Beacon No. 02 — Gold Digger

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

Photography by WEST EAL for WOMAN’S TOUCH APPAREL

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

GOLD DIGGER • The Jewelry Issue

BEACON IS A GLOBAL-MINDED LIFESTYLE GUIDE FOR CONTEMPORARY CULTURE. IT COVERS THEMES FROM COFFEE TO JEWELRY, WITH SELECTIONS OF ESSAYS, POETRY, ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY THAT ARE THOUGHTFULLY CURATED THROUGH THE LENS OF CRIB DESIGN HOUSE.

BEACON, No. 02 : GOLD DIGGER

“...BUT WHILE HE WASHING, WATCH HIM; HE GON' MAKE IT INTO A BENZ OUT OF THAT DATSUN; HE GOT THAT AMBITION...

LOOK IN HIS EYES; THIS WEEK HE MOPPING FLOORS, NEXT WEEK IT'S THE FRIES...”

Kanye West, from Gold Digger ft. Jamie Foxx LATE REGISTRATION, 2005

4

JEFF KINKADE

8

HILLERY SPROATT

20

KIM PRESTON

UPPER METAL CLASS

16

KELSEY BIRSA

24

GRETA MORTA

30

SQUIRREL VS COYOTE

39

JAYNA STEFFENS

45

CREDITS & CONTRIBUTORS

STEPHEN HARPER

HAPPY HOUR & CO

PARKER DAY

ANDREW GIST

WOMAN’S TOUCH APPAREL

26

2 22

28

THEN AND NOW BY MOLLY DEBIAK

34

BEACH BONES JEWELRY

40

CAITLIN ROSE

48

36

42

Artist

JEFF KINKADE JEFF’S NUMBER:

505 459-

Text me lolol so we can take over the art world.

— Jeff Kinkade

HI HOW’RE YOU DOING? • 2013

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

5

GOLD • 2013

RICH AND WHITE • 2013

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

7

Jewelry Maker

UPPER METAL CLASS – a minimalist style with a hint of light-hearted fun Each hand crafted design is developed with simplicity in mind while drawing inspiration from architecture, math, science and the natural life around us. We are always looking for ways to improve our everyday practices in all aspects striving towards using recycled metals, packaging material including protective bags that are earth friendly & biodegradable. We also aim towards helping the community along with non-profit organizations. Studio based in Portland, OR - Made in U.S.A.

“WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO NOW?!”

Hi, I’m T, based out of Portland, OR and I love designing

up trying to figure everything out and fell into a hobby

Upper Metal Class.

learning about the different processes of jewelry making to keep myself busy having fun, and I have been enjoying

When I was “in between jobs” or when I didn’t have a job

every minute of it to this day.

at all, it always lead me to that thought of, “What the hell am I going to do now?!” That feeling of being lost and

When I’m not working or making jewelry I hang out with

down on your luck while not knowing what to do next in

my family and 2 old dogs, Gizmo and Koi. I also believe in

life. Like it’s the end of the world or maybe not, but it’s

giving back however I can and once a week I donate my

just a scary thought of knowing that starting over is never

time as a hospice volunteer which is basically spending time

easy. I’ve gone through many horrible jobs and some that

with terminally ill or people in their last stages of life. I find

were really great, but nothing I was passionate about or

it to be one of the best gifts to be there with them and an

could see myself doing for long. So one day I finally gave

honor to be able to be a part of these peoples lives.

T’S EMAIL AND WEBSITE:

T@UPPERMETALCLASS.COM UPPERMETALCLASS.COM

9

Jewelry designed by T. NGU

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

11

Artist

HILLERY SPROATT Driven by her desire to make fine art functional and with a deep appreciation for craft and design, Hillery Sproatt translates her paintings into textiles. Her background in fine art coupled with the early influence of her mother, fiber artist and clothing designer Debra Weiss, fueled her love for pattern and textiles.

Inspired by Japanese, Scandinavian, and Eastern European design, Hillery's organic shapes, whimsical landscapes, and childlike creatures draw connections between home and nature. Designed to inspire sweet dreams, her intuitive painting process lends itself to the discovery of beautiful patches of densely knit pattern and abstract marks.

HILLERY'S WEBSITE:

HILLERYSPROATT.COM

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

13

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

15

Artist

STEPHEN HARPER Stephen’s Never Built 4... Series focuses on the damage dealt to the individual faced with the pressures to strip that which makes up their identity in hopes of succeeding in a new environment. Parts 1 & 2 were inspired by both feelings of entrapment by the desire for wealth, and desire to adhere to the surrounding environment, but on one’s own terms.

