Announcing 2024 Emerging Artist Grant Recipient, Ayesha Mohyuddin
The Seattle Metals Guild Board of Directors is pleased to announce Guild member Ayesha Mohyuddin as the recipient of this year’s Emerging Artist Grant.
Guild Member Ayesha Mohyuddin is a contemporary jewelry artist who explores identity, spirituality, and ways of knowing through body-related objects. Ayesha is excited by the histories contained in the materials she uses, from metal and stone, to fruit and salt. Her recent work combines food, the tools of the kitchen, and the format of jewelry to physically express the complexities of home, history, and identity.
Born and raised in Tennessee, Ayesha received her MFA in Jewelry & Metalsmithing from Rhode Island School of Design, and her BFA in Sculpture from Washington University in St. Louis.
Knowledge Taweez, 2021
This amulet contains a calligraphic black seed cookie stamped with the Quranic prayer “My Lord, grant me knowledge.” If I grate this cookie over my food, will that prayer be answered? Will I become smarter?
Ayesha is excited by the histories contained in the materials she uses, from metal and stone, to fruit and salt. Her recent work combines food, the tools of the kitchen, and the format of jewelry to physically express the complexities of home, history, and identity.
Wudu Washes Away Sins, 2021.
Salt is deeply sensorial material. It “sweats” when touched, flavors the air when carved, dries my skin, and alters my tools. And it is ephemeral, and eventually will dissolve away in water. As these bracelets are designed to be worn when ritually washing the arms before Islamic prayer, the intricately carved salt will eventually dissolve away.
The items below, crafted from silk, carved and laser-cut Ataulfo mango, and beaded ruby, evoke a lineage of memories.
Abujee, Kashkul, 2022.
The mango evokes so much for me. Its vivid shape, taste, smell, and stickiness conjured, through the immediacy of eating, a lineage of memories and an inexplicable closeness to my father, who passed away in 2016.
Below, elements of a familiar Black Orchid-themed plate are carved in soapstone, enabling Ayesha to transform any surface into this plate that symbolizes her experience of home.
Looming Large, Overflowing and Flowing Over, 2023.
The Corelle brand Black Orchid plate is entangled with memories of my mother’s care. The pattern looms large in my memory. By carving each element in soapstone, I can transform any surface into this plate that symbolizes my experience of home.
To expand the feeling of home, I must, as Sara Ahmad writes, “over flow and flow over.” With the weight of a carved marble plate where the pattern from the Corelle Black Orchid is pierced away, I extrude shondesh from beneath the plate. It fills and overflows the negative spaces cut into the marble, extending beyond even my pattern of home.
Congratulations, Ayesha on your 2024 Seattle Metals Guild Emerging Artist Grant award.
For more information about Ayesha Mohyuddin, visit her website at https://www.ayeshamohyuddin.com or follow her at https://www.instagram.com/ayeshasafajewelry
The Board would like to thank this year’s Grant Selection Committee for their hard work in selecting a recipient from this year’s talented set of applicants.
Many thanks to
Kim Harrell, President of the Colorado Association of Metalsmiths
Adam Atkinson, Artist, Metalsmith & Teacher
Sally Brock, Artist, Jeweler, and Owner of Fancy in Seattle.
The 2024 Emerging Artist Grant Selection Committee
Kim Harrell is an award-winning silversmith & goldsmith, as well as an educator and curator. She graduated from London Metropolitan University, Sir John Cass School of Art, with the American equivalent of an MFA,in Silversmithing, Jewellery and Allied Crafts. Kim was born in Denver, CO and currently resides in Aurora, CO where she runs her studio and teaches at The Art Students League of Denver & Metropolitan State University in Denver. Kim is has been President of the Colorado Metalsmithing Association (CoMA) since 2020 and will finish her second term in 2025.
Kim’s work is in private and corporate collections in the USA and Europe. The Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art in Denver, now part of the Denver Art Museum, acquired a set of her silver sculptural spoons that are currently on display in the Sculpture section.
Adam Atkinson (he/they) is a metalsmith, curator, and educator. Atkinson received an MFA in Metal Design at East Carolina University in 2019, and a BFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Practices at Boise State University in 2013. Their work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including Boone Art and History Museum, Nagoya Zokei University, Nagoya, Japan, among others. They have been awarded numerous residencies including the Emerging Artist Residency at the Baltimore Jewelry Center and the three-year residency at Penland School of Craft. They teach widely across the United States.
Sally Brock Founded Fancy in 2002, a Seattle based company focused on producing high quality, modern jewelry that is 100% handmade using ethically sourced materials.
