Barbara McFadyen
Through the traditions and language of jewellery, my work explores the many techniques and challenges of enamelling and metalsmithing, as I seek to embody moments of time, layers of memories, or expressions of beauty and mystery. My inspirations are deeply connected to the beauty and power of the natural world with its intricate details and captivating patterns. I believe the sense of awe encountered while observing the flux of nature, cycles of life, and stirring beauty within nature can serve to remind us of our place in the world and help find new meaning beneath the layers of the everyday hectic. I hope that what I create will come into someone else’s life and shift the balance of their world a little further into the direction of beauty.
Barbara McFadyen is a metalsmith and enamellist who has been designing jewellery in gold, silver, and enamel for nearly five decades. Barbara received her MFA in Metal Design from East Carolina University and BA from Eckerd College. Her award-winning work is nationally recognized through exhibitions with the American Crafts Council, the Smithsonian Institution, SNAG, and the Enamellist Society and galleries throughout the US, Canada and Japan. Barbara’s work is found in the collections of the Metal Museum, the Mint Museum, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, the Crocker Museum, and Yale University Art Gallery. In addition to her love of enamelling, Barbara finds inspiration through teaching others, and has given workshops at fine craft schools throughout the US, Japan and Italy. Currently, Barbara serves as secretary on the Board of Directors for The Enamellist Society and maintains her studio practice in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
