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Sharon K Berkan-Dent, Artist / Jeweler
About My Process
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As a lifelong artist I've worked in a wide variety of mediums; including graphic design, drawing, painting and textile arts. Since 1993 I've been combining and refining these skills in the creation of jewelry. The process begins by creating sketches of an inspired idea. Recently my work has taken on a story telling characteristic so in addition to drawing the primary figures I often include background and secondary elements I want to help tell my story; animals and birds, castles, trees, faerie houses,tree men, vines, flowers, rocks, waves, celestial elements, or whatever else may fit within the story that I want to tell. |
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The completed design is reduced to the intended size of the finished piece of jewelry then used as a template as I start to sculpt in wax. The sculpture is the most time consuming part of the process, it’s very important to me that everything is as lifelike as possible; anatomy, proportion, facial features, and fine detail (scales and feathers are applied one at a time). While I stay true to my original concept some design changes naturally occur as the design evolves from a 2-dimensional layout to a 3-dimensional sculpture. When the wax sculpture is complete it is cast using the lost-wax method. This includes mixing plaster to pour over the mounted wax sculpture, firing in a kiln for approximately a 24 hour burnout, melting the metal with a torch and casting with a vacuum assist machine. After casting the excess metal is removed, first by hand saw and then by grinding. This is followed by several levels of polishing with the application of a patina along the way. The process is time consuming and meticulous, but also a labor of love. Although the overall design, realistic representation and detail of my work are of great importance, they would mean nothing if not for the story |
A portion of the design of the "At Last" bracelet |
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Finished Wax Sculpture |
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Finished Bracelet |
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and energy behind each creation. The figures and other design elements combine to give each piece its own individual essence and a glimpse into a mystical world. I hope that you will find my jewelry not only beautiful and unique, but also sense an undefined positive presence surrounding each item . . . or, if you prefer, you can simply think of my work as faerie tales, illustrated in silver and gold. If you would like to see a more detailed step-by-step view of my process go to my Creation Process page. |
About Me
So enough about the process and you want to know more about me? . . . . I live in Midland, Michigan a couple of miles out of town on a 3 acre wooded lot. I live there with my husband and daughter, 1 large dog, 2 cats and a pond of goldfish and Koi.
In addition to creating jewelry I also teach the lost-wax process at The Midland Center for the Arts - www.mcfta.org - and sometimes volunteer doing demos of my process to groups of school kids. I also take classes there myself and find figure drawing especially helpful in the sculpting I do.
How did I get into making jewelry? In addition to pen & ink drawing (my next favorite after jewelry), painting and working in graphic design I had been toying with textiles; painting fabric and doing a lot of hand beading. It was fun, but I was unhappy with the durability of my work so took a jewelry class (in the very room where I now teach) to see if those techniques might translate to textiles. I left the first class knowing that I had found a new path to follow. It was a fabrication class; cutting shapes out of metal, forming, soldering and that sort of thing. Then one night another student asked if we could do some casting and when I started sculpting wax I felt like I was "home".
So here I am talking about jewelry again, if you hadn't guessed by now the creation process (be it jewelry or another media) is at the heart of who I am, but I guess it's that way for most artists. What else do I like to do? I love sight seeing and taking in all the views that nature has to offer; be it close up views of animals, flowers and trees or wide vistas of forests, lakes and mountains -- taking pictures each step of the way, which are often later used as reference in my work. I love being a Mom; watching my daughter as she matures and being a part of her life. Relaxing with my husband and taking the dog for walks in the woods. And my subject matter. . . faeries, dragons, mermaids, unicorns, Pegasus and more . . . will tell you that I love Renaissance and Fantasy themes and am fascinated by mystical and magical things of all kinds.
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