Amanda Bergman

My jewelry is created by adapting the traditional champlevé enamel technique to the industrial powder coat system. Each piece of jewelry is hand-cut from brass and soldered in layers to create a dimensional surface that is colorful, durable, and most of all, wearable. The illustrative matte black lines contrast with glossy pockets of color that I inlay by hand in a similar way vitreous enamel is wet-packed and inlaid in champlevé. I combine those forms with handmade sterling silver elements to create kinetic works inspired by my life-long experience and fluency in American Sign Language and Deaf culture. My work celebrates the Deaf spectrum and acts as a bridge for the hearing/non- deaf to gain access and understanding to the beautiful world of Deaf culture and fight ableism and audism along the way.

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Amanda Bergman earned her BFA in Jewelry and Metals from Ball State University in 2014 and an MFA in 3D Design from Bowling Green State University in 2017. Her work has been published internationally in Autor Magazine, exhibited most recently in SCHMUCK/SCHMOCK and Under Fire 2, and showcased in Emerging Artists 2018 at the Ohio Museum of Craft. Bergman served as an assistant curator for the GLOSSY exhibition featuring 25 international contemporary jewelry artists for JCK Las Vegas and NYCJW in 2019, and she continues to exhibit her work while working as a studio jeweler, educator, and gallery manager for Ombré Contemporary Jewelry Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio.