Barbara McFadyen

Barbara McFadyen

Iron Feather Studio – jewelry – Chapel Hill

This is one in a series of posts about artists in the Orange County Artists Guild.

IMPORTANT: Barbara’s address and telephone number in OCAG’s tour brochure are incorrrect! Here is the correct information:

Iron Feather Studio
2223 Mangum Court
Studio #74
bnmcfadyen@gmail.com
www.barbaramcfadyen.com
919-280-8672

How did you get interested in metalsmithing?

I was the youngest of three girls and grew up in New Jersey near all the culture New York City offered. My parents were great art enthusiasts and always encouraged us to learn about art by visiting museums and taking classes in various mediums. Oil painting was a favorite pastime of mine and I spent much of our summer vacations painting ”en plein air” with a group of women 3 -4 times my age. When I discovered enameling and began exploring the more painterly techniques of Limoges, it was like oil painting in miniature! The Limoges style of enameling uses very, very finely ground vitreous enamel that is mixed with an oil medium and applied in many delicate, individually fired layers to create a special luminosity.

Metalsmithing and enameling have been my passion from the very time I first held a saw, file, and torch nearly five decades ago. My first class in jewelry design was in my junior year in college as a visual design major. I knew immediately that the problem-solving aspects of jewelry design dovetailed with the mechanical abilities I had inherited from my father who was a mechanical engineer. A few years after graduating I discovered the art of enameling at Kulicke Stark Academy in NYC. I fell in love with the techniques of cloisonné and being able to add color to my metalwork with vitreous enamel.

Describe your process.

I fabricate my jewelry designs by hand using very few cast elements. My materials begin with flat sheet in silver, gold, or bimetal sheet and wire, either round, flat, or square. The basic tools to begin are a jewelers saw, files, hammers, steel mandrels, dapping blocks, and a torch. I also have machines to help me fabricate my jewelry, such as flexible shaft, drill press, hydraulic press, rolling mill, laser welder, electric kiln, laser engraver, and more. I love mechanical things and the problem solving of jewelry design. Being able to create in gold and silver continues to intrigue me so many decades after I first began studying to become a metalsmith.

What is the inspiration for the art you make?

My thoughts and inspirations are nourished by the beauty, mystery, and sense of awe found in the natural world. The solace one can find in nature is a profound, universal experience and truth; I believe the sense of awe and power observed within nature can help one find renewed meaning beneath the hectic layers of everyday life. For as long as I can remember, Japanese art has deeply stirred me. My vision is filtered by an affinity to the floating world of Ukiyo-e prints and the aesthetic of Shibusa, which expresses a simple, subtle beauty and connection to the flux of nature with an economy of line and form.

Much of my work is about love, longing, and finding solace through reflections of the past. By preserving memories and the stories they hold in paper, metal, and enamel, I am reconnected to those loved and lost and able to find peace in the present. Through shadows of the silhouette or gaze of one loved and lost, I hope to create a sense of intimacy, sacred space, and connection to those held dear. Through the traditions of making and love of good craftsmanship, I strive to transform reflections of nature’s raw beauty into distilled moments of tranquility. I enjoy creating enduring forms of adornment or objects with the hope that what I create might come into someone else’s life and shift the balance of their world a little further into the direction of beauty.

Do you work in a sketchbook or journal? If so, how does it influence your process?

Sometimes I find a sketchbook helps to figure out problem solving in design or connections and color combinations for enamel, but other times I prefer to work unbounded by a sketched out plan for piece. Sticking with the lines of a design does not allow for the unexpected to happen. In many situations I prefer to work more spontaneously by moving pieces around on my bench until I find the right combination.

Tell us about this piece, “Tulpenmanie” (below).

“Tulpenmanie” is a one-of-a-kind enamel pendant that was inspired by a unique period in the Golden Age of Dutch history called Tulip Mania. This occurred when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable Viceroy tulip reached extraordinarily high levels in an investment bubble. The major acceleration started in 1634 and then dramatically collapsed in February 1637. It is generally considered to have been the first recorded speculative bubble or asset bubble in history. I found this bit of history trivia intriguing. Vintage botanical drawings of these tulips were the inspiration to create this piece in my favorite Limoges enamel painting technique in reverence for my love of tulip, and fascination with this short-lived phenomena.

Do you have formal training in your medium?

My earlier years of metalsmithing were self-taught, because after my first (and only) jewelry class as a junior in college the professor was not re-hired and the courses no longer offered! I spent the next three semesters learning from books and doing independent study in jewelry design and metalsmithing. My senior show was comprised of the jewelry and metalwork I had created during this time of learning on my own.

