Art Jewellery Forum (AJF) recently published and article I wrote for them about my y teaching methodology and experience asm contemporary jeweller teaching the craft of transforming waste materials into works of art in my hometown in México. It is a breeze to read yet very insightful and personal. Enjoy!
Published on Feb 8, 2016
When you throw something away is it really going away or is it simply existing in a different space out of your sight? Mariana Acosta Contreras is a Contemporary Jeweler from Mexico that has made it her life mission to challenge the public perception about the value, power, and beauty of everyday disregarded objects.
Mariana Acosta is a professor at Universidad Gestalt de Diseno in Xalapa, Mexico. She holds an MFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing from Rhode Island School of Design (Class of 2009). For the past four years she has been teaching graphic and industrial designers "Precious Waste, the art of rubbish transformation" a class-project that challenges our personal interpretation and definition of waste through a process of experimentation and transformation of everyday objects that are discarded as they become useless in the ordinary world.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
A vest made from tape reel. A ring from orange peel. An inspiring class shows how creative materials are all around us.
For most people, a box of old VHS tapes sitting in the closet will eventually end up in the landfill. Few cities recycle videos, and unless they're rare, nobody wants to buy them. But when a student in Mariana Acosta's jewelry class found some videos at home, she started thinking about necklaces.
"Dafne rescued them from misery and started transforming them," says Acosta, a designer who leads a project called Precious Waste at Mexico's Universidad Gestalt de Diseño, helping students learn to design with trash.
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Precious Waste is exactly what it sounds like. Questioning what exactly “preciousness” means and what makes something precious, artist Mariana Acosta spearheaded an academic project that aims to transform waste material. She leads a class at the Universidad Gestalt de Diseño in México, and along with her industrial and graphic designer students, examine the art of waste material transformation.
Ever since she met the challenge of producing 100 rings in a week at RISD, jewelry designer Mariana Acosta-Contreras MFA 09 JM has been thinking about the beauty of trash. Once her metal supply ran out doing that assignment, she began experimenting with found materials – like the orange peel left over from lunch.
« Aug_Jan_2014/15 : This is my students work. The class goal was to make a piece of contemporary jewelry from waste materials that are considered useless outside the creative realm. A dialogue between the maker and the material is enabled through a process of profound research and experimentation. Understanding the possibilities of the material to be transformed into an out of the ordinary body ornament was central to the success of the work. I feel very proud that some of them were able to develop their own personal exchange with the material«
El pasado 03 de Junio se llevó a cabo la exposición de joyería contemporánea sustentable "Desechos Preciosos" en el lobby de la Universidad Gestalt de Diseño en la ciudad de Xalapa, Veracruz, México. El evento dio inicio con un desfile de piezas diseñadas para el cuello modeladas por estudiantes y docentes de la universidad con el objetivo de que los asistentes pudieran apreciar las piezas en el cuerpo y no únicamente en los displays / bustos.