{"id":2098,"date":"2017-04-27T18:32:35","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T18:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/?p=2098"},"modified":"2017-04-27T19:26:14","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T19:26:14","slug":"artist-bio-steven-parker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/2017\/04\/27\/artist-bio-steven-parker\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Bio: Steven Parker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since a very young age, Steven Parker has been drawn to working with metals and creating jewelry. While in college studying music at Columbia University, he began to explore the world of jewelry making through books he found in the discount section of his local bookstore. Through his exploration, he found a book on 16<sup>th<\/sup> century German automata and a\u00a0passion began. As he learned more about these complex mechanical systems, he realized that he wanted to refine his metal-working skills to begin creating his own automata out of fine and base metals.<a href=\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/2017\/04\/27\/artist-bio-steven-parker\/parkercomboinsta\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2100\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/2017\/04\/27\/artist-bio-steven-parker\/parkercombo\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2103\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2103\" src=\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2017\/04\/ParkerCombo-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"ParkerCombo\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2017\/04\/ParkerCombo-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2017\/04\/ParkerCombo-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2017\/04\/ParkerCombo.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This discovery lead him to pursue further education at FIT in New York in their jewelry and metals program. Upon graduating, Steven was recommended for a position working with Oscar Heyman &amp; Bros, where he was able to work on refining his skills as a fabricator and learning more about complex construction with metal on a jewelry scale. This experience encouraged Steven to work more with mechanisms and automata and over the years he was able to gain experiences in model-making and even mechanical toy design. After years of gaining more expertise in the many facets of automata construction he is now able to create his own automata designs as well as work as a jeweler and adjunct professor at FIT.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mSUBrnUrIzA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Steven\u2019s current work investigates clockworks as a mechanism for movement. His study of classic automata and his experience in the toy industry taught him the importance of telling a story and the interactive nature of physically involving the observer. Egyptian art and imagery inspired his most recent creation, the Oracular Bracelet of Tutankhamun. The egyptian bracelet represents Steven&#8217;s dual artistic passions &#8211; integrating the mechanisms and movement of an automata, scaled down into\u00a0jewelry proportions. His kinetic jewelry incorporates\u00a0the clockwork mechanisms and\u00a0bring the pieces to life with movement. These feats of fabrication are remarkably complex and beautifully constructed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/2017\/04\/27\/artist-bio-steven-parker\/ring-4\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2099\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2099\" src=\"http:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2017\/04\/ring.4-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"ring.4\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2017\/04\/ring.4-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/files\/2017\/04\/ring.4.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Steven has been able to apply his refined fabrication skills not only to automata creation, but also to his unique approach to jewelry design. After many years designing and fabricating jewelry with diamonds, precious stones, and perfection, he finds himself being drawn towards stones or other objects that are unusual and beautiful in their own right; though the world considers them of little or no value.\u00a0 Setting these stones of \u201cno value\u201d in mounting styles typically reserved for high value stones redefines \u201cvalue\u201d for him as a jeweler and creator. When creating a new piece, he enjoys examining the concepts of symmetry and asymmetry in regards to matching of stones, materials, and mountings. He has found that incorporating asymmetry into a design (such as an irregularly shaped stone or pebble) can create an interesting contrast to the precision he achieves in his fabrication. Steven says of this contrast, \u201csimply breaking the rules can be quite interesting!\u201d You can view all of Steven&#8217;s current projects on his website <a href=\"http:\/\/acmeclockworks.com\/\">www.acmeclockworks.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about Steven\u2019s use of \u201cunusual\u201d stones and his passion for fabrication in his <a href=\"https:\/\/metalwerx.com\/class-detail\/custom-prong-settings-unique-stones\">Custom Prong Settings for Unique Stones<\/a> workshop on May 18-20, 2017 at Metalwerx.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since a very young age, Steven Parker has been drawn to working with metals and creating jewelry. While in college studying music at Columbia University, he began to explore the world of jewelry making through books he found in the discount section of his local bookstore. Through his exploration, he found a book on 16th [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2098"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2109,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098\/revisions\/2109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/metalwerx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}