Today we’d like to introduce you to Priscilla Frake.
Priscilla, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
An early interest in jewelry led me to an interest in gems and rocks, then to a career as a geologist. I took my first jewelry-making course in high school but didn’t pursue metalwork seriously until I turned to it much later as a second career. All the people I’ve been in my life- a geologist, a wife and mother, a cancer survivor, and a poet- have contributed to my artistic vision, as have all the places I’ve lived. While living in New York, New Mexico, West Texas, Scotland, California, China, and Houston, I’ve absorbed something of the local vibe and aesthetic. I’ve always taken time, wherever I’ve lived or traveled, to visit museums and stare transfixed at anything made of metal. When we moved to Houston fifteen years ago, I was already making jewelry. I added another technique (and set of tools) to my repertoire, after I started enameling at Glassell School of Art and became a color junkie.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I make art jewelry and small sculpture out of metal and enamel. My current work involves an exploration of modern and ancient images of the cosmos. Living in Houston got me interested in space and in the Hubble Space Telescope. I started this series in 2011 with a sculpture entitled The Buddha Keeps the Cosmos in His Suitcase. I became fascinated by the scientific instruments of past centuries, and constructed sculptures and jewelry based on the astrolabe, the armillary sphere, and, most recently, the particle accelerator at CERN. Other pieces were inspired by the moon landing, planetary nebula, sacred architecture, and breakthroughs in scientific understanding like Maxwell’s laws and thermodynamics. This body of work has allowed me to explore connections between philosophy, science, mythology, and art, and how each of these shapes the way we see the world.
I fabricate my jewelry by hand, making it from sheet and wire, rather than using commercial processes like casting. I use many techniques to cut, form, solder, and patina the metal. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive, as is enameling. Enamel is glass fused to metal at high temperatures. It is an ancient art form but lends itself beautifully to contemporary designs, with a depth and brilliance that can’t be duplicated in any other medium.
Making jewelry and sculpture is part craft, part art, part engineering, and part pure frustration. Like when I lose a small piece that I just spent an hour making on the floor, or when I ruin a piece after hours of labor with one extra second of heat or wayward stroke of a file. But I wouldn’t trade metal for any less cantankerous medium. A piece of jewelry is a miniature world we can carry around with us, a personal talisman that can express our mood or display an alternate personality, a touchstone that can remind us of who we are and how we want to carry ourselves. These are the things I hope to create in each piece I make.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
Success is always a moving target. I used to think that mounting a solo show would somehow catapult me to another level, but now that I’ve passed that milestone, I see that it is as much of an illusion as any other metric of achievement. Being an artist means giving yourself the freedom to entertain even crazy ideas, then working to physically embody them. The correspondence between what you imagine and what you create is the true measure of success. Of course, it would be nice to be recognized (and paid) for the effort and talent it takes to make something fine or exceptional, but that is beside the point. Perseverance, in the face of little or no encouragement, a passion for your medium, the ability to deflect inner criticism (at least some of the time), and a willingness to experiment are all useful qualities for an artist. In today’s world, an artist with a talent for self-promotion and a facility in social media (neither of which I possess) is more likely to attain the outward trappings of success. I’ve resigned myself to cheerful obscurity.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have been in many local and national shows and exhibitions and had a solo show at the Jung Center in 2016. I currently sell jewelry in two retail galleries: High Gloss (www.highglosshouston.com) in Houston, and the National Ornamental Metal Museum Shop (www.metalmuseum.org) in Tennessee. In addition, I participate in yearly events like Art on the Avenue and the Glassell Holiday Sale. I don’t sell directly through my website, priscillafrakejewelry.com, but it’s the place to contact me and learn more about my one-of-a-kind pieces.
Contact Info:
- Website: priscillafrakejewelry.com
- Email: priscilla@priscillafrakejewelry.com
Image Credit:
Jack B. Zilker, Cara L. Murray
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