STYLIN' SUNDAY...

Shannon LeVart

A PEEK INTO THE CREATIVE MINDS OF JEWELRY ARTISTS

This week's artist is Shannon LeVart who specializes in ...well....that's hard to say....She's Fickle!!  That works for Shannon though, as you will see, while exploring her various mediums and beautiful jewelry designs which can be found in her shops missficklemedia, slevart, and themoonlitforest.

Where did you come up with the name Missficklemedia?

I have no loyalty to any one media. I mix scrap booking and jewelry, textiles and metal, sculpture and organic materials. I am in my thirties with no desire to settle down with one type of art and that is a very fickle thing. Miss is just for cuteness.

Have you been combining ceramic beads with your own components for a long time or is this something that you have recently gotten into?

While I have always enjoyed ceramics, mainly their texture, it wasn't until I saw so many different artists on Lorelei Eurto's blog that I found the jewelry components irresistible. I started with your beads because they had the perfect blend of sophistication and rustic appeal that I was looking for to pair with my current obsession of patina-ted metals.

I have since begun to collect raku, smoke fired and African clay components as their primitive look really appeals to me.

Are there other venues such as shows, bead shops, etc. that you also sell your hand-forged pieces and/or jewelry through?

I sell all over the world in Paris France, London, England, Australia and I even have a stockist in New Zealand. Wholesale, consignment, shows, teaching, I do it all.

Pendant by Summers Studio Etc

Pendant by MACarroll

When creating jewelry and/or making your own components, do you have certain colors that you gravitate to more than others?

I love all colors equally although I find I have to force myself to create with red. I do not know why that is, I really like red and how it makes me feel. But I do not think about it. Turquoise is always the best seller. No matter what I have created or what market I am selling in, turquoise draws people in. I personally really like purple. That dusky, muted shade of lavender is very calming to me. Although, now that I think about it, my eye seems to be drawn to dark olive greens right now.

When designing jewelry, do you have an idea in mind before you begin, or do you just take out lots of materials and experiment?

That is a good question that is hard to answer. I have notebooks filled with ideas, sketches and color samples. Sometimes I have to act on them right away. Other times they sit for a very long time. Years even. But there have been rare moments when I have free time and I am able to experiment. Something good can come from that, like my blue branches. I was just playing for something to offer as a sponsorship on the Art Bead Scene blog and found myself hammering out Van Gogh type branches.

But when I was skimming through a journal from 2007, I found a branch sketch that was remarkably similar to what I had just created, so maybe it wasn't as spontanious as I thought.

I see that besides creating jewelry you also have quite a business selling handmade jewelry components; What inspired you to start creating such unique pieces?

I have so many forged components, I can't possibly create jewelry with all of it! As with the polymer clay and rubber stamped pendants I was making previously, I need to sell in order to buy more raw materials to experiment with. Now it is metal. Who knows what will be next?

Lastly, what do you find rewarding when selling online and what do you find to be a the most challenging?

Challenging - The work is always there and my family always has needs to provide for. It is very difficult to take time off. But if I do not, other things suffer. I hope to be able to learn how to better balance earning money and caring for myself and family in the future.

Rewarding - Connecting to like souls whom I would never had the opportunity to meet had I not had an online presence. I was feeling very alone in 2006, now I have a huge network of supportive friends who understand me.

If you are interested in seeing more about any of the posted pictures, simply click them for a more detailed description.  
Would you like to know more about Shannon?
... please visit her blog for ongoing updates.

  On a final note, Shannon has recently joined the Art Bead Scene Blog as one of their contributors.  When you are done reading here, you might want to pop on over there to see what's new and exciting in that link of the chain ;o)