STEPHEN’S EMAIL AND INSTAGR AM :

SAHARPER.CA@GMAIL.COM @STVNDOES

17

these chains have been cold corroded, abrasive, heavy on Spirit and Body but can be broken these chains have been cold rigid, virulent, heavy on Body and Mind but can be broken these chains have been cold secure, immovable, heavy on Mind and Soul but can be broken tighten, clench can be broken squeeze, compress can be broken Freedom! these chains have been cold

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

Poem by STEPHEN HARPER

19

Artist

KELSEY BIRSA Kelsey Birsa is an artist living in Portland, Oregon. Born in 1987, she has lived in Nevada and Utah and has two continents left to

“SHE EXPLORES BODY IMAGE”

visit in her travels. In her paintings she explores body image by taking idioms about the body and interpreting them literally. She is

currently pursuing a BS in Art Practices at Portland State University.

Kelsey is the recipient of awards and scholarships such as The Artist

Magazine Student Portrait Competition and the PSU Lucille Welch Scholarship. Her work has been exhibited locally in the Lewis and

Clark Gender Symposium and the Stopping Points: 4th Annual Juried Exhibition of PSU Student Works and published in Pathos

and The Artist Magazine.

KELSEY’S EMAIL AND WEBSITE:

KANNBIRSA@GMAIL.COM KELSEYBIRSA.COM

REACH • 36” x 60” • 2016 • Acrylic, oil, and gold leaf on wood

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

21

Photographer

KIM PRESTON Kim Preston’s work is a variety of fashion, beauty and commercial Photography, using high contrast and desaturated colors. She likes to mix artificial and natural light with minimal post editing to the subject. She enjoys capturing true emotion and tries to avoid true centering when framing her images.

KIM’S WEBSITE AND EMAIL:

KPRESTONPHOTOGRAPHY.COM KPRESTON.PHOTO@GMAIL.COM

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

Makeup by CRYSTAL AGUILAR facebook.com/missmua

23

Greeting Card Maker

HAPPY HOUR & CO Happy Hour & Co. is a greeting card company working over wifi between Brooklyn & Portland.

Emma, our lead designer, makes design magic out “TRYING TO MAKE of her Williamsburg walk up, while co-founder, Bri, YOUR MOM BLUSH” handles card production from Portland. We work with a Portland printing company that places an emphasis on recycled materials & small batch orders, so we are constantly crafting new cards & trying to make your mom blush.

EMMA AND BRIANNE’S EMAIL AND WEBSITE:

HAPPYHOURANDCO@GMAIL.COM

GREETING CARD • 4” x 5.25” • 2015

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

25

Artist

GRETA MORTA

“You can call me you-have-tolook-twice funny cartoonist.

Only because I dug a little bit deeper, you get the meaning, and another one and another one.... Linger on...”

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

27

THEN AND NOW an essay by MOLLY DEBIAK

As a jeweler, I am often asked how I came to choose this profession.

I usually answer with something about how I’ve always been intrigued by metal, which is true. I’ve just always been so curious of how it is you manipulate something so solid.

I fell down a rabbit hole the other day, where I began thinking about high school and high school friends, how we have changed and where we are now… Among other details, I was remembering all of the earrings I used to have – not actual pairs of earrings, but rather holes for earrings. I had five holes in one ear and four in the other. (But, I mean, so did every other teen of the 90’s.) I remembered about how I also had my tongue pierced, and more specifically, about how desperate I was to have it pierced.

So much so, that before I was old enough to get it pierced legally,

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

I TRIED TO DO IT MYSELF. I don’t remember all of the details, but I do remember that it took place in my boyfriend’s black Monte Carlo (oh my god). After school one afternoon, he picked me up and we drove around the booming metropolis of Lowell,

I am a bit mortified with how stupid I was

Michigan to procure the supplies we would

in that moment - not only to try and do it

need. These included a multi-pack of sewing

myself, but also at how silly I was to want it

needles, Listerine, and the tongue ring. We

pierced that badly! And amazingly, how my

then found an empty parking lot, I swished

parking-lot-piercing-gone-wrong did not

the Listerine, and he began pushing the

deter me enough to forget the idea of having

(largest) sewing needle through my tongue

a tongue ring - on my 18th birthday I skipped

while I attempted to hold it steady in my

school with a few pals and had it pierced

hands. I choked out an unintelligible “do it”

professionally.

and he slowly (slowly!) plunged the 4-inch long needle into the middle of my tongue.

