Kristine Bolhuis
Kristine Bolhuis is an artist and metalsmith working out of her studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is primarily known for her jewelry, each piece a kinetic metal sculpture in miniature that is meant to move and interact with the body. Inspired by the early modern designers, Charles and Ray Eames and the metalwork of Harry Bertoia, Kristine's jewelry is complex and geometric, with movable joints that beg the wearer to manipulate them to change their shape. it is through these interactions that the essential structures and geometric patterns of her pieces are revealed.
At the Society for Domestic Museology, Kristine is sharing an altogether separate body of work, from her ongoing sculptural series, Talking Through a Closed Window, which has arisen from her experiences raising a son who was born with a rare syndrome resulting in his having no ear canals to transmit sound. Her series deals with the process of using sign language during his infancy to communicate before speaking with words. Individually, each of the small, metal brooches represents a thought communicated and as a whole they refer to the experience of trauma and the transformative power of art to mediate life experience.
Kristine Bolhuis received her MFA in Metalsmithing from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She also holds a BFA in Metals from Massachusetts College of Art and a BA in History of Art from the University of Michigan.
Kristine has received several grants and awards including a Women’s Jewelry Association scholarship, a Niche award for jewelry, and a travel grant from the St. Botolph Club Foundation. Her work has been published in Metalsmith Magazine, 21st Century Jewelry, several of the Lark Books 500 Series, Art Jewelry Today and The Compendium Finale of Contemporary Jewellers 2008.
Exhibition
Opening & Art Talk - Apr 9, 2016
Talking Through A Closed Window
April 9, 2016
Event Summary
After a longer than expected hiatus, we had the good fortune to open 2016 at the Society for Domestic Museology with a special guest: artist Kristine Bolhuis, whose work I have long admired. I first met Kristine when we were undergraduates at the University of Michigan and lived in the same co-op. In the intervening years, we lost touch, but thanks to the magic of social media, we reconnected some years ago and I have kept up with her career from afar. Working out of her home studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Kristine creates intricately constructed metal jewelry based on geometric patterns.
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