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Paula Crevoshay, the "Queen of Color", creates one of a kind, museum worthy fine art jewels that are on permanent display at the GIA, Carnegie and the Smithsonian. If you have, or want to attract, wealthy jewelry collectors, partnering with Crevoshay is a great way to build your high end business.
It has been said that artists are not created so much as they are born. Inside their DNA is an intrinsic and compulsory need for creative expression. As real as eye color or curly hair, the animus of the artist permeates their thoughts and dreams and insists upon being heard. The artist has no choice but to listen.
It is difficult to discern whether Paula Crevoshay’s passion drives her art, or whether art drives her passion. Like the light that shines through the vibrantly beautiful flora and fauna she creates, her art is a force that she cannot ignore.
“It’s not about me at all,” she says. “I’m just supposed to do this. I see a stone and it tells me what it should be.”
The result is some of the most breathtaking and renowned works of any modern artist, not only for their visual appeal but because every piece tells a story. Crevoshay uses some of the finest stones and precious metals on earth to tell romantic tales of nature, science and mythology.
Crevoshay has chased visions and dreams, creating an oeuvre that inspires as much as it astounds.
Her name is well-known among both jewelers and gemologists, and her work is displayed in impressive collections like the Smithsonian, Carnegie Museum and Gemological Institute of America. This award-winning judge, educator and designer takes a unique approach.
“I am not a jeweler; I am a painter,” she says. “I paint with the light of the earth and I sculpt with her noble metals.
“I hope to bring a greater understanding of the beauty of our world and how interdependent it is on everything else.”
Unlike traditional jewelers, many of whom come from families who have honed their art for centuries, Crevoshay’s journey has taken a winding road.
Her mother was an artist, poet, singer and writer; her father had earned two PhDs in chemical and mechanical engineering, developing multiple patents throughout his life. It was the perfect marriage between art and science, and Paula was the fortunate recipient of both skill sets.
As a child, she played beneath a willow tree, watching light shine through its branches as they swayed
and danced in the wind. She was fascinated by flowers, bugs and other creatures that crawled across the dirt carpet and up into its boughs. She watched with delight as bees pollinated flowers and as spiders spun their webs. These would later become her muses.
Born with a rare genetic gift called tetrachromacy, Crevoshay sees approximately 100 times the number of colors that most people perceive. The world she lives in is vividly colorful, as is the art she creates.
“I work with the light of the earth,” she explains. “It’s aesthetic, but it’s also scientific.”
INSPIRED BY LIFE
Crevoshay earned her master’s degree in painting and sculpture from University of Wisconsin — Madison, then moved to New York to launch her career at the prestigious Mary Boone Gallery.
However, as her later work would prove, she was not driven by aspirations so much as she was driven by inspiration. She fell in love with her late husband George, and together they left all they knew to spend four years at a Buddhist monastery.
Crevoshay studied with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachers while George worked on his thesis. For 15 years, they worked, lived and loved in Southeast Asia — a time she playfully dubs their “Magical Mystery Tour.”
Influenced by Asian ideals of the interwoven and inseparable nature of all beings, Crevoshay began her transition into jewelry design.
Today, Crevoshay Jewels are among the most collectible gemstone artwork in the world. Informed by her curiosity
for the natural world, her use of noble metals and the finest gemstones its ability to articulate that which must be felt and not spoken.
ewelry artist Paula Crevoshay is no stranger to museums, where she has often been invited over the past 20 years to showcase her unique works of wearable art. From Paris to Los Angeles, and cities in between, the designer has featured original jewels and colorful gemstones in keeping with the theme of the particular exhibition.
When the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas asked if she would like to display her art, Paula accepted, but then had to come up with a theme.
"One quiet Sunday morning, I was having coffee in my kitchen, watching the pinks and golden colors of the sunrise, when it came to me," she reminisces. "The theme of the Perot exhibition would be 'The Shape of Matter-Through an Artist's Eye' to celebrate the Seven Crystals system."
The result was nothing short of spectacular and this book is a reflection of what visitors to the Perot were able to experience, learn about, and enjoy. The book begins with a brief description of how the universe was formed and the subsequent creation of quarks, neutrons, protons, atoms, and eventually elements. The elements then created minerals, with their particular crystalline structures. From minerals came gems. From gems came jewels.
"To have my pieces paired with the natural mineral forms from all over the globe tells an amazing story," Crevoshay says. This exhibition and book are dedicated to our sense of wonder, the source of our desire to create art and discover science."
"My introduction to Paula's jewelry came when I was just beginning my career in gemology," explains Kimberley Vagner, Director of the Gems and Minerals Center of Excellence at the Perot Museum. "Her bold use of colored gemstones-the variety of stones and the color combinations-was different from anything else I had seen on the market. Here was a designer who had the vast knowledge of the gem world and almost innately knew how to arrange them in striking and compelling combinations."
The Perot exhibition, and this book, colorfully illustrate the connection between minerals/gems and jewelry, while offering a way to learn more about the fascinating and intricate world of crystalline structure.
It begins with an explanatory chart of the seven crystal systems, i.e. Triclinic, Monoclinic, Orthorhombic, Tetragonal, Trigonal, Hexagonal, and Cubic, with examples of their geometric shapes and the minerals that are created in these shapes. They are also illustrated by jewelry made of these various gemstones.
"Crystallography is a vibrant and evolving science," writes Crevoshay," and she goes on to explain why there are different shapes and why there are only seven.
These pages illustrate not only the jewels, but the minerals and a description of the mineral structure, thus offering the reader a delightful blend of science, art, and Nature.
Easy to understand, educational, colorful, and delightful reading, this book offers a captivating blend of science, art, and Nature. It is surely a welcome addition to the book collections of all gem and jewelry aficionados.
Earrings - These lovely 18K Crevoshay earrings compliment the wearer’s regal nature. - Opal (2) =21.02ct “N”, Tanzanite (2) = 2.92ct “H”, Diamond 924 = 1.20ct “N”, Diamond SQ (2) = 0.83ct “N” .
Ring - "Blue Velvet"” features an unusually large, beautiful and very fine Sapphire of 16.86 carats from Sri Lanka accented by 56 Diamonds weighing a total of 3.20 carats. (Diamond (10) 0.80cts, Diamond (4) = 0.61cts, Diamond (30) = 1.33cts., Diamond (12) = 0.46cts.) Treatment codes: Sapphire “H”, Diamonds “N”.
Necklace - Opal = 426cts. Crevoshay 18k gold clasp.
Earrings - Crystal Opal (2) = 7.17cts., Crystal Opal (2) = 2.40cts., Diamond (2) = 0.52cts., Sapphire ((2) = 0.95cts., Sapphire (16) = 0.96cts., Diamond (4) = 0.06)cts., Diamond (4) = 0.13cts., Diamond (2) = 0.07cts., Diamond (0.20cts., Sapphire (2) = 0.10cts.