
Checking in with Cong Ma
More than 100 intercontinental artists used for this year’s Youthful Artist Award. Cong Ma was chosen as just one of the finalists. She gained an unrestricted cash award of US$1,000 and exhibited her function in Platina’s booth at Schmuck, in July 2022.

AJF’s Young Artist Award acknowledges promise, innovation, and individuality, advancing the professions of climbing artists. The opposition was open up to makers of wearable art age 35 and under who are not presently enrolled in a professional training application. Judging was based on originality, depth of thought, and high-quality of craftsmanship. This year’s jurors have been 2020 AJF Artist Award winner MJ Tyson (US) collector and gallerist Karen Rotenberg (US) and educator and curator Chequita Nahar (The Netherlands).
Ma’s get the job done represents a team of remarkable items of modern jewelry. We requested her to convey to us a bit about her qualifications and thoughts on the future of the field.
Bonnie Levine: Congratulations on currently being one particular of the 5 finalists for the 2022 Youthful Artist Award. What an accomplishment! Remember to introduce yourself to our visitors. How did you become intrigued in jewelry? What conjures up your perform?
Cong Ma: I am a painter, a jewellery maker, and a designer. Born to a spouse and children of artists, I have been drawing at any time given that I could pick up a pen. I discovered my interest in art jewelry since it is a exclusive artwork type unbiased of any operation yet close to the persons carrying it.

What does remaining a finalist indicate for you? Do you feel it will influence you likely ahead?
Cong Ma: Becoming a finalist can make me want to adhere with artwork jewellery. I see the creative imagination among the all the finalists, and I am grateful to be connected to this group, specially just after a article-COVID period of mounting engineering and quarantine. By being in this community, my awareness will retain up with the moments, and which is vital to an artist’s progress.

Notify us about the work you applied with.
Cong Ma: I see jewelry as a indicates to an finish for discovering about all kinds of information that curiosity me. My fascination in geometry and greater proportions inspired this system of get the job done. For illustration, a a few-dimensional ball going via a two-dimensional point would look to be a circle escalating and then acquiring more compact till it disappears. Similarly, a 90-degree angle intersecting a slanted floor unfolded onto a two-dimensional aircraft is no more time 90 levels. These are interesting observations and phenomena. I would like to express these illusions by way of my work in an summary way.

What excites you about the artwork jewelry field?
Cong Ma: I enjoy creating artwork jewellery since of the flexibility it presents me to speak about any matter in the entire world that passions me in significant ways.
Any frustrations that you see or have professional?
Cong Ma: The romance involving my art and me is pretty pure. Whenever I have an plan, I can realize about 90% of that idea, and I am usually delighted. If there at any time were any frustrations, it could possibly be that I would like to find out much more approaches in jewellery-producing to be in a position to specific a lot more of my thoughts. But that would require some time and dedication to discovering in the long run.

Where by do you assume artwork jewellery is going? Do you see any new and fascinating trends?
Cong Ma: I consider the artwork jewellery discipline going in numerous ways. Initially, since the audience is reasonably tiny compared to other artwork fields, it could have the opportunity to expand quite significant, to the extent that its definition results in being ambiguous. It could probably merge with vogue, home furnishings, or technologies in the sort of online games and NFT, which a person can never ever have on. So individuals may possibly not want a physical piece to put on and get in touch with jewellery, but they could have an urge to affiliate, fantasize, and eventually convey.

Where by would you like to be 5 several years from now?
Cong Ma: I want to carry on to feel about artwork jewellery philosophically. By my possess encounters and exposures, I can produce a experienced theory in design and style. I see it in the sort of a treatise the place I would systematically look at my ideas and have my artworks replicate all those ideas.
Congratulations yet again! Thank you for having the time to response these questions.
This is the final of our interviews with the honorees. Read through the interview with Young Artist Award winner Mallory Weston right here. Our interview with finalist Taisha Carrington is listed here. Test out Marion Delarue’s interview right here. You’ll discover our interview with Aaron Decker in this article.
