ABOUT THE ARTIST

Metalsmith Robin Martin-Cust was born and raised on a small farm in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.  She was introduced to forging steel at  a very young age, since both of her grandfathers were blacksmiths.  This part of her upbringing seemed to come full circle when she discovered the metals studio toward the end of her coursework in Industrial Technology.  After graduating with a B.S. in 1985, Robin entered the world of jewelry-making, studied at Arrowmont Craft School in Tennessee, and apprenticed for six years with master metalsmith Ronald Hayes Pearson.

Martin-Cust ultimately became a year-round resident of Deer Isle, Maine, where she has studied, worked, and taught at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

ABOUT THE WORK

Forging has always interested Martin-Cust, perhaps as a legacy of her blacksmithing forebears.  She loves the direct contact with the tools and the material – the handmade element of the process – as well as the feeling of “incredible permanence “ that she gets with steel after forming it hot and letting it cool.  She also likes to juxtapose recycled scrap steel with 18k gold or platinum:  “It’s kind of fun to break the rules---to mix diamonds with steel and sterling.”

Other recycled materials frequently show up in Martin-Cust’s rings, earrings, and brooches: pieces of deer-rib bone, cross-sections of exotic wood, pieces of an old barrel-lid, even aged steel from old bed-spring coils she found in a burned-out house.  Many of these things are found on island walks and hikes, and she is especially intrigued by the timeworn surface of the used or recycled object:  “I feel it is a metaphor for life…the experiences we go through that leave their mark on us.”

Her passion for used materials also carries over to her tools: “I absolutely cherish the fact that the tools had a life prior to my using them, and that somehow they are imbued with the spirit of those people in years past who loved them and cared for them.”

Martin-Cust is  also fascinated by boats; as an image, the boat has been a significant theme in her jewelry, a signature shape.  These boat renderings often resemble peapods, and have proved to be the most popular of her works.  She thinks this is “because of all that is tied up in my reasons for making them…the metaphor of a journey through life and references to certain cultures.” She feels she has only just begun to scratch the surface of this meaningful and powerful image.

EXHIBITIONS

2003    “Artists at the Forge,” Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM