By Bonnie Rusinko
Art Beat proudly features Missy Rose as
Our artist this month. Missy is not only a
versatile painter but a creative jewelry
maker who designs jewelry pieces with a
very unique process.
I wanted to
give
our
readers a
little
insight
on
jewelry, but
soon realized I could fill a library with all
the info in the cyber world. I did learn that
jewelry has been around since the start of
human history. It has always assumed a
form of personal adornment and projected a type of status symbol by kings and
emperors and still does today. It was also
worn as a protection from the dangers of
life, and a conduit for dealing with mystical
aspects of culture. In many cultures jewelry was frequently included in burials. Jewelry made from shells, stone and bones has
survived from prehistoric times, as evident
through excavations which also provided
important clues about beliefs, customs,
cultures, relationships and the use of jewelry as supernatural powers of protection
(talismans). The discovery of how to work
metals was an important stage in the development of the art of jewelry. Metal working techniques became more sophisticated and decoration more intricate. Some
cultures believed that people who created jewelry possessed mystical powers.
That might be true because our artist this
month, Missy Rose definitely possesses a
magic as she designs her jewelry and then
etches those designs onto copper, bronze
or sterling silver.
Missy, Jim, and their two children, Chelsea
and Jake, moved to Waxhaw 14 years ago.
The small-town atmosphere that she loves
reminds her of Fayetteville, NY where she
was born and raised with one exception…
in Fayetteville most of the year, they were
buried in “lake-effect” snow which led to
a lot of indoor time that she spent drawing. She said she can’t remember a time
that she wasn’t drawing. She recalls that
she loved to draw a girl with very swanky
hair that covered one eye, like the actress,
Veronica Lake. Although it looked more
like an off-kilter cyclops, she would draw
that girl over and over. That started her
enchantment with art. Although her elementary school did not have a very rich art
program, her middle school did. She holds
dear her memories of her younger years,
especially firing pots at the top of a snow
covered rural hill in a huge bonfire, using
messy charcoals, creating a woodcut that
resulted not only a nice piece of a Viking
ship but impaling her hand in the process.
Missy always follows the path for continuous learning and loves to travel. She attended Syracuse University with a degree
in advertising, received a graduate degree
from Winthrop University in Art Education
and spent time
at La Meridiana International School
of Ceramics in
Tuscany, Italy.
She has taken
a wide variety
of art classes in
different mediums like papermaking, clay, printmaking,
metal work and drawing. She said with so
many types of art, it is interesting how one
medium connects to another. One medium
in particular, intaglio printmaking which
involves drawing a picture on a zinc plate
and then dropping it in an acid batch to
etch, was instrumental in her current passion of jewelry making. Missy’s jewelry
and her paintings definitely reflect her
love of art, but that doesn’t surprise me because I think Missy excels no matter what
type of art form she chooses.
The perfectly imperfect
world of
nature that
surrounds
us is Missy’s
inspiration.
She enjoys
autumn to see twisted tree trunks, fallen
leaves and take in the dichotomy between
things thriving and things dormant. Her
two favorite artists are Gauguin and Matisse. Favorite living artists are Andy
Goldsworthy, Chuck Close and Kehinde
Wiley and street artists like Dan Witz. She
is amazed and in awe as how they do what
they do. I asked Missy what art meant to
her. She replied, “Art is all about showing
the spirit within us. Life brings a continuum of constantly changing thoughts,
moods, and feelings. Art allows one to
have the ultimate expression of oneself to
share with others.“
As I gathered my things to leave, I looked
around her beautiful historic home and noticed a life-size mannequin standing in the
corner with long swanky hair that covered
one eye. Missy chuckled and said in her
travels, she found her in a corner of a store
and knew she belonged in her home…
maybe as a reminder of her love of drawing or just fond memories of years past?
To view more of Missy’s creative art…
https://www.etsy.com/shop/GracieRoseJewelry
The Village News ● February 2016 ● 17