Remains by Lynn Batchelder

Artist list

Lynn Batchelder

Batchelder is an interdisciplinary American artist, who navigates the space between two and three dimensions. Equally skilled in both drawing and jewelry-making, she creates works that are more complex than their initial impression suggests. Batchelder is driven by the dichotomy between control and spontaneity, stating,

"I am drawn to modes of working that are both careful yet inefficient…small moments of contrast…resulting in final forms and solutions that are just beyond my complete authority…drawing as a mode of thinking, exploring, and inventing… and metalwork which requires deliberate acts, where irregularity can often denote error.”

Batchelder’s exploration of engraving, electroforming, embossing, etching, and intaglio printmaking directs her journey between line and form. Her newest jewelry and works on paper, titled REMAINS, are abstractions based upon some of the earliest recorded imprints left by humans—achieved through cross-hatching, carving, and engraving. She writes:

“Through painstaking marking, cutting, and collecting, I draw attention to the basic human impulse to record information through permanent acts…, resulting in a range of dualities—outcomes that challenge traditional engraving techniques through… experimental, expressive, and at times aggressive carving and chiseling. I create marks that represent the space between carefully cataloged information and the memory of primal actions.”

Deeply chiseled impressions on the uppermost layer of the jewelry, made from silver, aluminum or Micarta, reference these prehistoric markings. With Haste, a large, hollow-formed pendant suspended from a hefty chain, is fabricated from oxidized silver, while the necklace Unearthed Charms, along with a series of brooches, are made from aluminum, some of which is anodized—a departure for Batchelder, who hasn’t previously utilized color. The dense textures on some of the jewelry additionally serve as surfaces for a series of rubbings that, like the jewelry, recall ancient signs and symbols.  


Artist Reception: Saturday, 2.October 2021  18:00 - 20:00 h.