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METALWORK: My metal vessels are primarily made of hammer-formed (raised) and spun metal components which have been sawn, pierced and constructed by soldering them together. To finish, I employ techniques including etching, electroplating, metal-leafing and patination, sometimes incorporating colored resins and small jewel highlights of color.
HUMANITARIAN WORK IN BELIZE: For the past 9 years, I have been involved in setting up a craft training project for the residents of a small rural village in Belize, adjacent to the Maya site of Lamanai, as well as the construction of an Artisans' Center in the village. Click here for Artisans Training Project Information.
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LAMANAI SERIES ONE-OF-A-KIND VESSELS
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"Lamanai N10-3 LPY"; 4"H x 18"Dia; Copper, 23K Gold-leaf
LAMANAI SERIES ARTIST STATEMENT I have been exposed to building construction, architecture, and interior design for most of my life and undoubtedly this has influenced my aesthetics.Before becoming a metalsmith I worked as an interior architect and even then I was intrigued with the vessel form because it defines space and has the possibility of containing something special, much as an architectural space would.My early metalwork focused on vessels and was strongly influenced by my appreciation of our natural environment in combination with my interest in the custom of ritual offerings and ancient/historical offering vessels.My work then evolved to making hollowware that reflected some of the attitudes of the Arts and Crafts Movement in combination with my architecturally influenced appreciation for clean lines and spare design. My Lamanai Series one-of-a-kind vessels are a reflection of my involvement at the Maya site of Lamanai, Belize, in Central America, and the archaeological excavations and architectural mapping I worked on there.While I feel these bowls are still decorative in nature, they incorporate actual fragments of the architectural drawings I did, and also reference patterns and symbols found in Maya art and culture along with my personal interpretation of these.While the juxtaposition of boulders and rocks against the refined architectural stonework found during excavations provides visual interest, both in situ and in my bowls, it is also a reflection of the development and decline of a society.At the very least, it is a reflection of change.While not intending the viewer to understand how rocks and architecture represent social change, it is my desire that the viewer will see a simple bowl form with interesting textural surface embellishment, which is also aesthetically pleasing.Those with some knowledge of Mesoamerican art and archaeology may glean more. As I began doing these architectural excavation composite drawings in the bowls, they each evoked memories of different things I encountered in my archaeological adventure—from the simple pleasure of being present on the day a large cache of ceramic vessels was found in the boulders, to the more profound realization of the events that must have taken place to dramatically change a culture.As a metalsmith I’ve always made vessels and in this body of work the vessels are an expression of personal experience.
"Social-Political Implications of Primary Access"; Copper & Pigmented Resin; 3"H x 18" Diameter
"Buried Beneath a Mantle of Boulders"; Copper, Pigmented Resin; 3"H x 18" Diameter
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A DAY IN MY LIFE....
MY COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE PROJECTS IN BELIZE
The photos and text below provide glimpses of some of my friends in Indian Church Village and the artisan training & educational scholarship projects I have been involved with there during the past 9 years.
I first visited Indian Church Village and Lamanai with my husband in January 1998.There we met archaeologist Laura Howard, who was then working at Lamanai Outpost Lodge.Having an art and design background (my first career was commercial interior design/ architecture) and an interest in Maya culture, I mentioned to Laura my desire to attend an archaeology field school.A few months later I was back in Belize as a field school student at Lamanai studying Maya architecture.Here I met many other archaeologists, including Scott Simmons, who was there to set up a project to investigate Maya copper production at the Lamanai site.I have been a metalsmith working in copper since 1990, and I was fascinated by Scott’s project, so I volunteered to help him with his research the following summer.In the meantime, I went back to graduate school full time as a student of anthropology/archaeology.I first started to get to know people in the adjacent village of Indian Church while assisting Scott in his research in 1999.We worked in the field daily for 6 weeks and had some men from the village helping us cut trails in the bush.I got to know these men and many others from the village as well.They earned a very small amount of money for their hard labor and I was appalled by this.It was the standard pay-rate for this type of work in Belize, but it seemed unjust to me. The people of Indian Church Village had so little and I wanted to do something to help them. I have been working with the people from Indian Church Village ever since. Karen Pierce
Click on photos below for an enlarged image.
