for all to see her gorgeous "diamond" ring!

"Moondrops" bracelet from
new 2011 summer collection

Emily was lucky enough to have a metals program in her high school, where she took classes and got her first taste of using a torch and working with metals a little more precious than aluminum foil.

But as happens with so many, she believed the starving artist myth and felt she had to pursue a career with a stable paycheck.  Many dreary years later, and now in her 50s, she returned to her first love by taking jewelry-making classes at North Seattle Community College, and Danaca Designs in the U District.  As she describes it, "I had too many design ideas floating around in my head."  Apparently, they wouldn't be ignored!

Emily Hickman Designs

Emily took as many classes as possible, while maintaining a full-time job.  She wanted to get her skills down quickly so she could focus on making those designs floating around in her head become a reality.

And thus, Emily Hickman Designs was born!  Emily is inspired by her love of the water, as well as ancient hand-forged jewelry.  Simple yet classic shapes are the hallmark of her sterling silver jewelry.  What sets her work apart from the crowd is her use of various hammer tips to create different textures on the surface of the silver.

Earrings from 2011 collection

She also likes to use two different finishes.  One is a highly polished surface that glistens and dances in the light.  The other is a brushed finish that is very subtle and contemporary.  She created the tool she uses to make that brushed surface texture, so it is unlike others out there.  Whatever your personal style, Emily's classic designs is likely to have some choices for you.

Emily can't imagine leaving the house without some jewelry on.  She wanted her own jewelry to be the kind that a woman could wear with jeans, or feel confident wearing to a special event as well.  Her classic shapes with their wonderful textures achieve that goal brilliantly!

Very long necklace can be worn singly, doubly,
or even tripled

Please join us Thursday, July 21 from 5 - 8 pm when Emily will introduce her newest collection, which features open circles and coin-shaped silver elements in a variety of combinations, as seen in the pictures here.  You'll be the first to ever see them!  Wearing them is sure to elicit comments from your friends, and even complete strangers, giving you yet another opportunity to share a moment of beauty with the world.

Manya Vee
www.ManyaVeeSelects.com

Watching artists grow - part 1

One of the greatest joys of my life is watching artists grow and develop.  First of all, it's quite difficult to become an artist.  It's one of the most difficult things a person can do.  (Check out this earlier blog for another example)  So watching it happen is sort of like watching a miracle.

Case in point - Emily Hickman.  I first met Emily when she contacted me for an Art Business Consultation.  She'd been honing her metalsmithing skills for several years, and wanted to learn how to get her work into more shops and galleries.  She had four "lines" at that time.  For the uninitiated, a "line" is a group of pieces that work together based on similarities.  Emily's four lines were 1. sea creatures, 2. items featuring a cats eye shell, 3. simple shapes brightly colored with enamel on copper, and 4. hammered silver pieces.  All were quite different from each other.  Each would have to be marketed separately to a different clientele all together - which makes producing marketing materials rather expensive, and typically drives an artist to distraction trying to keep it all together under one roof in her head.

Narrowing the scope was imperative.  But bodies of work were already created in each category, and it seemed so wasteful to just give up without trying.  So we crafted a temporary plan to market the other liens, while turning all her creative energy to the hammered silver line.  And thus, Hammering Woman was born.

Interesting things happen when an artist focuses on one area.  I hear artists all the time balking about this because they feel it limits their creativity.  But an unexpected thing happens by imposing this limitation: the creativity within that limitation expands exponentially.  Secondly, by focusing on this area, the skill level increases dramatically.  Thus, the confidence to create ever-increasingly challenging work grows.  Thus the line grows because (confidence in technical skill) + (time spent creating new work) = increased creativity.

So Emily has been sending me photos of her newest pieces, and they are simply stunning.  Her earlier pieces in the Hammering Woman line were characterized by classic shapes (rectangles, teardrops, circles) with slightly organic edges.  The simple shapes and lines are very popular, and among our best-sellers at Manya Vee Selects.  The newest pieces still retain the classic shapes, but have a new elegance to them - a refined quality that is quite breathtaking.  She's even experimenting with incorporating bits of 18-karat gold with the sterling, such as a little gold ball on the surface of a silver earring, or an amazing stone bezel set in 18-karat gold.

So keep it up, Emily!  Now we are all watching to see how you grow!

Manya

www.ManyaVeeSelects.com

Manya@manyaveeselects.com