Ashley Vick

        This past fall I went to the SoWa Open Market and happened upon the jewelry of Ashley Vick, who operates under the names Filomena Demarco Jewelry and Filomena's House. She is a grad of MassArt (bfa in metals), and her work is gorgeous.
        Particularly stand-out are her rings, which are hand carved (or hand formed) in wax and cast in sterling silver, so each is unique. I couldn't help myself, and ended up with her heart ring (first image far right) for christmas. I am definitely a collector of rings, I'm never without at least five, but this one has not left my hand since I got it a couple weeks ago. The shape is so feminine and natural, and you can really sense the hand-made aspect of it. It's clear that a lot of her goes into her rings. It really makes me feel good to wear it, which was particularly interesting to me after reading a statement on one of her sites, which reads;
"Vick remembers piling on her mother's jewelry with a more-is-better approach, and how beautiful it made her feel to wear it ... She thinks about how much jewelry went unworn and how it was locked away for safekeeping. The memory of this has shaped her relationship to jewelry. Vick believes it should be worn, and that the value of how good it feels to wear it is in fact more valuable than the object itself."
        Her intentions definitely shine through in her work.
        I found my way to her personal website (the one for all her metalwork not just her jewelry), and was entranced once again, particularly by an earlier piece of hers, a chunky cuff, which again displays her ability to effectively use natural forms, as it could be anything from an otherworldy worm to a root system.

Filomena Demarco Jewelry
Vick's Etsy
Vick's website




images: etsy.com/shop/FILOMENAsHouse & ashleyvick.com