I am interested in reversing the relationship between the individual body and the space we inhabit--in making miniature that which is larger than human size, in placing onto one's own body that which surrounds us. Originally, I became interested in working with plastic flowers due to the extensive use of these objects in cemeteries. It was fascinating that in a place where one commemorates the most natural act, it is more appropriate to use overly bright plastic flowers instead of planting real ones. This led me to think about the scope that the artificial permeates our lives. It seemed only appropriate to create miniature artificial terrains, which rest within the landscape of one's body. 

Growth Series
“Growth” brooches and necklaces may be regarded as attractive wearable pieces with colorful surfaces and fun plastic vegetation budding out of them. The same jewelry pieces, however, can suggest unease through the allusion to the unseen, unfamiliar and menacing growths hiding within the body and the environment. Combining wool and leather—an outgrowth of a living animal—with enameled surfaces and plastic heightens the ambiguity between the natural and the artificial.

Peacocking, Expresive Body Forms and Booster SeriesEACOCKING, EXRESIVE BODY FORMS AND BOOSTER SERIES
I am continuously enlivened by the roles adornment plays in mediating bodies within social interactions. Each time I become bored with this body of work or feel a bit silly about the pursuit, I encounter jolts of inspiration in the media drama of American sexual scandals surrounding conservatively clad politicians. I enjoy photographing these brooches and necklaces in familiar settings. For example, pieces from the Booster Series were photographed within a domestic setting, in the format of a family snapshot because, after all, everyone has a hairy secret.

Miniature Worlds
In the series depicting cars and people, I am exploring the power of the miniature to shift our perception to a new standpoint. By changing the scale of objects that are larger than human size and placing them in numerous quantities within the format of jewelry and thus the body, I create a new perspective of looking at our daily activities. Instead of us being small within the world occupied by cars, trucks and buses, these objects are now on our bodily terrain. The wearing of these pieces exposes the controversial nature of the problem at hand: the usefulness versus political and ecological implications of societies participating in such behavior. I wish to upset the comfort of thinking of oneself as autonomous by placing cars and people into the landscape of one’s body: how about a parking lot on your chest?

Natalya Pinchuk, 1978, Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Education:
2002-2005 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL | MFA in Jewelry Design and Metals
1998-2001 Indiana University, Bloomington, IN | BFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing Design

Collections:
Stedelijk Museum, Hertogenbosch, Netherlands | Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC

