Artists: Do you need to develop a specific “style” to make it?

if you’ve worked with galleries, curators, large retail stores or boutique owners, you may have been given this exact suggestion in your early years as artists:

“You need to choose and develop a style! If you’re not recognizable by something consistent and unique, no one will ever know you and it will be hard to sell your work”.

I get that. Humans understand things better when they are definable. So, it makes sense that to be easily recognizable, we ought to have a consistent/recognizable style.

But here is the very subtle miss-understanding that can happen sometimes about HOW a “style” emerges.

• From the outside, those who observe our work and its progression, may assume that a style is something that we intellectually CHOSE. And then strategically DEVELOPED, with the purpose of becoming unique and recognizable by others.
• From the inside however, what really happens in most cases is that a “style” is not a strategic decision, but rather the natural consequence of a creative/inspirationally driven artistic exploration and experimentation. And this is a very subtle but HUGE difference about how a signature style emerges (it being a strategic decision versus natural consequence).

If you’re familiar with my work, you’ll notice right away that it tends to vary in style quite a bit (click here to see some of my “general” categories). But there are several characteristics that are present in all my works: Boldness, color, size, mostly opaque surfaces, brightness. Outside of these elements it is hard to describe and define my art jewelry within a box.

… And that is ok.

That is my style! (at least for now. We must remember that being an artist is a journey filled with change).

There are two things I want to highlight:

1. There are no rules about HOW SPECIFIC your style needs to be. This is truly up to you.

2. It is CRITICAL to feel free in your artistic exploration, and allow your style to emerge naturally. THIS IS how a true signature style comes to be.

Anytime we force our creative instincts into a specific direction, we literally shut off the source from where all our best work comes from.

An artistic career DEPENDS on keeping the doors open to our artistic curiosity and intuition. When we force ourselves to choose as artists, we contract. We limit ourselves. Unless choosing actually feels right. But when this is not a natural choice, our work will suffer. You’ll notice it right away in many ways…you have a hard time coming up with new ideas, you wake up “not feeling” creative. Your productivity goes down.

So, this is my rule of thumb: If an idea feels right, I’ll express it. NO. QUESTIONS. ASKED. And second: TRUST the impulse. TRUST your desire. TRUST your intuition. TRUST that it is nudging you for a reason. And the reason is ALWAYS beneficial. Sometimes in expected ways, sometimes in unexpected ways. But always beneficial.

Why am I writing about this today?

In one of my most recent blog posts, you may recall that I asked for your guidance in choosing a favorite “style” among (seemingly) different kinds of art jewelry pieces (click here for the original post). That requests came after being in the midst of trying to design and create several art jewelry pieces for an upcoming event. I was feeling a bit stressed to begin with (I felt like I didn’t have enough time). Anytime that fear, anxiety or worry take over me, life seems to pair me with resources that match those emotions. In this case, I came across an article (in an art magazine that I shall keep nameless) making the case for why artists will fail if they don’t “narrow” their signature style in today’s competitive art market.

• (Note: This was an opinion piece by a curator who admitted that he had never made any art himself, but felt that his years of experience gave him more understanding of how to be an artist.)

That got me anxious in no time! Thus my blog post to you asking for help.

Your feedback was incredibly helpful and is exactly what gave birth to this post today. So, thank you!

With that said, here are 3 new creation examples that are expressions of the variety of my impulses. Enjoy!

NECKLACE #1: AQUA FALL

This piece came to me following impulses that were driven primarily by its colors.

It’s fall here in the north-east of the USA, and the change of weather had me desiring and remember our times at the beach this summer. So this piece, was a way to express the beauty of ocean water but with the cool warm tones of soft pink and grays that work really well during the fall.

This necklace would definitely fall within the “abstract” style of necklaces that I love making from time to time. You can see some of the inspirational elements below.

Despite the mix of colors, the surface is quite smooth to the touch with different layers that add a bit of a 3D look and feel to its design.

NECKLACE & EARRINGS #2: AUTUMN NOOKS

This set is strongly inspired by the beauty yet unapologetic imperfections of nature. 

I spend quite a bit of time hiking the mountains of Sullivan County, PA. This jewelry set was my attempt at capturing some of the surprising tiny nooks I came across, deep into the mountains, right after a strong wind and rain storm. Dead leaves, intertwined with mushroom-like growths within the skin of a dead tree trunk. The incredible texture became even more apparent and beautiful under the lens of my camera. 

Another close-up look.

Interestingly, this piece is very light to wear. This piece was commissioned for an upcoming auction in Philadelphia for an amazing Arts Organization called InLiquid.

NECKLACE #3: BUMBLE JOY

Talk about a contrasting piece to the necklace before this one!

I love beauty and complexity, but my personality is very much drawn to joyful playfulness and fun! And this is what this colossal bead necklace is all about! FUN!

The design idea came into my head right after seeing this interior design picture (if anyone knows who I should credit, please let me know!).

Big, bold, colorful, playful, delicious and incredibly LIGHT!

If you’ve enjoyed this, or you have any questions or comments, let me know below and I’ll reply as quickly as I can (I’d love to know!). Particularly if you are an artist. I’d love to read your thoughts on both, the importance of having a signature style and how it is created. Any thoughts?

Stay well, stay happy and stay healthy. And let us all have a fantastic month!!

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