Lines and Dots by Aaris Sherin

Enamel, copper, brass, leather

Enamel, sgraffito

2.75 x 1.75 inches pendant with 24 inch cord

My current practice focuses on small-scale, abstract compositions, ranging from wearable adornment to intimate hanging vignettes. These compositions function as multi-layered, volumetric collages. Driven by the transformative nature of enameling, I view the process as a dynamic collaboration between the artist, the kiln, and the glass. By avoiding total control over the medium, I embrace the variability of thermal transformation, allowing each piece to retain its vital energy.

While enameling is traditionally an additive process of accumulation, my recent work explores the reductive method of sgraffito. Rather than hiding the underlying copper ground, I strategically scrape through the unfired enamel layers to integrate the metal directly into the composition. This act of scratching away allows me to retain the immediate evidence of the hand, translating the raw quality of organic drawing and painting onto a miniature scale.

Through these incised lines and layered abstractions, I explore themes of material depth and personal geography. Ultimately, my work balances the immediate graphic surface with nuanced internal layers, uniting glass, metalwork, and abstract mark-making into a physical marriage of materials.