joe shevelan

BA (Hons) Artist Blacksmithing

Balance is a collection of hand forged rocks. Some are jewellery designed to be worn, and at the end of the day, the wearer returns them to the stack along with the ‘weight of the day.’ Each group functions as objects of contemplation to enhance wellbeing.

Over the past years I’ve tried to find a way of talking about mental health by exploring the relationship between making and wellbeing; how the two belong hand in hand. I’ve made something that really brings that idea together in a way that I believe can help other people as my craft grows and I continue to work at the problems that affect all of us.

It's the moment of interaction that I’m trying to capture with my hand forged rocks and pieces of jewellery. When making art sometimes it will just fall apart, and you have to stack it up again. Balancing the rocks, creating, and recreating impermanent art reflects the process of both making art and of what to means to be human. We are never truly in control, and nothing lasts forever.

Make, heal, and grow.