Exhibitions (selection)
2009 Yes, We are Jewelers…Yes, We are Sisters… Jewelers’ Werk Galerie, Washington,
DC | The Stimulus Project, Sienna Gallery, Lenox, MA | The Enamel Show, Velvet da
Vinci, San Francisco, CA |  Collect with Rob Koudijs Galerie, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK | Crossing the Border, Fine Art Gallery ART LINK, Seoul, Korea | Gallery Baum, Heyri Art Valley, Gyeonggi-do, Korea | SOFA Chicago, SOFA NY, represented by Charon Kransen Arts | Object Rotterdam with Rob Koudijs Galerie, Rotterdam, Netherlands | The New Iconoclasts, Hoffman Gallery, Oregon College of Art and Craft, Portland, OR
2008 Growth Series, Galerie Rob Koudijs, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Masters of Disguise, Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina | Collect: The International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England represented by Galerie Rob Koudijs | Touching Warms the Art, Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, OR | Heroes, Galerie Rob Koudijs, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Girls Play Games, Facere Art Jewelry, Seattle, WA
2007 Anya and Natalya: the Pinchuk Sisters, Jeweler’s Werk Gallery, Washington, DC | The Vault Project, Quirk Gallery, Richmond, VA |  New Horizons, Galerie Rob Koudijs, Amsterdam, Netherlands | What’s in a Vision? SOFA Chicago, included in the exhibit of the permanent collection of Mint Museum of Craft + Design
2006 SOFA Chicago, SOFA NY, Art and Design Fair NY, Charon Kransen Arts | Sparkle Plenty 2, Quirk Gallery, Richmond, VA | The Necklace Show, Velvet da Vinci Gallery, San Francisco, CA | Queer ID National Juried Exhibition, Visual Art Center, Boise State University, ID | Connect, Funaki Gallery, Melbourne, Australia | Art of Enameling, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA | Body: Internalized/Externalized, I-Space, Chicago, IL | 1st Annual Juried Erotic Art Show, The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Bloomington, IN
2005 CraftForms 2005, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA | Teapot Redefined, SOFA Chicago, Mobilia Gallery | SOFA Chicago, SOFA NY, Charon Kransen Arts | ITAMI International Craft Exhibition, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Itami, Japan | Exhibition in Motion IV, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, Cleveland, OH | Resources: Steel, Rubber, Coal and Salt, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, OH | In Print/In Presentation, Society of North American Goldsmiths 2005 | Raw, Sienna Gallery, Lenox, MA
2004 SOFA Chicago, SOFA NY, Charon Kransen Arts | Enamel Symposium Participants Group Exhibition, Khors Art Gallery, Rostov Yaroslavsky, Russia | Exhibition in Print 2004, Metalsmith Magazine | Craft National 38, Zoller Gallery, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA | The Best of 2004, Ohio Designer Craftsmen, Columbus, OH | Metals and Otherwise: Jewelry Media Combinations, Florida Craftsmen Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL | 26th Annual Contemporary Crafts, Mesa Contemporary Arts, Mesa, AZ
2003 International Enamel Exhibition I, Chardin Art Gallery, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia | Evocative Objects: Studio Metalsmithing and Jewelry, Bannister Gallery, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI | CraftHouston 2003: National, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, TX | bigLITTLE: Jewelers and Sculptors Making It in Metal, Crafts & Cultural Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA | REFINED III: Small Forms in Precious Metals, Griffith Gallery, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX | Materials: Hard & Soft, Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton, TX
2002 SOFA NY, Gallery Materia | The 2001 Miami Metals Juried Ring Exhibition, Miami University, Oxford, OH | Jewelry in Painting invitational, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA | Natalya Pinchuk, Gallery Materia, Scottsdale, AZ | La Petite IX, Alder Gallery, Coburg, OR | Craft Forms 2001, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA 2001 Metal Departures Exhibit, Emerson Gallery, St. Louis, MO | 101 Rings Exhibition, Yaw Gallery, Birmingham, MI

Professional experience:
2007-present Assistant Professor, Craft/Material Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
2005-2007 Assistant Professor, Art Metal, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX 

Honors and awards
2009 Artist in Residence, Atelier Ted Noten in Red Light District
2006 AJF Winner, Art Jewelry Forum Emerging Artist Award Competition
2005 AJF Finalist, Art Jewelry Forum Emerging Artist Award Competition

2006 “Exhibition in Print 2006,” Metalsmith 26.4 (2006): 38. (image) | Schick, Marjorie. 500 Necklaces. New York: Lark Books, 2006. (image) | Joanna Gollberg, The Art and Craft of Making Jewelry. New York: Lark Books, 2006. (image) | Lilyan Bachrach, Contemporary Enameling: Art and Techniques. 2006. (image)
2005 Kransen, Charon. 500 Bracelets. New York: Lark Books, 2005. (image) | Simon, Marjorie. 500 Brooches. New York: Lark Books, 2005. (image) | Ingraham, Katherine. “Evocative Objects: Studio Metalsmithing and Jewelry.
2004 ” Metalsmith 24.2 (2004): 52. (image and review) | Darty, Linda. The Art of Enameling. New York: Lark Books, 2004. 68. (image) | “Exhibition in Print 2004.” Metalsmith 24.4 (2004): 38. (cover image)
2003 “NICHE 2003 Awards.” Niche 15.2 (2003): 79. (image) | “University of Illinois.” Crart (Craft & Art) 19.3 (2003): 55. (image)
2002 Metalsmith 22.1 (2002):56. (image)

Galerie Rob Koudijs, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Charon Kransen Arts, N.Y, USA