Take A Trip Through Metal Cyberspace

http://www.metalcyberspace.com/index.html

This online directory of contemporary jewelry artists is very large.    It makes a wonderful tour of important and creative pieces from some of the world’s best metal artists.

Some highlights:

Barbara Cohen

http://www.bcohendesign.com/

Melissa Finelli

http://mellefinellijewelry.com/

Anoush Waddington

http://www.anoushwaddington.co.uk/portfolio.htm#

OnLine Voting Has Begun!

ALL DOLLED UP: Beaded Art Doll Competition
http://www.landofodds.com/store/alldolledup2009contest.htm

Voting ends 1/15/2010

www.landofodds.com/store/alldolledup.htm

DESIGNERS GAZETTE, FALL 2009

You can read our DESIGNERS GAZETTE, Fall, 2009 online. 

Go To:

http://www.warrenfeldjewelry.com/pdf/fg102009/fall2009pdf.pdf

WHEN JEWELRY NEEDS TO BE OVER-THE-TOP…

I was watching Project Runway the other day, and their challenge was to create on over-the-top look, something like a Bob Mackie piece, and of course, he was one of the judges.

The contestants had difficulty reaching beyond their usual boundaries. And I started thinking about jewelry. Sometimes you want to create pieces that are very theatrical, dramatic, glamourous, statement pieces. You want something that would attract someone’s attention across the room, as well as standing beside the wearer. In short, over-the-top.

One jewelry artist who succeeds well at this challenge is Mina d’Ornano, owner of MinaPoe in Paris, France. A Parisienne with Slavic origins, Mina d’Ornano was an actress, screenwriter and director before she decided to channel her creativity into fashion: “My fashion desires came from a feeling of frustration. Never finding what I wanted to wear finally inspired me”.

Inspiration and motivation are key themes behind her minaPoe creations – she is constantly on the look-out for the finest materials and has a preference for soft, luxurious and colorful fabrics, which she combines with precision and harmony. Her pieces have that sense of drama. They seem timeless. They catch the eye as would a chest of treasure. They surprise. They are playful. People see her pieces and want to talk about them.

ALL DOLLED UP: Beaded Art Doll Competition
6 Semi-Finalists Announced
OnLine Voting begins around 11/07/09
www.landofodds.com/store/alldolledup.htm

Synopsis:
Creating a Beaded Art Doll requires an extraordinary mix of multi-media talents by the successful artist.   It involves the design of a 3-dimensional doll form.   It requires an imaginative application and manipulation of beads resulting in a tactile, visual and emotional representation of the artist’s goals.    This year, these goals are focused on the theme: EARTHEN MOTHER.

The Fourth Bi-Annual 2009 All Dolled Up: Beaded Art Doll Competition — sponsored by Land of Odds, Be Dazzled Beads, The Open Window Gallery and The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts in Nashville, TN — sought out beaded art doll artists nationwide.     This competition primarily focuses on the design skills of the doll artists; it’s not merely a beauty pageant. 

Each entrant created a beaded art doll, and then wrote a story about it, beginning with this sentence:

“The mirror reflects more than my hands can feel.
Lines, edges, shadings, a weariness under the eyes, an awkward stance.
Yet, not reflected is a certain vibrancy –
a compassion and wisdom and wonder so many people rely on.
Only you, my beaded art doll,
capture the fullness of me as I age in place .
You embody changes I want to make, so I aptly name you…”

Six semi-finalists were chosen by a panel of experts from The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts from 12 wonderful entries.   Images and stories will be displayed online around November 7th on the Land of Odds website (www.landofodds.com ).   Visitors will be asked to vote and evaluate each doll, to help select the Winner and Runner-up.   The winner receives a $1,000 shopping spree on the website; the Runner-up receives a $400 shopping spree).

 These semi-finalists are,

Kathy Ford
Deep Gap, North Carolina
“Jolyma”

“As a child you spoke to me from mud as I sat at the far end of the garden patting earthen cakes between my palms.   And how luminous that mud like the color of your skin could be.   Chocolate, gold and olive green the fertile soil in which you breathe.  Life survives and thrives in your rich ground….

…In this guise she embodies life as celebration.  My life as celebration.”

