Featured Artist Martina Noble

Artist Martina Noble transforms a lifetime of wanderlust, culture, and curiosity into artful jewelry rich with storytelling. See more by visiting her website.

 

 

Metal, ocean, books, travel… are the threads weaving through my work and my life, both in parallel and in synchronicity.

 

 

I grew up in a European port town, clambering after my dad through the hulls of large ships, curiously peeking at crew members from all over the world and marveling at exotic cargo. Watching freighters travel in and out of port, I’d daydream about traveling along, exploring the world.

 

 

My father, a naval architect and engineer, built the hull of our sailboat by hand, shaping rigid steel into graceful lines and a dynamic vessel, which took us to the ocean, like the mysterious freighters. Off season Dad put paintbrush, hammer and files in my hands.

 

 

I love books and tales of other cultures, history, art and people. The older I get the more I see commonality; stories connect people, and connect us over the miles and across our differences. I tell stories, not with words but with metal, gemstones and found objects (I’ll come back to those).

 

 

Mostly I work in sterling silver, using gold as an accent. I hand fabricate, using silver sheet and wire to build my pieces: piercing, hammering, soldering, filing and polishing stone settings, ring bands, bails, clasps. I recycle gems, melt down metal scraps to make my own sheet and wire. And pick up bits and bobs on my travels to weave into my work.

 

 

My studio process is a lot like my life, not a straight line but many turns, wiggles and cutbacks. One constant: I have always been a maker. Through childhood, university and marriage/children/career I worked with many materials, only to come back to metal. I enjoy the challenge of coaxing this unyielding material into fluid forms.

 

 

In school my passion was art and art history, but I followed a more sensible career path, via an MA in International Relations and Economics. Many moons later I studied at the Revere Academy in San Francisco to become a goldsmith. Zig zag. Through all of this I lived in Germany, the Middle East, the US, Italy, France and the US. Zig zag.

 

 

Now, in the studio I typically pick a focal gem, choose accent gems and start sketching. Next I build the main setting. As I compare my design, my vision, and lay out my pieces, I often find that the actual materials, gems and settings don’t feel right, and I veer off, adjust my design. Zig zag. Many of my pendants can be worn either way, or hide a little secret… tell a story.

 

 

While I love gemstones, especially turquoise, labradorite, tourmaline and pearls, I am always intrigued by everyday treasures (aka found objects) be it a pebble, a piece of logic board, a bone or a bug. (Pickpockets beware of what you might find in mine!)

 

 

The intrinsic beauty of the ordinary. Creating pieces of wearable art—dreams, symbols and talismans— always lures me back to the work bench.

 

Martina Noble invites you to follow on Instagram and Facebook.

 

 

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