Northern New Mexico Fine Arts and Crafts Guild
We are a New Mexico nonprofit corporation, a project of the T.O.M. founded in 1965, a 501(c) organization.
K. Allyson Hayes
I grew up on a muddy river in the lush south born of a rich Afro/Native American heritage with strong traditional agrarian family roots in the piedmont of North Carolina. My life's history is full of inspiring and infamous people who all shaped who I am now by their example and spirits. My blend of cultures, world travels, and my constant fascination with the “other” has manifested in me an inherent desire for true independent expression in art and life. I’m driven by the sensual experience of life through the rhythms of nature and mysterious interactions of the elements.
I moved to NYC for 20 years working as a model, audio engineering technical assistant, bartender extraordinaire and finally an independent metals studio artist. I earned a degree in Studio Metalsmithing & Jewelry Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. The traditional metals foundation of that program blended with my personal pursuit of individual design and technique development gave me my own sense of design aesthetics, diverse materials, jewelry production, metals techniques and business management. I continued to develop that foundation by participating in focused, artistically based technique/aesthetic workshops at top craft schools such as Penland School of Craft & Peter's Valley Craft Center with leading studio jewelry/metalsmithing artists. Having been originally self-taught in metals I have always kept a strong sense of my design aesthetic and experimentation at the basis of my work.
Until early 2008 I operated my metal studios in the DUMBO & Williamsburg arts districts of Brooklyn, NYC producing my lines as well as sub-contracting production from some of NYC's hottest young designers to its oldest jewelry companies. All the varied experiences, skills gained, friends made and miles traveled have led me somewhere completely new and challenging at this stage in my career. In 2008 I purchased and relocated my home and studio to a ghost town in the desert hill country of southern New Mexico. I dwell in an 140 year old house and work in a 100 year old adobe studio in a high desert ghost town called Cuchillo in the Chihuahuan desert of southern New Mexico. Rattlesnakes, hawks, bright stars, beautiful sunsets, fascinating thunderstorms, many fellow artists and old west people are now my neighbors. There is a rich arts community as well as the raw desert beauty and rustic lifestyle to inspire me.
Process
Precious Elements Designs are Bold, Organic and Sensual meld with inherent elemental properties of metals creating innovative adornment. I blend in gemstones echoing and enhancing the varied techniques and finishes in my work. I sense a natural conversation between the elements that are my materials and the elements I utilize to create my pieces. The result is work that articulates some of that conversation capturing glimpses of elemental reactions. The construction process is revealed to me by utilizing the unique form and technique of each piece. "My pieces are microcosms created with elements forged by the earth. When worn as objects of adornment they imbue the wearer with a unique statement of personal aesthetic"
