Meet Anca Crahmaliuc
Winner, Beginners Category, Story Telling Challenge
Congratulations to Anca Crahmaliuc, winner of the Beginners Category of the Story Telling Challenge! Her winning piece, Sleeping Beauty Castle, tells the story of a golden princess who was cursed to fall into a deep sleep that will last one hundred years. Everyone and everything around her fell asleep, too: the horses in the stable, the dogs in the yard, and the doves on the roof. Even the fire in the hearth grew still and went to sleep. The wind died down, and not a leaf stirred on the trees in front of the castle. A hedge of flowers began to grow up around the castle, growing higher every year until at last nothing could be seen of the sleeping castle.
“I love telling stories with any material but mostly with metal clay,” says Anca. “I prefer jewellery much more than decorative objects. For me, metal clay is the ideal material to express my thoughts, sentiments, fears, joys …and to experiment.”
Her lovely golden castle resulted from storytelling with her granddaughter. “This year, my granddaughter started school; we spend a lot of time together. We share a love for stories – inventing, telling, and illustrating them. So, now even more than before, fairies, unicorns, and princesses are present in my life! Also, the magic of beautiful stories help us overcome the tragic news coming from the cruel war in our neighboring country, Ukraine. I wish I had a wand to make everyone sleep at least a month, if not 100 years, to stop this horrible war.”
Anca likes combining materials in her work. “I use cork, wool, wood, threads, beads… for me, practically any material can be transformed intp something to wear as jewelry. I am very fond of experimenting, mixing techniques. Thus, I consider myself still a beginner in almost anything I do. I love combining fused glass with metals, as well as combining different metals. Last year I discovered the joy of working with base metals and this opened a whole new universe of opportunities for me.”
Anca discovered metal clay a few years ago when she took a class from Corina Gheorghe at her Artkimia jewelry school. “I am fond of jewelry, but metals intimidated me. I tried a metal smithing course but remained reluctant to use those big tools in my home. I was instantly hooked when I tried metal clay, and it remains my passion.”
Anca enjoys creating with friends. “In Romania, we have a great group of metal clay enthusiasts around the Artkimia jewelry school. Unfortunately, the pandemic has diminished face to face interactions. In the last years, I made a lot of online metal clay friends as an AMCAW volunteer.”
Find Anca at:
facebook.com/anca.crahmaliuc.7
Photographer credit: Radu Calin Crahmaliuc