Vera Fox-Bond
LaVergne, Tennessee
“Ta Dah”

“I shall tell my story through TA DAH or TA for short.  TA had been to the beauty shop for a new perm and the latest gossip.  Her curls turned out to be a bit much and she stepped on bubble gum on her way to the car.  What a day!   Upon arriving home, TA looked in the bathroom mirror at her new do and the mirror changed her life and mine forever….

…Don’t discard the older things of this world as they contain their own kind of beauty, wisdom and peacefulness….”

Cathy Helmers
Dayton, Ohio
“Aikatrine”

“You embody changes I want to make, so I aptly name you Aikaterine, meaning each of the two….

Life-giver, life-taker.
powerful, fragile
serene, chaotic
forgiving, harsh
Compassionate, rageful

…But Aikatrine has no time for self-reflection.
She is busy with self-regeneration.”

Ralonda Patterson
Decatur, Texas
“Willow”

You were not always as you appear this day.  You were fearful and lonely.   You turned to learning for a safe haven, a place for you to be acknowledged in a positive light.  Then sprang the hunger to be taught, a desire that was placed within the seed from which you sprang.   Your roots began to thrive in the fertile soil that had been plowed by your ancestors’ faith.   They grew deeper and had tapped into the eternal spring of the Spirit and from it came an understanding….

Now with such poise, you stand in the garden while showers of blessing rain down.  You are forgiven and redeemed, a most beloved creation of the Heavenly Father.   He gives you rest from your enemies and an eternity in the most beautiful garden of all.”

Dot Lewallen
Westerville, Ohio
“Rachel’s Dream”

I close my eyes and am transported to a dream world.  My fingers tingle with a sound permeating the forest as my ears hear the sharp crackling of the pine leaves I step upon.   My nose is being teased with a plethora of smells dancing and embracing with a promise of more if I would follow deeper into the woods….Mother Earth takes time to heal one small flower…

Then I am awake lying in my own bed….I touch the place where the dream woman had kissed me, and can still feel the moisture from her breath.  I know this woman.  I’ve seen her before….The woman was Rachel Carson the author of Silent Sprint, and I had followed her into her dream….

We should all take the mirror we see ourselves in, wipe away the fog, and view our beautiful World with a childlike thrill….”

Joan M. Cromley
Sedro Woolley, Washington
“Yamka Wuti Kachina (Flowering Woman Spirit)”

“As I sit here and prepare you for your future, you represent not just me, but also my mother, my daughter, all the women of the past, present and future….As the sacred Bead Keeper for the women of our village, my job is to perform the ceremonies and rituals in creating our precious beaded treasures. …

Just as my mother made my kachina for my puberty rite, so I am making you for my daughter.  When she comes of age and goes through the Beadway Blessing, you will remind her of all the things she has within her, and all the things she can call on as a woman….”

About Beaded Art Dolls

A Beaded Art Doll is a physical representation in three dimensions, using human figural and expressive characteristics, through the creative use and manipulation of beads. Beads are a unique art medium, allowing multidimensional surface treatment, and phenomenal opportunities for interplay among colors, light, shadow, texture and pattern.   Beaded Art Dolls submitted as entries for this Competition should be immediately recognizable as a “Doll” as defined above.

That said, Beaded Art Dolls submitted as entries for this competition may be realistic, surrealistic, whimsical or imaginary. They may be humanistic, animalistic, caricatures, cartoons, impressions or abstractions. The doll may take many forms, including a figure, purse, box, vessel, puppet, marionette, or pop-up figure.

Beaded Art Dolls should be between 8” and 36” in size. The surface area of the doll must be at least 80% composed of beads.

The doll’s internal form and structure may result from many techniques, materials and strategies. The bead stitches themselves might be used to create the skeletal structure. Various forms of cloth dolls might be stitched or embellished with beads. The underlying structure might be made of polymer clay, wood, ceramic, porcelain, Styrofoam, wire, corn husk, basket weaving, yarns, cardboard, paper, cotton, or some combination of materials. It might be a found form or object.

The Artist is given wide leeway in techniques for how the doll is to be beaded, and may use one particular technique or several. Techniques, for example, may include bead weaving stitches, bead embellishment, bead appliqué, bead knitting, bead crochet, bead embroidery, lampworking. For the 80% of the surface area that must be beaded, these would NOT include the application of rhinestones, sequins, nailheads or studs. The beads may be of any size, shape, color and material.