Lamanai, Belize
Jaguar Temple
High Temple
Excavations
"Ottawa" Team
Mapping Ottawa
Maya Metals
Excavators
Maya Axe
Copper Bells
After Boulders
Screening
Jaguar Temple
Big Fig Tree
I C Village
Jewelry Class
Clay Class
A new building
Artisans' Center Construction
Karen painting ICVAC
Opening Day Celebration
ICVAC
ICVA Members
Screenprinting
Jewelry Class
Ceramics Class
Children's Art
Coloring
Children's Art
Poster-Making
Scholarships
2001 Graduation
HS Students
IC Students
Xunantunich
Caracol
Characters
1000 Foot Falls
Karen and Areli
BHSA students
BMHS students
Students at ICVAC
BMHS Graduation
BHSA Graduates
Rutilia
Karen Gonzalez
Myra's speech
Mt. Evans
Eduardo's party
Sandra's party
Marvin's party
Village Meeting
Addition
Painters
New Library
Library
SHARE
THE MAYA SITE OF LAMANAI, BELIZE
The Maya site of Lamanai was formerly called "Indian Church", named after the ruins of two 16th Century Conquest-period Spanish churches built on the site. When documents were found in Seville, Spain referring to the Maya name for this city as Laman' ayin, the site name was changed to Lamanai. Lamanai is located approximately 30 miles inland from Belize's east coast on the Caribbean Sea and the Maya would travel between the sea and Lamanai via boat on the New River (known as the Dzuluinicob in prehistoric times) which meets the sea near the modern day town of Corozal (about 80 miles).People lived in the city of Lamanai for over 3000 years—from around 1500BC to AD1500!
During the years 1998-2002 I participated in archaeology at Lamanai.The three main projects I worked on were the architectural recording and mapping of the structures of an elite residential complex called "Ottawa"; the investigation of the production of copper artifacts at Lamanai and the search for a "metal production workshop"; and the reproduction of jade artifacts and of large limestone monuments, called stela and altars. Lamanai Website
THE ARTISANS TRAINING PROJECT
The Indian Church Village Craft Training Project, an artisans training project for the village initiated by Karen Pierce, was started in the summer of 2000 by a group of artists, architects and archaeologists working at Lamanai and it continues to this day. For many years I served as the volunteer director of this project. Several small grants helped the training project gain momentum and funded a building for the artisans. The project has carried on largely through the help of volunteers and donations--over 20 artists from the USA, Canada and England have gone to Indian Church Village to teach!We have been teaching crafts and helping the people of Indian Church Village set up their own local craft workshop/cottage industry to produce quality crafts to provide an economic base for many of the economically disadvantaged people who live in this village.There are now studios set up for jewelry-making, needleworking, stonecarving and ceramics.The artisans' designs reference Maya art and designs of local flora and fauna.The ICVA have their own gift shop at the Lamanai site and they are marketing their crafts elsewhere in Belize.Volunteers and donations are always welcomed.Contact the artisans.Contact the Jewelry Group.Moon Travel Guide Excerpt.
THE HIGH SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
I coordinate a scholarship program, which officially started with the 2003/04 school year, to help children from the village attend high school.Free public school in Belize only goes through primary school (Standard 6 British system--about equal to USA grade 6).If one chooses to continue their education beyond this, they must pay to attend a 4-year high school program at a cost of approximately $2,000.00US per year for school fees, books, uniforms, transportation and room & board (they must live away from home, as there are no high schools near the village).Most of these children's families can not afford to pay tuition, let alone the additional expenses involved with their child's education. The high-school scholarship program was started after we got to know many of the village children and learned of their desire to attend high school and learned of the prohibitive costs associated with their continuing education. Scholarship and High School Information Document
THE INDIAN CHURCH VILLAGE LIBRARY
Coordinated by Laura Howard, the libraryopened in March 2005, with books donated from several different organizations. Cash donations have enabled the hiring of a librarian from the village and the Belize National Library provides additional assistance. In the summer of 2006 Laura raised funds and coordinated the construction of an addition to the library building and she continues to coordinate library programs and book donations.
