Biography
Jack has long had a fascination with artist jewelry. His heroes—Alexander Calder, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, George Rickey—all made jewelry. These giants of the art world all tried their hand at jewelry and it was only a matter of time before Jack gave it a shot. “I always wanted to expand the visual language of my sculptures into smaller wearable pieces. Making jewelry has given me an avenue to experiment with my forms and add semi-precious stones to highlight shapes and forms I find interesting that can decorate actual human figures.”
Jack Howard-Potter was born in New York City and graduated from Union College in 1997 where he wrote his thesis “Figurative Steel Sculpture.” He has garnered a large following with his large-scale figurative steel public sculpture that can be seen in places across the country: Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Vermont, Ohio, New Jersey and Illinois, amongst others. He resides in New York City with his wife and two children and has had his studio in Long Island City, Queens since 2006.
Artist Statement
With my jewelry I am most interested in expanding the visual language that I have cultivated in my sculptures and expanding the language of jewelry to include my vision. Focusing on individual muscle shapes, techniques, materials and forms from my sculpture opens a wide landscape of possibility for jewelry that can be worn and more easily collected. I am using these cues from my large-scale sculptures, in much smaller sizes, to create jewelry that is unique and interesting to the eye. The wearer may not associate the silver shapes with their own anatomy but the close association makes the pieces fit the body in a natural and coordinated way.
I am meticulously hand crafting each piece of one-of-a-kind jewelry using my signature style. All the design elements, silver smithing, finishing and stamping is done by only me. This attention to the fabrication process is an outgrowth of my sculpture where I pride myself on making each weld on every sculpture I have ever made.