‘Cage’Pendant:
stainless steel wire, copper,
24 kt gold plate, turquoise

Artist’s Statement
The roles (and relationships) of human and nature, human and perceived reality are of interest to me.  I believe in Beauty, and that ‘beauty’ is related to nature (form, surface, texture, colour) for most humans.  I play with the tension between nature and structure.  Allowing the nature of the materials to do the work, deliberately building in some randomness, letting nature show in the work lends it a ‘beauty’ that I cannot easily reach by forcing form onto the material.  The marks of process are compositional elements.  The effects of chaos (nature) on systems is something I work with.  The poignancy of humans laying structure upon the universe, of our need to create and seek pattern intrigues me, and is part of the work.

Biography
Charles Lewton-Brain studied and worked in Europe and North America.  He lectures and publishes internationally on his research into rapid manipulation of metal and it’s surface for artistic and manufacturing purposes.  He invented Fold-Forming, an internationally recognized new approach to working sheet metals.  Head of the Jewellery/Metals Program at the Alberta College of Art and Design, he writes, exhibits and works in his studio.  He thinks of himself as an artist who works primarily in the context of body ornament.  He is a founding partner in the world’s largest free educational web site for jewelers, ganoksin.com.