Celebrating excellence and artistry in jewelry, BMoCA is presenting a collection of unique and one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable art for sale in this limited time Pop-Up Shop. These women have much in common beyond their racial, ethnic and gender identity, sharing an excellence in their craft and a never-ending exploration of artistic expression.

Whole-cast(e) is a reference to both the jewelry process (gold casting is a traditional process using wax and molds) but also the artists’ backgrounds, race and the caste system (an artificial hierarchy that helps determine standing and respect, assumptions of beauty and competence and who gets access to resources) and how it intersects with those who are biracial (or half caste). 

For sale and on view for the first time in Colorado is work from artists hailing from North Carolina, Rhode Island, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados. These artists use a range of materials – sgraffito enameling; carved shell and ceramic forms; embroidery; light and large silver and gold body adornment; to create pieces imbued with personal and historical identities. 

See more photos of the work by these artists here.

About the Artists:
Taisha Carrington is a Barbadian multidisciplinary artist working in performance, sculpture, body adornment, and installation. Her work seeks to promote solidarity with the land and investigate the liminality of life in the Caribbean after colonialism and into the anthropocene. Taisha invents ‘devices’ and explores performances for self-healing and facilitation of social dialogue about climate justice while proposing methods for rebirth, reclamation, and reimagining the value of Caribbean people and communities. Taisha was selected by New York City Jewelry Week for their inaugural One For The Future initiative and awarded as a CFDA+ Design Graduate by the Council of Fashion Designers of America – an award given annually to exemplary new talent from a pool of graduates around the world. Most recently Taisha was named a finalist for Art Jewelry Forum’s Young Artist Award 2022. Her work can be found in the collections of The Dallas Museum of Art and Montreal’s Stewart Program for Modern Design. Taisha received her BFA from Pratt Institute in 2018 and currently works in Barbados collaborating with biochemists, farmers and medical practitioners to pool knowledge and resources and shed light on social issues. 

Tanya Crane is a Southern California native who after years of exploration has found a home and community in Providence, Rhode Island. This is where she practices her research and jewelry and sculptural creation. In addition to her rigorous studio practice, Crane is a Professor of the Practice in Metals at the School Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts where her interdisciplinary focus in jewelry, craft, sculpture, and performance is utilized to influence the next generation of artists, craftspeople, and thinkers. Crane’s jewelry and sculpture are framed within a dual existence of prejudice and privilege having adapted to life amongst family in both the white suburbs of rural Los Angeles and the predominantly black suburbs of South Central, Los Angeles. Craft has become a conduit between these two worlds and has provided her with the framework in which her current work is centered. Crane’s jewelry embodies the many layers of human existence. These include history, race, class, and culture. Coming from the perspective of an African American woman, she uses community and inclusiveness as a magnetic beacon to diversify and expand ideas, understandings, and codifications. 

Janice Derrick was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. At sixteen she emigrated to the UK where her love of all things creative led to her pursuing a B.A. in Silversmithing, Jewelry and Allied Crafts at the prestigious Sir John Cass faculty at London Guildhall University, graduating in 1996. The following year Janice received a Clerkenwell Award from the Clerkenwell Green Association to set up her studio/workshop near the heart of London’s jewelry quarter, Hatton Garden. Janice’s work is inspired by clean line, movement, geometry and the structure of manmade and natural forms. Her work has been sold through galleries and museum shops internationally and she has exhibited in Trinidad, Germany, France, Japan, across the UK and the US. Her work has also been featured in books and many magazine publications worldwide. In 2005, Janice returned to Trinidad where she continues to develop her jewelry and silversmithing practice.

Nanette Pengelley is a queer, Jamaican-American artist and metalsmith born in south Florida. She went on to study in Quito, Boston, and Florence. After graduating from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2015 with her BFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing, Nanette has been exploring her practice within her brand, Hew Jewelry, splitting her time between New England and North Carolina. Her work is shaped by the materials she is attracted to as she often finds herself captivated by an object simply because of her encounter with it. Whether that object be found on the street, meticulously crafted by her own two hands, or grown in nature, she finds that experience can be carried forward by the wearer, through the act of making something beautiful out of the unconventional.

Kim Harrell is a silversmith and jewelry artist who has been making distinctly textured and minimalist jewelry and hollowware in precious metals since 1996. She obtained herB.A. in Silversmithing, Jewelry and Allied Crafts from London Metropolitan University. A Denver native, she resided in London for 14 years and now lives/works in Aurora. Harrell teaches locally, exhibits widely, and has work in several private USA and European collections. Her work can be seen at the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art in Denver. Harrell is currently the President of the Colorado Metalsmithing Association.