Louise Rauh

Iowa City, IA

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

The surface texture of my jewelry is achieved by an embossing process using a steel rolling mill and common household materials. Starting with sheet silver, aluminum or titanium I sandwich the metal between layers of mesh or fiber and put them through the rolling mill several times until the desired surface is accomplished. I finish the pieces by hand folding or forming them around a metal stake. To color the titanium it is heat treated with a small torch flame, the amount of heat determines the color of the metal. The aluminum pieces are colored with acrylic links and finished with a low fire glaze.

The flowers are made of sheet aluminum, colored with several layers of acrylic and finished with a low fire glaze to insure against interacting with lotions/perfumes. The wire is tarnish-free, coated silver with fresh water pearls.

Louise Rauh was born and raised in Endicott N.Y. where her art teachers strongly encouraged her to pursue a career in dentistry. After relocating to Iowa City, she developed an interest in fine crafts. Inspired by the work produced by "local" artists Chunghi Choo and Mary Merckle-Hess, she enrolled in the University of Iowa Fine Arts program where she studied under the guidance of Professor Choo. She took time off from graduate studies to open a fine art and craft gallery, "Studiolo", in Iowa City, Iowa with partners John Rauh and Justine Zimmer. She received her MFA in the spring of 2000, closed the gallery in the summer of 2002 and has been happily creating pieces and involved in exhibitions ever since. Among the retail shows, she has participated in the Smithsonian Craft Show, The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, and American Craft Exposition as well as several ACC Craft shows, The Westchester Craft show and The Washington Craft Show.