Sharon Church

Jewellery Style

Sharon Church creates contemporary pieces that mimic the natural world and that use actual organic materials as part of the design (Church, 2012). Church incorporates carved wood, bone and horn into many of her pieces. See figure 18 below

Figure 18 - – Church, S., (2016) J. Organic Brooch, 
Carved and Dyed Pear Wood. Sterling Silver,
 , Nickel Silver, Diamonds. [ONLINE] 18

She also uses techniques such as casting, forging, enamelling and setting to create jewellery that is organic in form as well as in material (Church, 2016). Many of her pieces resemble leaves, pods, plants flowers, and animals such as insects and amphibians and some of her pieces are more abstract resembling spheres or elongated curved forms (Church, 2012). Church creates her jewellery pieces to form metaphors of her personal life. 

Design process

Design process

similarly to Beth Legg and Victoria Walker, Church also relies on the natural environment around her for design inspiration (Church, 2012). Church goes on walks and retrieves interesting objects and materials that are useful to the construction of her pieces. Church also creates drawings of the items that she collects to aid her in her design process (Church, 2016).
The below jewel that Church created seems to resemble a type of seed pod.

Figure 19 – Church, S., (2000). 
Medal For a Bleeding Heart,
 Commemorative Brooch [ONLINE] 19