The modern artist adapts and transcends traditional designations. Amy Pivar is a dancer, a yoga teacher, and a jewelry maker. It is impossible to separate one artistic pursuit from the entire being that is Amy Pivar. “Is yoga art?” I asked her. She says, “yoga is a spiritual practice, and it is very artistic and creative. Teaching a yoga class is an artistic expression, like creating a performance piece dealing in many realms of being at once. We are refining and refining so the students can have an expansion of their energy body.”
As a former professional modern dancer, Ms. Pivar brings a lifelong passion for dance and movement to the art of jewelry making. Amy worked with well-known dance companies as the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zanes Dance Company and Urban Bush Woman, before starting her own dance company; Amy Pivar Dances.
She has been called the “fiery dancer,” and a “vibrant woman.” Amy courageously explored challenging social issues through dance, broadening the field and pushing the boundaries of movement and form. Then, when the time was right, she left dance to focus on yoga and jewelry. Full expression of the body is the medium for all her artistic expressions. As an Anusara yoga teacher, her jewelry is also yoga-inspired.
In 2001, jewelry designer Sarah Perlis invited Amy to take a jewelry-making class at The Jewelry Arts Institute. “It is a wonderful studio,” she says, “and I have been studying there and working there for the past 10 years. I make jewelry that is a harmonious composition of precious metal and beautifully cut precious and semi-precious stones. The designs are simple, elegant, and relaxed, to enhance the wearer’s inner radiance.”
Amy works a lot in gold. “It is easier to work with gold than with silver,” Amy explains, “the challenge is that gold is super expensive (and going up, up, and up every day) so there is little room for error. Handling raw gold is magical!” says Amy, “when I heat gold, the internal structure re-calibrates. Then as I work with it, it hardens into a lasting form.”
The same thing happens when practicing yoga: I purify and recalibrate my energy field by creating ‘tapas’ to burn off toxins and allow the innate wisdom of the body to heal and realign on a cellular level.”
Amy’s jewelry is harmonic, not intrusive. Her passion for dance inspires her to celebrate the body with her jewelry. It sparkles, with an edge, just enough distinction from center-of-the-road but not too far out. “It is an expression of the wearer’s individual style, an extension of one’s highest self.”
Amy Pivar’s new website is currently under development but for personalized, custom commissions she can be contacted through her email.
