Ball & Chain - wearable Sculpture/Jewelry
Artist Statement:
Our skeleton connects us all, yet rare disease changes how it is carried and perceived. Ball & Chain uses variations of gold chains to drape a skeletal frame, accentuating the spine and ribcage in a way that honors the body while contrasting the instability it can endure. The thick central chain anchors the piece with rigidity, while finer chains drape outward as ribs, shifting with movement. A heavy, hand-crafted clay bead pulls downward, embodying the weight of diagnosis and the way it reshapes daily life.
These materials mirror the contradictions of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Muscles ache with unrelenting tension while joints slip silently out of place. These movements are invisible to the human eye, yet this wearable piece renders them visible. As the ribs of chain sway and shift, instability is no longer hidden but felt.
Visibility is often the first barrier in advocacy. Rare disease patients face invisibility twice: first in pursuit of diagnosis, then in the fight for recognition, care, and equity. By reimagining the body as both beautiful and burdened, this piece reconciles resilience and vulnerability.
Art shifts perception. It reveals truths no scan can capture, transforming the unseen into something undeniable and urging dialogue, advocacy, and action.
Weight Made Visible.
-The Visual Art Campaign-
In a world that wants to weigh down everything that makes us rare - our bodies, our minds, our stories - this isn't just jewelry. It's a reclamation.
This is for the ones who were told their uniqueness was "too much." For the ones who carry invisible burdens, and still make it fashion. You're not chained down - you're rooted in your power.
Ready to wear:
Ball & Chain
Collection
Belt:
54" gold chain w/ black pendant. (10mm)
Anklet:
14" gold chain w/ black pendant. (4.1mm)
Necklace:
21" gold chain w/ black pendant. (4.1mm)
Bracelet:
9" gold chain w/ black pendant. (4.1mm)
Ball & Chain - But Fashion.
Haus of Van Eps in the News: The Brandon Reporter
About the Artist
Amanda Van Eps
Amanda Van Eps is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and advocate based in Vermont whose work explores the emotional architecture of perception, embodiment, and visibility. With a foundation in interior design and a deep connection to rare disease and disability advocacy, she transforms personal insight into public dialogue through sculpture, poetry, and immersive installations.
Guided by her Inclusive Perception Framework, a systems-thinking approach that views empathy as a design material, Amanda investigates how perception shapes inclusion across both physical and social environments. Her practice bridges art and advocacy, translating lived experience into forms that reveal the feedback loops between what we feel, what we see, and what society chooses to value.
Drawing from her own lived experience, Amanda channels introspection into symbolic forms, whether through skeletal gold chain sculptures that challenge how we see the human body, or through seasonal poems that evoke tenderness in the unnoticed. Her work invites audiences to confront dualities of visibility and absence, body and environment, rationality and vulnerability.
As a legislative advocate, Commissioner on the Vermont Commission on Women, board member for Disability Rights Vermont, and co-founder of One Room Theatrics, Amanda is committed to equity, accessibility, and emotionally resonant storytelling. Her poetry and wearable art have been featured in rare disease showcases and used to bridge conversations between clinical language and lived experience.
Through her multidisciplinary lens, Amanda’s mission is to make the unseen visible, and to reimagine empathy as both an artistic gesture and a structural framework for social design.
Coming Soon!
Pins & Needles
Collection
Pins & Needles - But Fashion.