Exhibit showcases varied jewelry works

Exhibit showcases varied jewelry works
Towerlight

Artist Leyla Tas comes from Sydney to Towson for education, fellowship
by Rob Scheer/March 13, 2006

Artist Leyla Tas grew up in Sydney, Australia, but now in her post-graduate years, she has ended up in a place many would consider its antithesis; Towson University. Tas received her undergraduate degree from the University of Tasmania, but in 2000 (midway through her undergraduate years) she came to Towson University for just one year as an exchange student. While studying under Professor Jan Baum, Tas developed an interest in jewelry and metal smithing. It was her rising interest in these subjects and guidance from Baum that led to her return to Towson after completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Now at Towson, Tas continues to further her education under her mentor.

“I am very grateful to be able to study at Towson University under Jan Baum,” she said. “My education that I have received here is world class and well worth traveling halfway around the world for.”

As an MFA candidate at Towson University, she is the recipient of a College of Graduate Research and Studies Fellowship. The fellowship pays her tuition and provides $5,000 for one year.

For her show titled “Between You + Me” Tas creates various types of jewelry, chiefly brooches, which are usually worn behind one’s clothes with only part of the brooch visible on the surface. Her work has been included in “The Penland Book of Jewelry” and been displayed nationally and internationally in exhibitions.

Tas’s thesis exhibition is on display at the Holtzman MFA Gallery in the Center for the Arts. She said she prefers the location to the University Union Art Gallery, which was recently renamed the Loch Raven Room. “The MFA Holtzman gallery is a vast improvement compared to the Union gallery. I don’t think that I could have had the same show in the Union,” Tas said. “I feel privileged to be the first MFA student to show in the space. I think that when all the kinks are ironed out it will be a great space to show in.”

Tas believes jewelry can serve just as important a function for those who wear it as for those who can simply admire it. Even if one isn’t able to sport it, they can still appreciate the artistry behind the pieces.

“I make work that is for the wearer as well as the viewer,” she said.

She also looks at her work as something that can be taken personally, and to that extent, become a part of someone’s being or more simply, a part of oneself.

“I see my jewelry as sculptural installations on the body. I am interested in jewelry as there is a direct intimacy with the body of the wearer,” Tas said.

She also added, “I am interested in how people interact with each other. My work is an attempt to visually map interactions between people, the dynamics of relationships.”

Once Tas finishes her time at Towson University, she aspires to continue doing what she loves in a more professional manner beyond just academically.

“I hope to be able to work in the USA for one year in an arts-related job,” she said. “I suppose I will do what everyone else does, make my work in the evenings and weekends. I think that it requires a huge amount of self discipline to be able to do this.”

Leyla Tas’s thesis exhibition is on display in the Holtzman MFA Gallery through April 7 (It is closed for Spring Break from March 19 to 26.)