Sarah Sindler
she/her
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Sarah Jane Sindler, owner and designer of KING RELD is an avant-garde creator of custom, one-of-a-kind, and ready-made fine jewelry in her Brewhouse Arts studio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Southside. She is also a teaching-artist and has instructed at Protohaven, Center for Contemporary Craft, and Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media, and private lessons in Pittsburgh. In lieu of a jewelry degree, Sindler completed a 5-year apprenticeship under third-generation jeweler Ira Helfer of David I. Helfer Jewelers in Pittsburgh's historic jewelry district. Sindler's work has been exhibited by the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Society of North American Goldsmiths, among others.
“KING RELD explores how social media, popular social trends, and natural competition affect our instincts, our interpersonal relationships, and how we connect to our natural world, and the health of our environment. Our need to be perceived stirs a very real want for validation and popularity, which, undoubtedly, leads to social paranoia and anxiety, and a potential to look inward or to realign with nature, line, and form. This society we find ourselves living in has been created by us and many others before us, and it feels directly oppositional to ancient patterns and ecologies that were once balanced and vibrant.”
How does your work relate to the theme transformation— How does the work translate joy into strength?
“‘Make Lemonade’ was made during a time of great self perseverance in both my romantic and artistic path. This piece grew out of a needing to self-determinately and consciously hold onto faith in the process of personal growth to truly know myself better. I have had a lot of difficulty finding my truth on this path towards true and real love in romantic queer partnership both internally and externally. The creation of the piece helped me set my intentions to really ‘make lemonade’ with the lemons I had, to really imbibe love into my own lemon of a self and hold off from exhaustively searching for love or validation outside rather than from inside. These intentions, that I steeped into this ring, helped to simultaneously set me on course to also start creating jewelry that really touched my soul. I think it’s difficult sometimes to create pieces that truly drip with my own unique creativity because it’s easy to restrict design in order to sell it better or to ‘normalize’ it for larger interest. These are huge risks to take as a self-employed maker, but the strength it takes to take these risks creates more joy in the studio and in the path towards true (self) love and confidence, both of which greatly affect my ability to meet the world exactly where I am, with exactly who I am. This ring stands as figurehead of great transformation for me and the lemonade overfloweth."
"Make Lemonade", Mexican and sterling silver alloys, 1.5" x 1.5" x .5", 2022
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, or research.
“The word ‘lemon’ on this ring was sawn from an ingot I made with a bunch of Mexican silver bangles I melted down. When I opened up my cast iron ingot mold, I was met with a golden, pitted ingot miracle! At first, I thought the golden color was merely a patina on the surface, but I began to cut into the ingot and to my surprise the golden color was through and through. I knew then that I wanted to create a ring that would exemplify the qualities of the pitted ingot rather than hide them, or re-pour a smoother ingot. In the fine jewelry world, pitted metal is huge taboo, but this piece with its rind-like texture stood out to me, immediately, as something of importance and irony, something to really make lemonade out of!”