What’s funny to me as an adult is how

I don’t recall the level of pain I felt (post-

drastically different jewelry is to me now. No

traumatic amnesia?) nor if there was a lot of

longer the symbol for an act of defiance of a

blood. After much torture, we managed to get

17-year old, it serves as my outlet for creativity.

the needle all of the way through, but were

I’ve traded in the Monte Carlo for a studio

unable to transition the tongue ring in.

space where I get to manipulate jewelry in different forms, and the scars remind me of how far I’ve come.

Molly Debiak is a graduate of Studio Jewelers Ltd. In New York City, NY. There she was trained in the profoundly traditional ways of metal fabrication, lost wax casting, and diamond setting. With every piece she creates, she strives to achieve a balance between these precise methods and the imperfections of the organic world in which she finds her inspiration. She currently resides in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, WA.

M O L LY ’ S W E B S I T E :

29

Photographer

PARKER DAY Parker Day is a Los Angeles based photographer whose work explores identity and the lifting of the masks we wear. Her focus is on fictionalized portraiture shot in studio, exclusively on 35mm film. The world she creates is populated by colorful eccentrics from the seamy side of life. She forgoes Photoshopped fantasies in favor of so-called blemishes, fly away hairs, and dust on negatives. This gritty realism serves as a counter point to her refined studio lighting and stylized subjects.

I believe identity is a malleable construct that we

Despite it’s saturated hues and often humorous subjects,

have the power to dismantle at will. Through my

there’s a darkness and a gentle undercurrent of rage

photography I explore this idea of the invention of

that permeates my work. I’m interested in the idea

identity. I costume my subjects and craft narratives

that we have the power to shape our own realities but

about the character they’re becoming. When they step

despite our abundant potential, we often feel beset by

outside of who they think they are, something more

our circumstances. This gives rise to tensions and inner

authentic comes through. It’s that presence of true

conflicts. It’s these feelings of frustration and the search

emotion that I’m looking to capture in the trappings of

for meaning I want to explore in the face of the absurdity

a manufactured circumstance.

of our existence.

PARKER'S WEBSITE:

PARKER-DAY.FORMAT.COM

“I BELIEVE IDENTITY IS A MALLEABLE CONSTRUCT THAT WE HAVE THE POWER TO DISMANTLE AT WILL.”

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

31

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

33

Jewelry Maker

SQUIRREL VS COYOTE “A little bit Renaissance, a little bit rock and roll.

I am inspired by the possibilities that a classic and utilitarian art such as chain mail has to offer the

“BOLD world of contemporary jewelry and fashion. I take a material that has been traditionally masculine and AND turn it into something bold and strong, yet feminine.

STRONG” Squirrel vs Coyote makes avant garde, and ready-towear adornments for fearless champions of uniquity.”

SQ UIR R EL VS COYOTE’S EMAIL AND INSTAGR AM :

SQUIRRELVSCOYOTE@GMAIL.COM @SQUIRRELVSCOYOTE

Collection

MEGA META Material

ANODIZED ALUMINUM AND RAW BRASS. Jewelry designed by SQUIRREL VS COYOTE Photograph by ALEXIS DEVINE

35

Jewelry Maker

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

BEACH BONES JEWELRY As humans, we have an instinctive need to honor Mother Nature through adornment. The mission of Beach Bones Jewelry is to make nature’s finest wearable. Using natural, sustainably gathered semi-precious stones and shells, Nicolette Peterson creates limited edition jewelry from her studio in Portland, OR. Her pieces are intended to serve as time capsules, freezing the raw materials of our universe into talismans that remind us of where we came from, how our environment formed and how we fit into what it is becoming.

NICOLETTE'S WEBSITE:

BEACHBONESJEWELRY.COM

37

The Geo collection was inspired by the contrast of our geological past and our geometric future. I wanted to highlight slowly formed natural beauty, and set it against the modern, angular framework of our society's urban evolution. This collection features carefully constructed, architectural statement pieces accented by colorful, hand-picked stones. I used ballet dancers as models to As I was putting together this shoot I couldn’t stop

“I LOVE THIS CITY.” thinking about how fast this city is changing. I am from

mimic the shape of the jewelry in addition to exposing the beauty of strength in femininity.

Portland. I’ve lived here for 25 years. I love this city,

but it is hard to recognize lately. I was drawn to Shola

Lawson the photographer because her work reminds me

of Portland as I remember it growing up. Her work has this vintage, almost spooky feeling because she shoots

exclusively in film and always gets these really vibrant,

colorful images. Shola grew up in Portland too. Girls that grew up here are strong, confident and creative.

