Mindy Lam Digital Catalogue - Flipbook - Page 7
DEDICATION
Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo
Taubman Museum of Art Board Trustee
I stumbled onto Mindy Lam’s website one very
late and sleepless night this past July—and I sat
straight up in bed.
I was instantly mesmerized by her new Homme
collection of lapel pins designed for men. Each
beguiling piece cast a spell on me. Like a spider,
Mindy Lam seemed to deftly spin and weave
delicate webs of 14kt. gold wire around bits
of bejeweled elements rescued from vintage
brooches (flowers, animals, bugs, and birds),
each one accented with semi-precious stones
and sparkling crystals fashioned into her own
designs. These whimsical creations seemed
freshly plucked from a fairytale garden to me—
or from deep within a pirate’s secret trove of
treasure.
On the night of my “Mindy Lam discovery,” I
purchased three of her mens’ brooches ... then
another three the following night. After I had
collected more than a dozen pieces over the
course of a few weeks, I knew what I needed to
do. I needed to meet this artist.
I learned how as a child growing up and working
on her family’s farm from a very young age,
Mindy Lam would escape into nature to find
refuge—into a secret garden, one fashioned as
much from her imagination as from the verdant
grasses and abundant wildflowers that grew in
the fields where she played. Her friends were
all the wild creatures: the birds, the frogs, the
ants, the spiders, and the owls. They would
entertain Mindy, who was their solitary audience
of one. Her imagination flourished in this natural
setting, and it sustained her. This is one source of
inspiration for her life’s work.
Also, I watched as Mindy fashioned gold wire
into accessories and dresses for this exhibition
that appear from afar as diaphanous as metallic
lace. Her technical ability to sculpt and visually
transform hard materials like metal wire into
illusions of delicacy is a hallmark of Mindy’s
style. And unlike the metal armor once worn by
medieval knights, Mindy’s contemporary metal
creations—dresses, cuffs, choker necklaces—are
uniquely feminine and appear almost fluid to the
eye. They are inspired as much by the artist’s
deep passion for haute couture fashion as by
the splendor of the Renaissance (with a nod to
Tudor England). In Opulence and Fantasy, Mindy
found inspiration for her jewelry and couture
accessories by allowing her imagination to travel
outward for the first time and into each of the
paintings she selected for inspiration that are on
view at the Taubman Museum of Art, rather than
retreating inward into her imaginary world. The
results are breathtaking.
Yet even more than her abundant talent and skill,
what I admire about Mindy Lam the most is the
grace of her soul and her philanthropic heart. I
especially want to thank her, along with Executive
Director Cindy M. Petersen and her talented
team, Chief Curator Karl E. Willers, Meg P. Carter,
my fellow Trustee, as well as all of the generous
supporters of the Women’s Luncheon benefit and
their guests, for their meaningful support of the
Taubman Museum of Art’s educational programs
for the children in our community.
What a beautiful exhibition to herald our
universal hope for a happy, healthier Spring!
Homme Couture: Lapel
Turquoise, tourmaline, vintage brooch, vintage rhinestones, vintage brooch, 14kt. gold-filled wire, Swarovski crystals
Courtesy of the Artist
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