TRACY MENDICINO's intricate metal jewelry was featured in Artistry 2005, the Guilford Art Center's Annual Holiday Sale of Fine Craft & Art. For any artist, the chance to have their work represented in this juried exhibit and sale is a great opportunity; for Mendicino it is a particular honor, since she is one of very few Guilford Art Center students ever to participate.

"It feels great to be included," says Mendicino, who lives near the shore in Madison, Connecticut. "For so many years I've been making things, working at home, and this helps me feel that the work is growing."

Mendicino is an avid and longtime Guilford Art Center student. She has been taking classes for around 14 years, she estimates, and has explored drawing, watercolor, calligraphy and other media. She is currently an apprentice in the metal studio, helping to care for the equipment and with other tasks. It was about three years ago that she struck upon metalsmithing as a true passion. "I had been making beaded jewelry, and I became interested in using things I couldn't purchase," the artist explains.

"I wanted to know how to make them myself." Faculty member Linda Edwards has given her great inspiration and encouragement, she says.

For her jewelry Mendicino works primarily with sterling silver and copper, sometimes incorporating unusual stones. She experiments with patinas and surface manipulations to create color and textural interest. Her approach is organic: she never plans a piece from start to finish, but rather lets her chosen materials suggest the design a piece will eventually take.

Creating with metal has been a fascination of Mendicino's since she was a child, fashioning dollhouse furniture from "tin cans, scissors and the key from a can of 'Spam'," as she puts it. Her jewelry continues to be inspired by the everyday, with materials and forms suggested by "walks in the woods, days spent at the beach, trips to the flea market, and even the contents of my children's pockets."

Her selection of jewelry in Artistry only represents one phase of Mendicino's metal work. She is currently interested in creating sculpture, a form she will continue to explore while working in a new studio she is having built at her home. "With metalsmithing, you're not limited to one area," Mendicino explains. "That's the great thing about it."