My thirst for knowledge and greater skills led me to take many in-depth workshops and classes with notable artists at various craft schools such as Penland and Arrowmont School of Craft, along with Parson’s School of Design and Kulicke Stark in NYC. After a gap of 29 years I returned to graduate school to begin anew a masters degree. I received my MFA in metal design from East Carolina University in 2017. My professors, Bob Ebendorf, Mi-Sook Hur, and Tim Lazure are all renowned for their work in metalsmithing and enameling. I continue to this day to study with many notable metal and enamel artists, such as Jamie Bennett, Bill Helwig, Martha Banyas, and Linda Darty. What excites me most about my mediums, is that there are always more techniques to learn and materials to explore and express my artistic vision with.

Do you have a hobby that intersects with your art?

YES! My favorite hobby is beekeeping! During the pandemic my husband and I decided to retry our hand at beekeeping and during the early isolation times of Covid we took beekeeping classes online. We both became Certified Beekeepers, and this is our fourth year as beekeepers; we have been harvesting and bottling our own honey from our 3-5 hives here at Eight Gates Farm where my studio is located. Our apiary is named the Iron Feather apiary after the 13’ foot tall Feather sculpture in my studio here at the Farm.

My love of bees and the practice of beekeeping has gradually become reflected in my jewelry. I create patterns of honeybees and flowers to laser etch watercolor paper with the modern technology of a laser cutting and engraving machine. This custom design etched paper is used to emboss sheets of fine silver with my rolling mill, creating a unique material for my embossed silver and gold limited edition designs.

Tell us one unusual thing about yourself that has a bearing on your art.

For as long as I can remember I have felt a strong connection to Japan, its history, cultural traditions, and unique aesthetics. My lifelong dream to visit there was fulfilled in 1981, when I had the opportunity to study for a summer with Parsons School of Design in Tokyo. The first few days were a challenge while trying to adapt to the time change, new sleep patterns, and no signs in Roman letters or signs in English anywhere! However, the rest of the trip I felt like I had returned home. Since then, my vision has been filtered and transformed by this lifelong affinity to the art of Japan. I find expressions of Shibusa, the ephemeral essence and flux of nature found in the floating world of Ukiyo-e intriguing. My passion for collecting vintage Japanese design books inspired my “Kimono Nights” enamel series. Here, combined colors and patterns exude a sense of mystery and beauty, balance of complexity within simplicity, and timeless tranquility, all characteristics of Shibusa.

Where has your work been featured?

My work is now featured on Artful Home in their fine art jewelry section. I have been published in textbooks on the practice of enameling and many exhibition catalogs.

2024 Objects of Affection: Jewelry by Robert Ebendorf from the Porter-Price Collection, pg. 35,36,94,95
2022 Japan 55th International Exhibition Catalog, Japan Enameling Artist Association, pg. 75
2021 Surface Matters: Grit or Gloss Exhibition Catalog, Jurors Statement, pg. 8,9
2021 The Enamelist Society Newsletter: Contemporary Japaneses Visions in Enamel, Vol. 19 No.4, Winter
2020 The Art of Fine Enameling 2ND Ed., Karen Cohen, Sterling Publishing Co., pg. 53,55,123,265,279
2019 The Enamelist Society Newsletter: Featured Artist Vol. 17 No. 1, Spring
2019 Under Fire 2, Juried Enamel Exhibition Catalog, pg. 28
2018 Blue Line Arts: By Hand International Craft Biennial Exhibition Catalog, pg. 41,42
2018 Vitreous Voices: The Tradition of Enamel at ECU Exhibition Catalog, pg. 20

Do you teach classes?

Yes, I love teaching others and sharing my knowledge. It is a joy to see my students’ excitement as they learn the many techniques of enameling and see their visions come to life. I teach online through Pocosin School of Fine Craft as well as one- to two-week workshops at fine crafts schools such as Penland, Arrowmont, Haystack, Pocosin, John C. Campbell Folk School and Touchstone Center for Crafts. In 2019 I had the wonderful experience of teaching a full semester in Certaldo Alto, Italy, for ECU and I have also taught 1 day workshops in Tokyo and Kobe, Japan.

What’s next for your work?

I am always experimenting and designing new collections! I will continue to explore my love of metalsmithing and enameling in all forms of adornment. I would like to get back to my bookmaking practice and make more diminuative books with enamel covers or books with pieces of jewelry held within them. When my husband retires and can do more of his fine furniture and wood working, I would like to collaborate with him and make enamel insets to add ornamental design to his pieces.

What could people expect to see at your studio during the OCAG Studio Tour?

My studio is located on a beautiful, 50-acre farm at the end of Mangum Court with rolling hills, open skies, and gorgeous views. Visitors to my studio are free to walk around our garden paths, and ponds and take a little extra time to see chickens, wild birds, beehives, and maybe our resident Blue Heron. At this time of year, the fruit on our Tamopan persimmon trees are ripening, hanging low and turning a bright orange. Besides my one of a kind and limited edition jewelry, we will have persimmons and honey for sale as well!

Find out more:

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