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Beads and Findings
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Inquisitive Artist Works on the Big Picture
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Back to July 2004 Newsletter | Photo Gallery of Margot's Work
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Rings & Things friend Margot Casstevens explores the world through sculpture and jewelry.
By Melissa James
Rings & Things Staff
For Margot Casstevens, art is part of a greater truth. This seasoned sculptor/ jeweler finds intimacy in expression, referring to art as part of an ongoing "conversation."
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Her pieces not only convey meaningful concepts, but reach for deeper ones. Humble even after wide accolades, Margot said her ideas are purely "presents from heaven," and considers her jewelry work to be an extension of the thought process used in her sculpture. Margot's jewelry is distinctly unusual, yet appeals to those with a wide range of tastes.
She honed her talent at Washington University in St. Louis, where she received a bachelor of fine arts in drawing/printmaking in 1984. She then wandered south, earning a graduate degree in sculpture at the University of South Florida. In 1989, Margot met artist Kurt Madison in New York. Two years later, the pair married and opened a studio together, now known as Punctum Studios. The partnership has taken them from Chicago to Scotland to the Pacific Northwest, along the way producing their best collaborative piece: a son.
Art Clay™ Silver (ACS) came into Punctum Studios in 2000, and both artists have created some well-known and even award-winning pieces with the material. In 2003, Kurt went to work for Rings & Things as resident Art Clay Silver expert, and that summer the company began featuring Margot's work in its ACS advertisements. The ads have appeared in numerous national magazines, including Lapidary Journal and Bead & Button. In addition to her studio work, Margot is a hard-working teacher, bookseller and gardener, not to mention wife and mother.
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Margot Casstevens relaxes on a metal statue at Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane, WA.
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Philosophy and Inspiration
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The conversation of art, Margot says, is "constantly Becoming rather than Being." The thought process behind it centers around consciousness and "all of those questions we end up asking as children and as teens but then discard as adults," especially "Who am I?" For this reason, much of her work tends to be somewhat autobiographical.
"The thought process
centers around
consciousness and all
of those questions we
end up asking as
children and as teens
but then discard as
adults, especially
'Who am I?' "
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Margot's art arrives in her mind as a complete inspiration. However, "when it becomes manifest and material, there's a demand on the original inspiration and the whole thing may evolve into something slightly (or, occasionally, radically) different." Body elements are a favorite subject matter to portray. Each piece usually includes some reference to the human form, usually female. As for colors in her work, she favors black, silver, green, red and blue, but steers clear of orange.
"Keep working" is the most important lesson Margot feels she has learned as an artist. As she once said in a speech to Eastern Washington University art graduates, "Just looking around the room, half of you won't be making art 10 years from now." "The world gets in the way," she explained, but "you have to stay motivated and you have to keep making things." So how does she recommend artists stay motivated?
"Devote a space specifically for it. Say, `This is where I'm going to make art' — don't let other things encroach," she said. Another suggestion: "Others say, 'Go look at other people's art [for inspiration],' but I disagree. Don't go look at other people's work; go look at the world!"
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Margot's Masterpieces
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For more than 20 years, Margot's acute observations of the world around her have given her surprising perception. One such example occurred at her first opening. It was 1983, and Margot recently had been "discovered" by a gallery owner at the Watergate building in D.C. (political workers discovered in that building have not been so lucky!). At the event, she came up behind two ladies who were discussing one of her prints — an image of a woman crying out. The owner had tried to keep it quiet that the featured artist was only 22, fearing people wouldn't give her work its due credit. But the ladies had found out, and Margot overheard them remarking on the artwork, "Oh, I've felt like that! How can she know how that feels? She's too young!"
In addition to its insight, Margot's work appears to have strong staying power in viewers' memories. The baby-face necklace shown here, with its warm, earthy tones and organic shapes, has been featured in numerous Rings & Things ads. This spring, Margot was in Japan with her husband at an Art Clay Silver awards ceremony, and happened to be wearing the necklace. A German artist approached her, staring at Margot's neck, and told her she could swear she had seen the necklace before. She soon realized it was the very necklace she had admired in her Bead & Button magazine.
Rings & Things also has used Margot's glass-and-ACS pendant shown here in several ads. It boasts cool, calming blues and intricate detail. Margot said she usually works on one to three pieces at any given time. But no matter what the final product becomes, her art is sure to capture both the eye and the mind.
Margot found international recognition with the baby-face necklace (top left). Both it and the glass/silver pendant (bottom left) have been featured in Rings & Things ads.
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