We were lucky to catch up with Kay Johnston recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kay, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
The art of making jewelry has been a passion of mine from a young age. By the time I was a senior in high school I knew I wanted to major in metalsmithing at an art college. Looking back, it probably would have been more practical (and I could’ve saved a few thousand dollars) to attend a trade school instead, but I was convinced that fine art was the way to go. I ultimately don’t regret art school because the breadth of skills I learned was so much wider than the more specialized training I would have gotten from a trade school. Trade school would have prepared me for a life of doing bench work for huge brand name jewelry companies, setting teeny tiny diamonds in engagement rings, whereas art school was always driven by creativity first. Although some of the skills I learned I may never use again in my work, such as blacksmithing or enameling, I think that having such a broad range of skills and knowledge makes you a more creative problem solver at the bench. And although I learned that the path of art jewelry and gallery shows was not for me, I wouldn’t trade my experience. Getting weird in art school made me the jeweler I am today.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I have been making jewelry since I first learned fine motor skills as a child, and pursuing jewelry as a career was pretty much always my goal. I have a BFA in metalsmithing from SUNY New Paltz, and I have been making jewelry professionally since 2012, and started my own brand, K Johnston Jewelry, in 2015.
I take inspiration from the natural world and use motifs of plants and animals to invoke in the wearer a sense of connection to the wild spaces around us. My style is heavily influenced by the Art Nouveau movement, with a little dash of Memento Mori and medieval heraldry. I strive to create pieces that feel a bit like a cabinet of curiosities, a tiny collection of natural wonders made from sterling silver and natural gemstones for you to wear.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
In order for our society to better support artists, all people need to be able to earn more than enough money to live off of. There is a demand for art, people want to own art and support artists, but only very few actually have the means to do so. You can’t expect people who are struggling to pay rent and buy groceries to spend money on your art, so our society as a whole needs to be uplifted out of poverty for there to be a thriving ecosystem for creatives. If the only people who have access to art are the wealthy elite, our art becomes stagnant and our culture suffers.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
What I don’t think a lot of people understand when they come across a piece of handmade jewelry, is just how much work goes into making a single piece. Aside from the actual time spent physically making the piece, there is the design time, the time spent pricing and photographing and marketing, and not to mention the years of learning and practicing and honing your skills to get to the point where you can make something you can be proud of. Whenever someone asks me how long something took to make, I never know what to say, because the reality is that it took over fifteen years of experience, trial and error, and developing a distinct style, to get this one single piece.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kjohnstonjewelry.com
- Instagram: @kjohnstonjewelry
- Facebook: @kjohnstonjewelry