
Checking in with Cong Ma
A lot more than 100 worldwide artists used for this year’s Young Artist Award. Cong Ma was selected as one of the finalists. She been given an unrestricted money award of US$1,000 and exhibited her work in Platina’s booth at Schmuck, in July 2022.

AJF’s Youthful Artist Award acknowledges promise, innovation, and individuality, advancing the professions of climbing artists. The competitors was open to makers of wearable artwork aged 35 and beneath who are not at this time enrolled in a qualified education plan. Judging was dependent on originality, depth of thought, and quality of craftsmanship. This year’s jurors were 2020 AJF Artist Award winner MJ Tyson (US) collector and gallerist Karen Rotenberg (US) and educator and curator Chequita Nahar (The Netherlands).
Ma’s do the job signifies a team of fantastic parts of up to date jewellery. We requested her to tell us a bit about her background and views on the upcoming of the discipline.
Cong Ma, High-quality Art 101 Fruit, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, fantastic silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, photograph: Shawn Zhang
Cong Ma, Good Artwork 101 Polytope, 2021, brooch, sterling silver, brass, fine silver, acrylic paint, 67 x 36 x 65 mm, photo: Shawn Zhang
Bonnie Levine: Congratulations on staying 1 of the 5 finalists for the 2022 Younger Artist Award. What an accomplishment! Make sure you introduce oneself to our audience. How did you develop into interested in jewellery? What evokes your perform?
Cong Ma: I am a painter, a jewelry maker, and a designer. Born to a family members of artists, I have been drawing at any time because I could pick up a pen. I discovered my interest in art jewellery since it is a exceptional art sort unbiased of any operation nevertheless close to the folks wearing it.

What does becoming a finalist suggest for you? Do you feel it will impact you heading ahead?
Cong Ma: Getting a finalist makes me want to adhere with art jewellery. I see the creativity between all the finalists, and I am grateful to be connected to this community, primarily immediately after a publish-COVID period of soaring engineering and quarantine. By currently being in this group, my recognition will keep up with the times, and that is essential to an artist’s enhancement.

Explain to us about the do the job you used with.
Cong Ma: I see jewellery as a usually means to an finish for discovering about all sorts of knowledge that desire me. My interest in geometry and greater proportions encouraged this human body of operate. For case in point, a a few-dimensional ball going by way of a two-dimensional thing would surface to be a circle expanding and then finding smaller till it disappears. Furthermore, a 90-diploma angle intersecting a slanted floor unfolded onto a two-dimensional plane is no for a longer period 90 degrees. These are interesting observations and phenomena. I would like to convey these illusions through my function in an summary way.

What excites you about the art jewelry industry?
Cong Ma: I appreciate producing artwork jewelry simply because of the freedom it presents me to converse about any matter in the globe that interests me in significant means.
Any frustrations that you see or have expert?
Cong Ma: The connection among my artwork and me is incredibly all-natural. Each time I have an plan, I can comprehend about 90% of that strategy, and I am constantly pleased. If there at any time ended up any frustrations, it may be that I would like to learn more methods in jewellery-building to be equipped to categorical more of my ideas. But that would demand some time and motivation to studying in the future.

Where do you consider art jewelry is heading? Do you see any new and remarkable developments?
Cong Ma: I consider the art jewellery industry heading in various techniques. Very first, mainly because the audience is comparatively small in comparison to other artwork fields, it could have the prospective to increase very huge, to the extent that its definition results in being ambiguous. It could potentially merge with manner, furniture, or technological innovation in the form of games and NFT, which one particular can never ever put on. So persons could possibly not want a physical piece to use and connect with jewelry, but they could have an urge to associate, fantasize, and eventually express.

Exactly where would you like to be 5 several years from now?
Cong Ma: I want to go on to imagine about artwork jewellery philosophically. By way of my individual activities and exposures, I can acquire a mature theory in layout. I see it in the form of a treatise where I would systematically examine my thoughts and have my artworks replicate individuals ideas.
Congratulations yet again! Thank you for taking the time to respond to these questions.
This is the last of our interviews with the honorees. Examine the job interview with Younger Artist Award winner Mallory Weston sport. Our job interview with finalist Taisha Carrington is sport. Check out Marion Delarue’s interview match. You can expect to discover our interview with Aaron Decker sport.
