Conversation with Erin Hawley
How was your art practice impacted by the pandemic?
After realizing many of the well-intended plans laid for the 2020 year would not be happening, including a wholesale season of sales and art shows cancelled across the state, I hoped to find some footing in the studio, dedicating more time to one-of-a-kind work. I usually work alone, so the social distance was of no consequence really, but the thing I missed the most was the energy from other artists and creative places. Whether I realized it or not, much of my inspiration comes from good conversations with friends at small-business shops and cafes, places that create a magical kind of creative energy. I missed the textures and tastes from restaurants, the random run-in downtown during a coffee break, a casual pop-in to the bookstore or bead shop or antiques warehouse. I truly missed spontaneity, and that lack impacted my creative energy in the studio more than I ever could have anticipated. Creativity is hard to force, and without the stimulation from outside experiences, I felt stymied and unmotivated artistically.
What was your experience like collaborating with another artist(s)?
The opportunity and structure of collaboration was an absolute joy and a great motivator to get back to creative work, after feeling very stuck and unmotivated during the government shut-downs. It was an exciting way to break into a new process of making, one we established early on during our collaboration would come in the form of Thursday mail-sending via the USPS. It was inspiring and also harrowing to see the post office under such stress throughout the entire year of 2020, and under such intense scrutiny during an unprecedented presidential election season. As a collaborative effort, this kind of stress on the USPS gave our work a great sense of meaning in a time when all United States systems, rules, and aging societal pillars seemed to be crumbling at once.
What was a success to come from the CoLab project?
Thursday’s mail became a great mark in an ongoing and tedious year seemingly unaware of a work-week, a weekend, holidays, special occasions, gatherings, vacations. Thursday became the new Friday, and everything shifted to reflect the power of not feeling like the year was a perpetual run-on-days. It was not originally meant to break up the monotony of quarantine and social distance, more to keep us accountable in our promises, but it definitely did have that effect!
Another success would be our commitment as a pair of three to learn a new medium together. We chose resin for the obvious ability to preserve our letter-writing in both 2-D and 3-D form, but also felt appropriate in how goopy and messy and utterly stinky resin is. It felt like the year of 2020 needed to be preserved, but also in its truest form as a salvaged-yet-still-garbage year. This was by far the most interesting and also most challenging part of our collaboration. Skill-sharing via text, email, and video chat had obvious immediate benefits in troubleshooting this medium: learning how to mix, pour, and set resin without actually seeing the artist demonstrating her process in person.
How would you describe your work? What keeps you returning to this subject, body of work? What keeps you returning to this subject, body of work?
I am a silversmith and studio jeweler working in primarily sterling silver and cabochon-cut stones. I enjoy the story of adornment and how it makes humans feel powerful, strong, capable, and beautiful. Sterling Silver is a great medium to tell adornment stories with, as it is both malleable, solderable, and has many modes of connection, both literally and proverbially. Jewelry is the age-old placeholder, storyteller, and beauty-maker all in one.
BIO: Rag and Stone is a metalsmithing studio located in Northwest Montana, where Artist Erin Hawley creates one-of-a-kind jewelry and limited collections. She works out of a small outbuilding in Whitefish, MT dubbed “the bungalito" and is usually in the middle of a cup of hot coffee.
Erin explores the story that stone and silver speak together. Her work is inspired by the beautiful and sometimes harsh climates of the North and her place among the ‘Big Sky’. Most of Erin's jewelry is inspired by strong and independent women whose zest for life is contagious. Strength, bravery, and growing things is a common thread in her work.