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| Reagan Juel hard at work in her studio |
and impersonal and totally not well made with love and pride. To me the old stuff, it’s got soul....But see, I guess mostly I don’t understand when people lost the ability to just wander about, find something surprisingly beautiful, and be humbled to their core. Cause I do it every single day."
I had a virtual sit-down today with Reagan Juel of Red Oak, Iowa to discuss her work and what makes her tick as an artist. One of Reagan's talents is turning found objects and vintage trinkets into new and wonderful wearable works of art.
Where does your inspiration come from?
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| Vintage License Plate & Copper Cuff |
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| The Hidden Pin-Ups Collection, Peggy Sue |
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| Neon inspired necklace |
Reagan: "Now the smithed stuff I do. That one is a much different animal. That one usually is just ideas that pop into my head and become an obsession. Like the Neon line. That idea was born from a piece of clip art that a friend used on her website to advertise her junk show event. It was a photo of an old neon sign that was set in a metal box, hung from chains, and said 'jackpot'. I saw that, saved it off on my computer, and thought, 'how cool would it be if you could take that concept and make it into jewelry?'"
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| Cranked - Vintage Schwinn Cuff |
Reagan: "Hands down, my favorite era was mid-century. So when I am picking, those are the pieces I tend to pick up for the vintage repurposed lines. I just love the colors and the kitsch. For the upcycled lines that can be just about anything I think looks cool and could be turned into something new. License plates, ceiling tin, broken parts of this and that. People bring me odd things all the time as gifts. I think they just like to mess with me and see if I really can make something out of just about anything. And I love the challenge so it all works out."
Where do you find the materials you recycle into jewelry pieces?
"Oh wow, yeah, I am always looking. Always. Antique shops, flea markets, the occasional garage sale, online on Etsy and EBay. I wish I had time to hit auctions and such but I just don’t right now. My kids love to junk hunt to so we do have some pretty grand day adventures doing it."
Have you had a formal art education or are you self-taught?
"I was kind of blessed to be born with each foot in a different world. I had one grandmother who is an amazing crafts women. Every time I would go stay with them she always had projects lined up for us to do, and maybe we didn’t have all the exact materials on hand or the tools required, but we always just made it work. My other grandmother was a fancy 50-60’s party girl type. Liked BV and 7-Up, dressed to the 9’s and had a huge box of the most fab old jewelry I would always play with. So I guess there you have the seed of my skills and where the inspiration comes from.
"But as this is a craft I do take it very seriously. I try to produce the best end product I can and that takes skill. I took a year of metal smithing through a community college and am always picking up books on techniques and different experimental type things. I am probably best classified as a jewelry nerd. I love smithing. Especially stuff no one has really done before where I have to figure out how to construct it and make it work. Or take non jewelry things and make them into jewelry things."
How do you find the time to create?
"I have a very busy life. Full time job, 3 kids, 2 large dogs and a big ol' high maintenance house. To be honest if I think about it I don’t know how I find the time to do it all and neither does anyone else who knows me. I fit it in when the kids are busy with other things or after they go to bed and spend pretty much all weekend working on stuff. When I am in the middle of show season and am setting up a tent and it’s cold and windy and I am miserable and asking myself why I keep doing this… The thing that always pops in my head is, 'because I must really want it'. So I guess there you have it. I just make the time to get it done because it’s something I have to do to be happy."
Besides your shop on Etsy, what other venues feature your work?
"I do art shows and 'junk' shows, you know the picker-repurposed-folks. That is where I move the most product. I do have some things in a coffee shop here in town and in a super cool store in Des Moines called Domestica. I am asked all the time to do more in shop consignments but honestly I just wouldn’t have the time to take it on and do it well. This old stuff is getting harder and harder to source so keeping up with my personal inventory to do shows and such is about all I can do."
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| Wild Women Sing- necklace set |
"I was kind of blessed to be born with each foot in a different world. I had one grandmother who is an amazing crafts women. Every time I would go stay with them she always had projects lined up for us to do, and maybe we didn’t have all the exact materials on hand or the tools required, but we always just made it work. My other grandmother was a fancy 50-60’s party girl type. Liked BV and 7-Up, dressed to the 9’s and had a huge box of the most fab old jewelry I would always play with. So I guess there you have the seed of my skills and where the inspiration comes from.
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| Reagan's studio |
How do you find the time to create?
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| Best of Show at Artsarben last year |
Besides your shop on Etsy, what other venues feature your work?
"I do art shows and 'junk' shows, you know the picker-repurposed-folks. That is where I move the most product. I do have some things in a coffee shop here in town and in a super cool store in Des Moines called Domestica. I am asked all the time to do more in shop consignments but honestly I just wouldn’t have the time to take it on and do it well. This old stuff is getting harder and harder to source so keeping up with my personal inventory to do shows and such is about all I can do."
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