Mary Forst's Projects

BFA Student

Major: Metalsmithing & Jewelry

Graduation Year: 2016

Artist Statement:

The fascination I have with the significance of objects stems from my own history. Sentimental items collected throughout my life include bottles of lake water, dried flowers from my grandfather's funeral, and earlier items from childhood such as outgrown clothing. These items have served to help me preserve a memory or emotion.

My practice is inspired by the inherent connections we have to what I call the residual object. Throughout history items have been passed down through generations as keepsakes. These may include items that signify family wealth or one's social standing such as a badge of honor. Material remnants left behind allow us to forge a dialogue between our past and the present. By incorporating and referencing bygone items in my work I hope to speak to the relationship between our humanity and the heirloom.

My use of the pearl whether fully realized, crushed or the form abstracted operates as a representation of my relationship to heirloom. Pearl as a material signifies personal, sentimental value that describes a strong bond between generations of powerful women in my family. Utilizing this material and juxtaposing it with blackened steel allows me honor these women while exploring my own my relationship to this bond.

Biography:

Mary Forst is an emerging Metalsmith living in Portland Maine. In May of 2016 she will earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Metalsmithing and Jewelry department at Maine College of Art. Forst grew up in a small town in Chester, Connecticut allowing for a strong family bond. She is interested in the relationship society has to objects such as the heirloom. Exploring her own sentiment allows her to bridge the past and the present and creates a commentary pertaining to the bygone item.