Nicole Gagne

Artist Statement

Convergence

As in many collaborations between two artists, each individual taps into ideas and thoughts that had been laying dormant in the other. These pieces of oneself were always there, but in need of a second person to draw them out.
While creating our four wearable adornments, we drew from the common thread in our styles and influences, and found a natural flow in the way we worked together. New doors opened, recalling old memories and forgotten treasures of the mind.
This creative process evolved into a layering of ideas, which, in turn, translated into integral layers in our jewelry. Each component is a separate entity, yet the whole piece is assembled so that each layer gently shelters the next. This creates a familiar assemblage that awaits discovery.
Although the works are not true narratives, they are intended to evoke feelings of sentimentality, to involve the wearer, and to encourage them to discover their own meaning in each different layer.
The organic is engrained in our work. Intensely fascinated and affected by our surroundings, both of us recall many childhood hours spent fossicking outdoors. Intrigued by small and discarded objects, we would imagine that each collected treasure had its own secret story.
We have created our own kind of reliquaries, each being a miniature world serving homage to our natural environments and dusted with fragments of our own personal experiences.