Macey Mayfield
what’s your craft / what’s your art.
[MM]. Designing and fabricating fine jewelry under my brand name, Lonerü. This is the art I make with my own two hands, from my own imagination and countless hours of solitary work. My jewels are made using the lost wax casting method, so I carve the designs in wax, polish the metal castings, and set all of the gems myself.
I’m also an actor. I love rehearsing and performing with my chosen family of theatre people.
what is your current obsession.
[MM]. ancient gold jewelry, lavender sapphires, Victorian kitchens, rare Tom Waits interviews, cat ponderings, hellscapes, dreamscapes, GBBS, mohair, Evelyn De Morgan paintings, gyoza, Jim Carrey playing Biden on SNL, spying on my husband while he’s chopping wood, and moonlit baths. But my enduring obsession is Joanna Newsom. I feel lucky just to exist in a time when I can experience her music.
where (town, room, or country) are you right now.
[MM]. At my home in Vermont, and it’s winter now so I’m sitting on the floor next to the wood stove.
what are you afraid of.
[MM]. Carelessness, Covid, the destruction of our planet - especially the beautiful, cold climate where I live. My phobias are heights, guns, and scary big dogs. But I love spiders, snakes, clowns, ghosts, aliens, and other creepy shit.
if applicable, why do you sell your artwork.
[MM]. Jewelry is expensive to make, so I can only afford to create more when I sell it. The good thing is that it’s pretty easy to recycle materials and experiment. If it all goes wrong, you can usually just melt it down and start again.
Jewelry is so wonderfully personal. It’s gifted and passed down, it symbolizes love or achievement. It’s saved up for, holds secret meaning. It takes on the shape of its wearer and it carries the scars and flaws gained during the time it’s worn. I think the transformation that jewelry goes through, and the meaning that it’s imbued with, is very romantic and can only happen if someone else possesses it. Every time someone buys one of my pieces, it gives me a burst of joy. I put my heart into making it, and I think that makes it very special.
did you study art. describe a moment of a class, in academia or alternative learning, that shifted your perspective.
[MM]. I was part of the Acting program at Texas State University, which was a beautiful and gruelling two years of constant preparation, presentation, and critique. I remember more than once hearing that a performance I’d rehearsed to the bone just didn’t warrant praise from professor or director. I used to really focus on that negative feedback, especially when it had to do with a perceived lack of preparation or my unwillingness to be vulnerable enough. I let it form a dark cloud and convinced myself over time that I was lazy and unauthentic, just because of a few off-hand criticisms from people who I had admired.
Lately, I’ve been asking myself where those deep-seated judgements I have about myself come from. Are they founded on my true nature, or are they the product of shame I’ve felt in the past that makes me cringe in retrospect, but isn’t worthy of carrying with me all these years?
what does being a female or female-identifying artist mean to your work.
[MM]. As a female artist, it means that I get a lot of feedback from men who know nothing about my art, that I often choose to ignore. Something about me just invites unsolicited advice. Oh well, I can handle it.
As a female jewelry designer, it means that I make a lot of pieces for myself and I wear them all the time. I’m now focused on creating more gender-free designs and sharing more photos and instances of male-identifying people wearing Lonerü.
in the darkest of times, what material do you reach for.
[MM]. In the darkness, I really appreciate things like knitting from patterns and cooking from recipes. When I’m feeling blue, my confidence is the first thing to suffer. It’s hard to create out of thin air in that state, but I still feel an urge to make something. Watching a movie while knitting soft wool or carefully chopping vegetables and kneading bread dough - they require some skill and a bit of concentration, but the stakes are low when it’s just for yourself. Plus, you get a pair of mittens or a warm meal out of it.
how many hours in a day do you make / how many hours in a day do you think about making.
[MM]. I spend about 3-4 hours daily focused purely on creating art. I currently have a couple of day jobs to pay the bills. My goal is to be able to spend twice as much time making art every day.
For now, when I’m not actively making jewelry, I’m usually thinking about it. I see jewelry when I close my eyes to sleep. Inspiration is everywhere, and ideas come at inconvenient times. I’m a night owl, so I usually like to sketch and carve wax deep into the night.
do you have artists in your family.
[MM]. I’ve always been the self-proclaimed artist in my immediate family, but I’m not the only one who makes art. I’ve been appreciating my dad’s artistic cleverness more and more. He can build an engine from scratch, used to race and repair motorcycles, makes guitars out of cigar boxes, makes welded metal sculptures.
I’m very femme, so I used to see him revving up race cars and I would assume our interests were worlds apart. Now, I think of all the years I saw him working and creating in his shop, just like I do now, and I realize how similar we are.
in the year 2020, what of your life have you let go.
[MM]. I’ve let go of regret that I haven’t pursued a singular career, regret that I haven’t wanted kids, regret that it’s taken me this long to get here. This year has changed us all, and my heart hurts for those who have lost so much. It puts things into perspective.
I’ve let go of the pressure on myself to be “amazing”. What does it matter? Just try to enjoy it and make the world a better place in whatever little way you can.