The Artist may include a doll stand or display support with the Art Doll, though this is not a requirement. This stand or support may be an off-the-shelf piece, or created from scratch by the Artist. It may be a base, a created setting, a decorative box, or frame. The stand or display support need not be beaded.

The Artist may interpret and apply the theme any way she or he chooses. The Beaded Art Doll might be thought of as a plaything; or as a visual representation of a person, feeling, spirit or thing; or as a tool for teaching; or as a method for stimulating emotional development or healing.

As an object of art, the goal of the Doll should be to make a statement, evoking an emotional, cultural or social response, either by the Artist her/himself or by others.

The Doll must be an original work, and may be the work of one Artist or a Collaboration.

Dolls have been a part of human existence for many thousands of years. Whether part of a ritual or part of child’s play, dolls function as symbols for meaning. Sometimes these meanings are broad social and cultural references; other times, these meanings focus on an individual’s relationship with oneself.

ALL DOLLED UP: BEADED ART DOLL COMPETITION is more than a beauty pageant. It is a design competition. The Competition will take into account the Artist’s intentions and how well these are incorporated into the design.

ALL DOLLED UP: Beaded Art Doll Competition
www.landofodds.com/store/alldolledup.htm

Vintage Interpretations

Our bead study group is about to embark on a new series of studies involving bead weaving interpretations of vintage costume jewelry of the 1920’s thru 1950’s.

Walid is a contemporary jewelry designer I came across while researching materials for our new study unit.   He’s very into the interpreting of vintage approach, using bead embroidery, beaded fringe, lace applique.

Walid for CoutureLab

When interpreting vintage pieces, it is important to understand the materials, and their contribution to the success of the piece.    You would probably want to use Czech seed beads, rather than Japanese, because the Czech seed beads are more irregular.   They would convey a more hand-done, rather than machine-done, sensibility to your piece.   You might rely on hand-cut beads rather than pressed glass, and older color palettes, rather than new ones, for similar reasons.

Walid for CoutureLab

Historically, people wore jewelry for many reasons.    This included mourning, commemoration, fun, and imitating fine jewelry.

What were the goals of vintage styles?
- appreciation of hand craft
- to be “wealthy” was to be “elegant”
- decadence
- class distinctions
- eccentricy

Walid for CoutureLab

People today are attracted to vintage pieces, because these pieces demonstrated great “hand” skill.    Working in vintage styles feels a lot like recapturing lost treasures.    These proven vintage styles seem to transcend fashion.   Wearing vintage jewelry always makes the wearer feel very special because these are always conversation pieces.

So, here were are trying to restore life to forgotten styles.    We want to try to be unique in a cookie cutter era.  

Walid for CoutureLab

Walid for CoutureLab

Some links of interest:

http://www.couturelab.com/editorial/story-walid.heml#1

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-vintage-costume-jewelry-collector-carole-tanenbaum/

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/costume-jewelry/overview

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-fine-jewelry-and-costume-jewelry-collector-christie-romero/

Exhibiting Jewelry

Because jewelry is small, and the details even smaller, it’s difficult to get good images of your pieces, and it’s difficult to display them well.

Here’s a clever idea for getting people to notice your pieces and spend a little more time exploring their details.

Parking Garage Karlsplatz, Düsseldorf

Ten objects of differing sizes have been threaded into the perforated façade of the parking garage on Karlsplatz. They are greatly magnified pieces of jewelry of the kind that might be worn by the users of the parking garage in the fashion center, Düsseldorf. The modular façade, which cannot be
experienced except as a foreign body in the Old City, is turned by the jewelry worked into it into the display case of a heterogeneously furnished jeweler’s shop.
 
Fotos: Peter Stumpf

Shaun Leane Jewelry
http://www.shaunleane.com/

I wanted to share some beautiful pieces of jewelry by celebrity jeweler Shaun Leane.

Awarded UK Jewellery Designer of the Year, Shaun Leane is internationally celebrated for pushing the boundaries of jewellery design.

Renowned for his darkly romantic and beautifully crafted jewellery; his work has been described by Sotheby’s, London’s prestigious auction house, as ‘antiques of the future’.

Dita Von Teese Jewelry Style

Everyone’s favorite pin-up girl, Dita Von Teese is known for signature rockabilly style paired with high-end fashion and glamour. A throwback to the 50s era, Dita is usually seen rocking fire engine red lips and vintage inspired frocks. But she also has a great sense of what type of jewelry compliments her look and works with the glam vibe.

