Three Rivers Arts Festival June 5th to June 11th 2015
Three Rivers Arts Festival June 6th to 10th 2014
Three Rivers Art Festival Emerging Artist Profile 2014
The silver jewelry created by Leah Beal contains more purpose than merely adorning a body. In her Pod Series, Beal works on the idea of “comfort spaces.” As she explains, the silver pieces are made to be “held in your hand and give some sort of comfort,” because, “Rolling the rounded, hollow object around in your fingers creates a calm and soothing effect.” Beal sculpts the silver to create “safe spaces, like what you would want to be in if you could have them life-size, but on a miniature scale.”
Beal also has a Line Series, inspired by a flatter form that contains thin vines of overlapping silver, creating nature-reminiscent pieces.
The creative process for Beal is less about inspiration than the act of crafting the silver itself. The marvel is in creating dimensional pieces from a dimensionless material. “I usually start with flat silver sheets,” states Beal, “and it’s really interesting to see something that’s completely flat, that has no shape, no texture, nothing, that’s all hand-cut, hand-formed and soldered and to have it all come together to create something is really amazing.”
Although Beal now refers to silversmithing as “her calling,” she wrestled with the idea of being an artist for a while before she fully embraced it. Like many people, Beal entered college without a clear path, but facing pressure to pick a major that would yield successful job opportunities. She attempted to appease society instead of pursuing her own happiness, and chose a major in interior design. Beal also initially resisted working with metals because her sister was a metals major and she “didn’t want to be anything like her.” However, after taking a metals class Beal said, “I knew that I’m exactly like her and [metal working] was my calling, too!”
Leah Beal will be showing her work for the first time as an Emerging Artist scholar at the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival. Stop by to see her work at booth 10 in the Artist Market presented by People’s Gas from Friday, June 6 to Tuesday, June 10.
By Rebecca Faix, Artist Market Intern
Arcadia University Thesis Exhibition April 29.2011