Crystal Hartman

Artist Statement: 
I create mischievous delights… whimsical, carnal, sculptural pieces that grow from meditations on humanity, growth and jubilant life.  Aiming to awaken the foxy sincerity that revolts from symmetry and flourishes in genuine experience, the impetus for my work is a love of storytelling, nature and process.  What I find interesting are the connotations we attach to language and life and the compassion required to appreciate divergent perspectives. A field of grass is just a field of grass; yet, in a breezy afternoon, when the sun shines through bright white clouds, it is alive and a part of me and a part of you. Drawing in liquid wax and casting into predominately recycled sterling silver and gold, each jewel, each totem, talisman, amulet I create is filled with love, courage, bliss and bounty informed by the natural world and our place in the human history.
Bio / Description: 

I am an artist and jeweler creating abstract botanical works rooted in line and storytelling. Growing up behind the jeweler’s bench at Durango Silver Company, I began sculpturally carving wax and studying the human for around age 7. I studied Printmaking focused on Intaglio Etching at the University of Colorado at Boulde where I received a UROP grant to study Femininity in Argentina. After receiving my BFA, I filmed skateboarding for Null Skateboards in Barcelona and the Canary Islands, Spain and exhibited video installations, one was featured in the exhibition United BAC! at the CCCB, Center for Contemporary Culture Barcelona. I lived in Chiang Mai Thailand and studied cultural craft -natural dyes, batik, and grafiti, I carried these textures back to the United States and into watercolor that made me a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society, receiving the Merwin Altfeld Memorial Award for Storytelling in the Arts. Back home in Durango, I founded and directed Durango Open Studio, an event celebrating and sharing lifestyles and process in the arts and began digging into my roots in adornment.
I create sculptural jewelry inspired by storytelling and nature. It has been featured in Art Jewelry Magazine and included in exhibitions such as TOP Jewels: International Jewelry Exhibition at the Durango Arts Center and Earthly Delights: Metalsmiths Inspired by Nature at the Lillstreet Gallery, Chicago, IL. To balance carving miniature sculptures in wax, I illustrate and paint, often in large scale, creating canvases and scrolls shown at small galleries, DIY spaces and locations such as The National Palace of Culture, Sofia Bulgaria, and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado USA. I maintain a studio creating sculptural adornment, illustrating and painting in Southwest Colorado and am currently studying sound and light in Champaign Illinois.Nike

Address: 
Champaign IL