Charles Pinckney

I make jewelry and small sculpture from metal, stones, bone and wood that I arrange and rearrange into a composition until the piece feels balanced and exciting to me. My favorite metals include titanium, sterling, copper, bronze and steel. Occassionally I work with gold and platinum.

The imagery I depict is abstractly related to memories of childhood and I think about patterns generated as lives intertwine, the ebb and flow of emotional and personal connections over time. I work in series and develop related pieces from previous designs. Common features of my work include moving parts, articulated joins, the combination of precious and non-precious metals and found objects and the use of designs that have a gestural quality rather than being highly symmetrical.

I am primarily self-taught as an artist, beginning around the six. By the age of nine I was making tools that enabled me to carve wood and bone. My mentors in metal include Eleanor Caldwell, Chuck Evans and Bob Ebendorf; everything else I have figured out for myself. I have received two grants from the Georgia Council for the Arts, a grant from Tula Foundation Gallery, was filmed working in my studio by HGTV and was showcased as an artist in Southern Living and Ornament Magazines. I teach, give lectures and show my work at juried fine arts festivals and exhibitions around the country.

I participated in my first EMMA International Collaboration in the year 2012 in Canada, where 100 artists from around the world gathered to work together for a week making art. My second EMMA took place in August, 2014. Both events have been fantastic experiences and I am honoured to have been able to attend.

My pieces are signed and numbered, with the early work denoted by CP numbers. Those pieces are not numbered chronologically. BW numbers are assigned to the pieces that were made from 2002 to 2005 in my studio in the Bottleworks, the renovated Coca Cola Bottle plant of Athens, GA. OCJ numbers refer to the Old Clarke Jail, where my studio was located next. My current studio is designated by the letters GTW, an acrynym for 'Great Things Waiting'. Previous work can be viewed in the section on the home page History: Images by Date of Fabrication. Related pieces may be commissioned from previous designs.

My designs are equally suitable for women and men and are sized accordingly.

Please call my studio (706-372-1072) or send an e-mail for availability of work or to commission a piece. We accept Visa, MasterCard and Paypal and will ship by Fed.Ex.

I was born in Rembert and grew up in Williston, SC until leaving home for college, where I assumed I would study to become a psychologist. Along the way I learned to fly a plane and soloed when I was 20. The concept of spending long hours behind a desk was not compelling and I continued the practice of working with my hands and making things. I worked in a hospital and spent years behind a microphone as a radio DJ until I gradually became a full time artist. Studying with Eleanor Caldwell and Chuck Evans confirmed my desire to work in metal. I live in Athens, GA.

Affiliations: AVA Association for Visual Arts Carolina Designer Craftsmen Georgia Museum of Art Kentuck Museum Association TACA Tennessee Craft Artists

Contact: Charles Pinckney Designs Athens, GA 30607 Phone: 706-372-1072