About the Artist

Georgia Morgan has lived in Urbana since 1970, and has been making jewelry since 1990. Since she has studied metalsmithing and polymer clay techniques with masters of these arts, she does not claim to be self-taught.

Before I worked in jewelry, knitting and knotting (macramé) provided the challenge of being creative within a formal structure. Knitting and later, gemstone bead designs offered an opportunity to work with patterns of both color and texture, but I found the palette of colors limiting until I discovered polymer clay. Polymer clay is a pigmented synthetic clay which cures to a flexible solid. The color patterns are the result of techniques derived from those used by lampwork glass
artists in the construction of canes for millefiori. All of the polymer clay beads and components in my work are handmade in my studio.
This fantastic material offers unlimited space to develop the synergy of colors (and shades and tints and hues) as well as patterns and textures, and explore the wabi-sabi sensibilities that guide my work.

I started working with polymer clay in July 2002, when I wanted three big-hole beads for an 18-gauge wire bracelet. After 45 tedious minutes of enlarging holes in stone beads, I remembered I had a two-ounce packet of Cernit that my children had given me for Mother's Day around 1986. Astonishingly, it conditioned perfectly, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I have a hard time throwing out things-that-might-be-useful-someday (every member of my family will attest to this), and new designs regularly emerge from bits and pieces that have been lying around the studio (click to see). Some of them are favorites of mine.

Even when I start with a plan, I never know what I will do next. One thing leads to another and pretty soon is it is midnight and I am unscrewing switchplates to cover them with clay to try out a new surface technique.

2007 Shows

April 21, 2007 Boneyard Art Festival, Wind Water & Light, 10 Main, Champaign, IL

June 22-24, 2007 Taste of Champaign-Urbana, West Side Park Champaign, IL

September 7-8, 2007 Oktoberfest, Havana, IL

November 17-18, 2007 Craft League of Champaign-Urbana Annual Art Fair, Civic Center, Urbana, IL

 

Galleries and Exhibitions

Wind, Water & Light, 10 E. Main St., Champaign, Illinois 61820 (217) 378-8565

Gallery show at David Alan Badger Gallery, Havana, Illinois, November

Exhibit at the Springer Cultural Center, Champaign, Illinois, July-August 2001.