STUART BREIDENSTEIN: BIOGRAPHY

My name is Stuart Breidenstein. I have lived and worked in Southern California for the last 15 years, and will re-locate to Oregon (my parents birthplace) in the near future.  I've been involved in art and music as long as I can remember. As a child I was surrounded by art and music. Our house was alive with projects. My Father made silver jewelry as a hobby, finding, cutting and polishing the stones he used. My mother played piano and painted and always brought new art and craft projects into the house. I started making wood jewelry in 1989, and have continued off and on, using different elements, until 2005, when jewelry became my full-time occupation.  
  During most of the 90's I was consumed by electronic music and the electronic music scene.  By 2000, along with two other partners, I had released several singles, a couple full-length albums and played maybe a couple hundred shows in the US and Canada.  
  I have taken many art and design classes including a couple in metalsmithing. I believe, however that the most valuable practice for a designer is the development of the aesthetic eye, the ability to recognise beauty wherever it is. This practice is what makes great photographers, as well as artists and designers. Nature and natural things have always been my greatest influence. I always pay close attention to things I see and find on my daily walks with our dog, Taboo; things like tiny seed pods, the balance and shape of a tree or the way a stream shapes and arranges it's rocks.
  Over the next few years, I intend to build a larger and more efficient studio in order to increase production. This is as much a personal challenge as a business plan in that I am looking at the studio as a sculpture itself. I will design the studio to have a natural flow so that while my hands are working on this piece, my brain can be formulating the next.
  In the future, I intend to build stylish, 20-30mph, stand up, two-wheeled, hardwood-decked, hybrid scooters for adults.

PROCESS:
Although I use traditional metalsmithing techniques in my metal work, my process with resin and mixed materials heavily involves the invention of techniques. I'll use a new technique as a sort of algorithm, throwing materials into it to see what comes out. I like the unpredictable, and I try to come up with processes that allow me to be blind to their outcome. Naturally, I have bins filled with failures.
  Over the last several years I have been experimenting with different types of plastics, polyester and epoxy resins, acrylics, styrene, etc. and combining those with other, sometimes unlikely elements. One luxury of plastic is the almost unlimited possibilities for shape and color.  
  I tend to work in waves. I may not go into my studio for a week and then work from 9 am to 2 am for two weeks straight. That is also how I worked on music.
  In my work, my mind is as much on fashion as on metalsmithing and the technical aspect of jewelry making. I watch the local designers and try to create some sort of harmony with what they are creating, while at the same time trying to push some creative boundaries.
  I like to use humor and irony in my work. The metal pieces lean toward the sculptural, sometimes becoming deliberately awkward or outrageous. I have worked with sterling silver, fine silver, gold, bronze, copper, brass, aluminum, nickel, steel and stainless steel. I often use three or four of these metals in a single piece. The plastic and wood pieces are a little more production oriented and tend to be more fun and colorful.
  Many of the tools I use are meant for other purposes. Just as I like to use unexpected combinations of materials in pieces I design, I like to use unconventional tools to create those pieces. I often make my own tools for specific purposes. In fact, I recently caught myself almost unconciously making a tool specifically to make another tool to finish a piece I was working on. I intend to keep developing processes and tools to push the limits of my creativity.