Mando Bee, MFA
As a nonbinary individual, Mando Bee unapologetically challenges the role of contemporary jewelry culture, and its impact and influence on the perception of gender and class. Their adornments are lush with complex fabrication and avant-garde materials that create a new world, M4ND0L4ND. Color is a focal point, often in bright, bold and neon palettes that reference candy wrappers, lottery tickets, and other street treasures. Their wearables are a physical manifestation of a self-made reality, $P4RKL3_FiLTH_CL0UD_NiN3, that processes trauma, life experiences, and their gender identity. The hours of sawing and riveting by hand that is necessary to create their work is a physical ritual that brings them closer to the source of their inspiration and aesthetic goals.
MANDO BEE earned their BFA from Texas State University with a focus in Metals and Jewelry in 2018. They have exhibited their work with Heidi Lowe Gallery, Ombre Gallery, Vancouver Metal Arts Association, Australian Temp/Contemp Gallery, and Milan Jewelry Week. They were included in the Emerging Artist program of New York City Jewelry Week and completed a 3 month residency at the Baltimore Jewelry Center in 2018. MANDO is featured in the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Learning Lab highlighting LGBTQIA+ artists, SNAG JaMS, ARTISTAR Jewels, and Accessory Vanity Fair Magazine.
