Interview with Annie Polk of Antelope Studio
OF US: Hi Annie! Your jewelry is mesmerizing with its radically sculptural associations. After studying sculpture and art history how did your path begin to venture towards jewelry design?
Annie: Hi Of Us! Let me first say that I'm excited to be part of your great group of designers. And thank you for the compliments.My path towards jewelry started as an obsession at a young age, like most jewelry designers. I was always snooping around my mom and grandmothers' jewelry boxes and staring at the details and putting gobs of it on at once. I made silly beaded things in middle school and I've always been a collector of jewelry (and other small things). I was an art history major in college and had a variety of jobs in the arts. In my late twenties I worked for a major sculpture fabricator in LA, where I was heavily involved in the R&D phases of projects (maquettes and modeling), as well as sourcing new vendors and keeping tabs of the multitude of samples. My co-workers called me magpie because I was drawn to all the small and shiny pieces of the job. During this time, I was making jewelry on the side and really excited about creating, but I had very little metalsmithing knowledge and my ideas were outgrowing my skills. I made the wise decision that it was time to get my hands dirty, so I enrolled in a full time metalsmith and design program. It was a perfect fit for me.
OF US: Are there any specific artists, periods, or works that have had the most profound influence upon your designs?
Annie: I aim for a tension and balance between designs that look futuristic and also evoke antiquity. I love Mediterranean gold antiquities, but I am also enthralled by modern/post-modern and contemporary artists and architects. For example, I’m equally drawn to minimalism for its quiet and simple strength, as I am to Dutch still life for its symbolism and color. I’m also influenced by folk art because it is often an intersection between utilitarianism and decoration.
Art is very important for my way of seeing and processing. I've worked in the art world or for creative businesses since college, so I know that art often informs my aesthetic in an unconscious way. Also, my husband is an artist so we look at and talk about art quite a bit. To be honest, I draw inspiration from everywhere- it’s all fair game. And to be specific, a few people I’ve been looking at lately are Vincent Fecteau (artist), Luis Barragán (architect), Enric Majoral (jeweler) and the Mono-ha movement in Japan.
The LINEarc collection was specifically inspired by Sol LeWitt's chalk drawings and Oscar Niemeyer's structures in Brazil.
LeWitt and Niemeyer were true modernists. The LineArc pieces have a distinctly modern appeal and are incredibly simple. They also echo primitive symbols or hieroglyphics in some ways, but that was unintentional.
OF US: The landscapes experienced whilst growing up in Santa Fe seem to strongly impact the direction of Antelope Studio’s aesthetic. What was it like to move to LA and find yourself smack dab in the middle of a metropolis?
Annie: New Mexico is dreamlike. The weather, the high desert alpine climate and the light it produces, the confluence of cultures (American Indian, Spanish, Latino), the deep history of art and craft in the area- all of these things make for an incredibly diverse physical, political, and visual landscape. I've lived in California for almost 13 years and I've always missed New Mexico. But, LA has been important for me as a designer because LA exposes you to everything. I found my style here and it has served as a backdrop to expose my own creativity to the market. It's important to be in the midst of a lot of creativity in order to find your own voice. LA is full of people trying to make it in any and all industries and there are so many creatively motivated people here. It’s exhausting but exhilarating. And I'd use the same adjectives about the city itself. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with it.
OF US: Has the city been an inspiration too?
Annie: Well, it’s funny that you are asking about my relationship to LA, because this is the eve of my departure from it. I am moving to Colorado in a week (!!), so I have been reflecting quite a bit on this place and what it means to me. LA has been an inspiration in the sense that I’ve had to become hyper-focused due to the immensity of the place. There is so much visual noise here, so many people, so many things to see and do and be distracted by. Because of this, you have to strip away and figure out what it is you want to create. That is a very valuable environment for a creative person, but it’s not ultimately essential. I guess I am ready to be in a quieter and slower place. I know my creative voice and I know what fuels it. Luckily, it’s not tied to Los Angeles or any specific location.
OF US: What is your process like when you begin to embark on a new collection?
Annie: I have too many ideas. But I find that I pay attention to the ideas that keep popping back into my brain. I know those ideas have substance if they recur over and over. If an idea brews for awhile, then I draw and make sketches and tear them up and start over and abandon them and come back. I’m currently working on some fish based designs that seem like they’ve been in my head forever. That’s a good sign for me.
OF US: We all know how important it is to find a balance between work and play. One of the most exciting elements of being an artist is that you never know what the latter will arouse in the prior. Where do you find yourself on your ideal “day off”?
Annie: I fantasize about days when nothing is planned. There is nothing to do, no one to see, no errands to run. I have a 1 year-old son, so I also fantasize about sleeping late. I think a perfect day off would be a hike with my husband and son and our dog. And at the end of the hike, I have an ice cold beer and then we get a hamburger on the way home. Man that sounds boring! At least my dream trips sound more glamorous. I’m dying to travel around Japan and to rent a boat and cruise the islands of Turkey or Greece. But I think the hike/burger fantasy is much more likely to come true sooner…..
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