I wanted the models to reflect that as well so I chose modern ballet dancers instead of traditional models.

Photography by SHOLA LAWSON shotsbyshola@gmail.com

Models SAMANTHA CAMPBELL samantha.h.campbell@gmail.com

I found Samantha Campbell at NW Dance Project’s

KATIE SHERMAN

beautiful studio and Katie Scherman from Body Vox.

scherman86@gmail.com

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

Artist

ANDREW GIST In my work I really enjoy playing with shapes and color. Trying to make work that is accessible and available to more people than the few is the most important to me.

ANDREW'S WEBSITE:

ANDREWGIST.COM UNTITLED • 22” x 30” • 2016 • Acrylic on paper

39

Jewelry Maker

JAYNA STEFFENS

JAYNA'S WEBSITE, EMAIL AND INSTAGR AM :

JAYNASTEFFENS.COM JAYNASTEFFENS@GMAIL.COM @JAYNASTEFFENS

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

Jayna keeps it slow and steady in her craftsmanship, producing each piece by hand out of her favorite tried and true materials: silver + gold. Proudly made in San Francisco, CA.

41

Artist

CAITLIN ROSE Craft is defined by the “mark of the hand�; I question what happens when a queer hand is making that mark.

My work combines queer embodiment and craft to create objects and installations that fantasizes bodies outside of heteronormativity. These worlds consist of found objects, ceramics, textiles and videos that pulsate with the urgency and pleasure of queerness.

As a queer craft artist, I refuse the tradition of mastery.

There is no space for queerness in the reproduction of known forms. My sloppy craft shifts the viewer from familiarity to the unfolding of queer potentiality.

CAITLIN'S WEBSITE:

CAITLINROSESWEET.COM

No. 02 F A L L 2 0 1 6

BEACON • Gold Digger

43

Fashion Designer

WOMAN’S TOUCH APPAREL Woman’s Touch Apparel is dedicated to the celebration of women everywhere. It is a T-shirt line that proclaims women’s empowerment, self-

BEHOLD! women to support one another through

respect, beauty and self-worth; while encouraging fashion. Each statement is a confirmation of the importance we are as human beings and force we

all possess. We do make a difference and deserve to be heard and seen as the beautiful creatures we are.

Remember, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, BEHOLD! W TA'S WEBSITE :

WOMANSTOUCHAPPAREL.COM

45

All photography by WEST EAL

47

CREDITS & CONTRIBUTORS CRIB DESIGN HOUSE Publisher

CHACHA SANDS

JESSE LAMM

Assistant Creative Editor Drug interventionist by day, graphic designer by night.

When he isn't traveling the world, he's building websites and helping people get sober. Avid mushroom hunter.

Portland's most eligible bachelor.

Editor-in-Chief

jesselamm@gmail.com

Chacha runs Crib Design House as a multi-division style house dedicated to pushing boundaries in the world of art and design. She is passionate about making spaces uniquely beautiful and sharing creativity with other talented people from all over the world.

SUBMISSIONS

cribdesignhouse@gmail.com @cribdesignhouse

Artists, Photographers, Designers Name JEFF KINKADE

Page no.

4

UPPER METAL CLASS

8

HILLERY SPROATT

12

STEPHEN HARPER

16

Creative Director

KELSEY BIRSA

20

KIM PRESTON

22

Daniel is a multi-disciplinary designer/creative director/ human currently living and working in Houston, Texas.

Driven by harmony, collaboration, and the creative process, he strives to create work that holds meaning, incites thought, and evokes the feels.

HAPPY HOUR & CO

24

GRETA MORTA

26

MOLLY DEBIAK

28

PARKER DAY

30

SQUIRREL VS COYOTE

34

dangilcardoza@gmail.com danielcardoza.design @gilcondez

BEACH BONES JEWELRY

36

ANDREW GIST

39

JAYNA STEFFENS

40

CAITLIN ROSE

42

WOMAN'S TOUCH APPAREL

45

DANIEL CARDOZA

COPYRIGHT 2016 BEACON MAGAZINE

BY CRIB DESIGN HOUSE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited

Photography by DAN TÁBAR for WOMAN’S TOUCH APPAREL

SCHUYLER IN GOLD • 2016 • Digital Image; Photography: Kim Preston Model: Schuyler Robinson; Makeup: Tiffany Oddo, tiffanyoddo.com