About

About the artist

     Aileen Lampman uses the strength of metal, rock and glass to make the fleeting beauty of nature permanent. Her unique perspective, and eye for capturing movement and shape, result in jewelry designs that are eminently wearable conversation pieces. Metal is in her blood; her great-grandfather was a blacksmith, and today she uses the very anvil that he once used to hammer out his ironwork. Her love for creating beauty started early: as a teen she saw potential in the scraps of electrical wire her father left behind from his tinkering projects. Using his pliers, she bent, cut, and twisted, dismantling and re-using her mother's vintage jewelry and beads to accent her first pieces. With a little influence of fashion magazines like Vogue, this bored-out-of-her-mind country girl had definitely found her calling. Her appreciation of metalsmithing unfolded in her junior year of high school, when she was accepted to the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts at Bucknell University and majored in jewelry casting and fabrication. Studies continued as she earned a BFA (concentration Jewelry) from Edinboro University.  Following her studies, she apprenticed as a bench jeweler, mastering a variety of techniques including stone setting, fine soldering, and wax carving along with clever, underground bench techniques. 

      In 1997, Aileen launched Ai Jewelry, concentrating on creating hand-fabricated pieces that would be durable, yet comfortable and easy to wear all while evoking an artistic, unique quality. Handcrafted from recycled sterling silver, 14k gold, 14k gold filled metals, as well as glass, rock and gemstones, her designs draw inspiration from leaves and flowers to landscapes and patterns. Shapely, organic forms serve as the basis of her designs and are accented by a combination of textures, highlights and overlapping patterns. Never one to take the small details for granted, she saws, hand-forms, hammers, and solders each piece of wire or flat metal, evolving it into a small sculpture to adorn the body. Polished highlights contrast with satin finishes help to capture the movement and kinetic properties of her jewelry. She recently has incorporated micro mosaics into her designs. Tiny pieces of glass, metal and foraged rock are tweezer-set into handcrafted bezels and "grouted" into place. These one-of-a-kind miniature mosaics not only add a pop of color and texture, but also cement a piece of history and place into each piece.

     Aileen lives and creates in Pittsburgh and Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania and sometimes on the road in her travels. Her jewelry has been featured at galleries across the country as well as The Sundance Catalog, Tommy Bahama and was gifted through the city of Pittsburgh, to President and Mrs. Obama and other world leaders, at the 2009 G-20 Summit.

   
AWARDS:

Fine Arts Award (2nd Place), Central PA Festival of the Arts, State College, PA, 2022
Best in Show, Mount Lebanon Artists Market, Mt. Lebanon, PA 2018
Award of Merit, Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, State College, PA 2018
Best in Show, Mount Lebanon Artists Market, Mt. Lebanon, PA 2017
Invited Artist, Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, State College, PA 2017
Best in Show, Mount Lebanon Artists Market, Mt. Lebanon, PA 2016
Best in Show, Fine Arts Festival of Manatee County, Bradenton, Fl 2015
Excellence in Jewelry Design/John C. Mason Award, Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, State College, PA, 2014
Juror's Choice, Three Rivers Art Festival, Pittsburgh, PA, 2013
Best in Jewelry, An Occasion for the Arts, Williamsburg, VA 2013
Jurors Choice, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA