ARLEZER QUILLER ORIGINALS

The Idea

For Arlezer, the seeded idea to create was borne of observation and resourcefulness. As a child, she learned the arts of designing, pattern-making and sewing — first observing; then, assisting her mother, Alice Marie, who worked as a freelance designer/seamstress in the Lower Nine, New Orleans, Louisiana. Alice Marie handmade formal wear to enhance her clientele’s celebration of Mardi Gras and she also handmade finely detailed, beaded, embroidered, and quilted arts for home decor. Arlezer’s initial interest in metal works and jewelry making was influenced by her engineer father, LeRoy, who spent his private moments painting, woodworking and creating sterling silver and gemstone jewelry, hammered copper plates and vessels. Alice Marie and LeRoy also collected art objects and shared their love of the arts and crafts of different cultures. They passed on their love of gardening, all genres of music and their practice of resourcefulness to foster a richer life experience. They encouraged Arlezer and her siblings to maintain creative practice and to develop skills to satisfy their own desire for unique handmade items, musical and visual arts and experiences in Nature.

Arlezer applied her creative mindset through employment that supported research and development agencies, and she helped education and human service organizations integrate solutions to better serve their clients. Arlezer always has felt called to create. In addition to designing and hand-making jewelry, clothing, accessories and home decor for a private clientele, Arlezer worked as a designer/seamstress for college and university theater departments. She researched historic costume design and produced costumes and accessories for Renaissance festivals and for a Buffalo Soldier affiliate re-enactment group. She provided private design and sewing instruction, and designed and produced collections for bridal and costume shops. Her designs were featured in fashion shows and at multicultural events in southeastern Arizona.

Arlezer continues her creative practice at the small sanctuary she and a friend share in rural Virginia.

Style & Quality

Arlezer’s love for color values that occur in nature is reflected in the designer quality gemstone beads and the suede and leather cord she incorporates in her keepsakes. She also infuses combinations of the color saturation, translucent and prismatic qualities she finds in new and antique fire-polished, lamp-worked and faceted crystal beads. Her wire wrapping and weaving are inspired by Nature’s tendency to punctuate pattern repetitions with unexpected deviations in design. Arlezer designs using bare copper and sterling silver wire as her standards because the natural patina that develops over time complements the aesthetic of her works.

The patina process begins during Arlezer’s creative processes so each keepsake is delivered to the wearer only slightly mellowed by handling. Thereafter, the natural mellowing process continues — adding depth and warmth to uniquely age each piece in response to the wearer and to environmental factors. Arlezer provides buffing, polishing and storage tips to help maintain uniquely aged pieces, and she also offers non-reactive coated or precious metal wire options for individuals who prefer a “shiny-new” aesthetic. In addition to the reactive metal aesthetic, Arlezer’s collections include necklaces, lanyards and carriers that are detachable and interchangeable so wearers can mix, match and personalize the way keepsakes are worn. This flexibility allows wearers to integrate new keepsakes from future collections.

Handmade

Arlezer uses copper and silver wire to hand-make wearable art pieces by wrapping and weaving her concept of the right embrace — settings — for natural gemstone, crystal, fire-polished glass, ceramic and porcelain, semi-precious metal and organically sourced beads.

Arlezer’s hand-wrapped, handwoven copper and silver wire keepsakes bear curves and imprints. Her pieces show opposing energies of fluidity vs. tension. Her hand-making and finishing techniques naturally lean — not toward perfection; but — toward the shifting sense of flow and reaction between her hands and the wire she works. It’s evident not only in the settings she wraps and weaves. It shows in the coiled bindings and looped ends; it influences the odd shapes and textures of the coiled wire beads, the hammered hooks, jump rings, ornaments and symbols that she also makes by hand.

Acknowledgements

Arlezer would like to thank a special friend — JHC Woodworks — for the beautiful wooden displays he handmade to show her works. She also would like to thank JHC Woodworks, her family, her network of fellow artist-friends and associates for enduring moral support and for donating additional antique and collectible materials to encourage her continued creative practice. She looks forward to collaborating to develop a charitable collective that will use the arts for education and skill-building as well as to enhance multicultural interaction and healing practices.