a manicure, they walk away feel- ing like they were pampered and that they got a special treat. I didn’t anticipate that; I had looked down on the beauty world in a way. I used to be ashamed that I was into certain makeup and things, but now I really appreciate it because I see the power of that transfor-
the head of the metals department at New Paltz; I consider her my men- tor, and she’s somebody I’ve gotten
to work alongside in the studio. She introduced me to this whole idea that metals could be something bigger than just jewelry.
mation —being in a salon, seeing how people walk in stressed out and how they leave feeling rejuvenated. I’ve met so many amazingly talented nail artists and I feel like they’re really undervalued in the world in general, but specifically these people who do insane artwork on this tiny canvas . . .so I want to help promote their artwork through my business and my artwork . I developed this project that I’m sort of still getting off the ground, but my goal is to get one thousand flowers made out of nail wheels that are all deco- rated by other nail artists. A lot of these people are amazing miniature 2D artists, so I hope to be able to spread the word through that. OH: WHAT IS IT THAT DRAWS YOU TO WORKING WITH METALS AS A MEDIUM? VV: Originally, I was intrigued by metalsmithing when I was really young. My parents took me to Colonial Williamsburg for vacation, and when I saw the silversmiths making spoons it made me think, “I want to do that.” I always thought that metalsmithing and art were two different things. I didn’t realize they could be one, and that you could use this medium to make art. I had gone to school for jewelry, and it was very vocational so I was bored by it. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the medium. I felt like, “Why would I want to make and design jewelry that looks like everybody else’s jewelry?” It wasn’t until later when I went back to school to get my MFA in metals that I was introduced to this other idea of art metals. My teacher, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, was
OH: YOU ARE A WELL-RESPECTED ARTIST AND METALSMITH, WHAT WAS IT LIKE MAKING THE TRANSITION INTO THE BEAUTY WORLD? VV: I still find it challenging every day, for many reasons. Metalsmithing is a challenging art field because it doesn’t fit into the art world very well—it’s considered a craft. I always struggled with finding a place in the art world, and I’m in the same sort of position in this world. I see it more as jewelry than I do beauty, but it’s been well received in the beauty world. I still don’t fit in there either, and like, fashion, I also don’t fit in. It’s a struggle, but what I like about it is that I feel like I made the perfect job for me, because I do love makeup and fashion. What I enjoy is that my artwork has been about science, so this allows me to tickle that part of my curiosity while still creating things that people wear.
OH: WHAT IS THE ACTUAL PROCESS OF TURNING PRECIOUS METALS INTO NAIL POLISH?
VV: Essentially, I make the metal into a powder, and that’s a relatively easy process. The easiest way is to put it into a chemical and then evaporate the chemical, but the result of doing that is that the gold looks a little like mustard. One of the most desirable characteristics of gold is that it’s soft and it’s malleable, so you can stretch gold. One ounce of gold can be made so thin that it stretches as long as a few miles. That’s what the challenge of this is; you can’t just pulverize it in the way you’d think, because then you will end up with a big blob of metal. So, when you put it in a nail lacquer it just
70 | Fashion Magazine At Marist
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