Skidmore News

Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Features

Media Credit: Peter Domorak The Pop Heart Drop Earrings, made of sterling silver and onyx, are one of several of Megan Isaacs' works on sale at the Tang Museum Store. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Peter Domorak A necklace from Megan Isaacs' Dendritic collection. The line was inspired by an assignment she received during her time at Skidmore. [Click to enlarge]

Art and intimacy rarely go hand in hand. A painting or a sculpture, though a thing of beauty, cannot be held in the hand, worn around the neck or often even be touched at all.

A piece of jewelry, however, offers a tactile, sensory experience; it allows the aesthetic elements of the art to be experienced on a much more intimate scale.

For Megan Isaacs '07, that proximity was part of what attracted her to the art in the first place. "I can take the elements that I apply to large scale sculpture and reapply them in a piece of jewelry, so that in a way I can make something communal," she said.

Isaacs, 24, discovered her passion for jewelry making as a sophomore while taking Jewelry and Metals with Professor David Peterson at Skidmore. "It was so hard to break in and learn the new skill set. I couldn't get an A in the class," she said. "That made me want to take it even more."

Isaacs says she found herself while studying abroad in Italy, and began to fully understand a piece of advice that Peterson had given her. "David said to me, 'I can't tell you what to do, all I know is if you start constantly thinking about designs and jewelry, then you're meant to be a jeweler,'" Isaacs said. "Now it's not such a challenge; now I can't think of anything else."

Almost three years out of school, Isaacs has a studio in Brooklyn and has found some success in her young career. In December her work was mentioned in Elle's daily style blog.

The month before, one of her necklaces got significant screen-time during the Thanksgiving episode of the CW's "Gossip Girl." "Vanessa's mother wore it. It got maybe half an hour of airtime," said Isaacs.

Her professional work began during the summer before her senior year with an internship at Me & Ro., a well-known New York jewelry studio.

After graduation she moved on to an apprenticeship with Robert Lee Morris, an accomplished designer in the world of fashion jewelry. "I had the summer internship until November" said Isaacs. "They had to let me go because I wasn't even supposed to be there anymore."

Today she works at Flux Work Studio, a Brooklyn-based collective of 12 young jewelry artists who share studio space and tools. She also urges Skidmore jewelers to contact her through her Web site, www.meganisaacs.com, if they are looking to start a career in New York. "We're always growing. We get more people, we move to a bigger space," said Isaacs.

"It's hard to be an artist and not have something that's sellable. At least you're making something commercial when you're making jewelry. It's more like a product.," said Isaacs.

"I saw jewelry as an outlet where I could take elements that I applied to my paintings, to my movie making and to my sculpture, but with jewelry there was something that you could make and sell."

The need for profit does not necessarily need to compromise artistic ambition. "Art jewelry is one of a kind pieces that thrive at being one of a kind pieces. They exist for the fact that they are one of a kind," she said. "I'm trying to set up a production line that takes elements of art jewelry, the boldness of it, and makes them into a limited edition line."

"I take inspiration from all over. I always walk around with a notebook. If I see something I like, I draw it or take a picture with my phone. I'm inspired by the shapes around me," said Isaacs.

"Once you have a signature element you can make a whole line out of it. My latest collection is called Pennies. It was inspired by the current economic situation; it was actually cheaper to just use pennies than buy new metal."

Pieces from her Pop Heart collection are currently on sale at the Tang Museum Store. Additionally, she will be working with the Tang to create pieces connected to Professor Lisa Aronson's African art exhibit that will be opening some time in 2011.

Isaacs, who is of South African lineage, says that her work is often inspired by Africa because of the stones that she incorporates.

"I never have a set idea in my mind. I just combine the materials I want to use and build it like a collage," she said. "Everything that I make has a large scale statement attached to it but it's all really light and really wearable."

Eventually, she points out, she did finally manage to get that A.

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