Would You Wear This?

This necklace collar piece was designed by Louise Borgeois.

If you knew some of the history of this piece, would this make you more likely to wear this piece?

DESCRIPTION:  Silver necklace in the form a shackle originally designed in 1951 as a personal statement against the violence Louise Bourgeois had witnessed against prisoners during the Spanish Civil War. A limited edition of 39 pieces was produced in Spain in the 1990s.

Would you wear this?

The Illustrative Beader:
Beaded Tapestry Competition
Deadline 8/31/2011
Download Official Rules

by Land of Odds, Be Dazzled Beads, The Open Window Gallery, and The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts

CALL FOR ENTRIES
The Illustrative Beader:
Beaded Tapestry Competition
Create a Beaded Tapestry by manipulating beads, cloth and fibers into an imaginative detailed, tactile and visual representation of this year’s theme:Mystery Genre Book Covers .

And then write a short Artist Statement (between 1000-2000 words) about the general story-line of the book which the cover represents, how you made choices about what things to include on your cover, the materials and techniques you used in creating your book cover tapestry, and your strategies for adding a sense of dimensionality to the book cover tapestry.

The First Bi-Annual 2011 THE ILLUSTRATIVE BEADER: BEADED TAPESTRY COMPETITION is offering a first prize of a $1000.00 shopping spree on the Land of Odds web-site (www.landofodds.com), and a Runner-Up prize of a $400.00 shopping spree on the web-site.

Here we use the concept of “Tapestry” in its broadest sense as a stitched, sewn and/or woven wall hanging. Your tapestry may be woven, loomed, stitched, quilted, cross-stitched, crocheted, knitted, sewn, braided, knotted, embroidered, macramed, beaded and the like. Your tapestry will combine fibers/threads/and/or cloth and beads in some way, and must consist of at least 70% beads. Beads may form the background canvas of your piece, and/or may be used to embellish your canvas, and/or as fringe, and/or as stitchery covering parts of your piece. Your piece should be mounted or framed in some way, ready for hanging on a wall. Your tapestry may utilize many different techniques. In addition, as a “Mystery Genre Book Cover”, your Beaded Tapestry should woo and entice the viewer to want open that cover and read the book!

Entries will be judged by a panel from The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts. These distinguished Beadwork and Jewelry Artist instructors will judge each beaded tapestry based on

 
1. INSIGHT: The Artist’s inner awareness and powers of self-expression through needle arts and stitchery, fiber arts and beadwork, particularly in terms of how well this year’s Competition theme is incorporated into the piece.
2. TECHNIQUE(S):
a. The range of techniques employed within the piece, and how these are combined and executed.
b. The degree the Artist is successfully able to incorporate 3-Dimensional elements and give depth to the finished piece — layering, embellishment, embroidery, movement, optical effects, color tricks, shapes, textures, patterns, and other structures
c. The strategic and parisomonious placement of visual elements throughout the piece
d. The details — how creatively, strategically, and to what extent story details are presented within the Tapestry
3. USE OF BEADS/BEADING AS ARTISTIC MEDIUM: To what extent the Beaded Tapestry may be viewed as a work of “art”, rather than “craft”; has the Artist fully utilized the power of the “bead” as a medium for art — an expression of color, light, shadow, tactile sense and emotion
4. VISUAL APPEAL: The overall visual appeal of the Beaded Tapestry, and how well it tells a story and seems to grab the Viewer’s attention and motivate the Viewer to want to, in this year’s case, read the book.
5. QUALITY OF WRITTEN ARTIST STATEMENT: How well the Artist’s write-up enhances an appreciation of the Beaded Tapestry, how it captures the theme, as well as the Artist’s talents in design, insight and implementation.

REQUIREMENTS

A. Length and Width: The Beaded Tapestry may be oriented vertically or horizontally. One dimensional leg should be shorter than the other, but no shorter than 8″. The other dimensional leg should be longer than the other, but no longer than 25″. The relative lengths of the shorter and longer dimensions should approximate The Golden Ratio where the longer side is 1.60 times the length of the shorter side (L=1.6*S). Thus, the smallest possible piece would be approximately 8″x13″, and the largest possible piece would be approximately 16″x25″.

B. Backing and Framing: The Beaded Tapestry should be afixed to a secure backing, from which to attach a hanging mechanism, and which is secure enough to support the Tapestry, as it hangs on a wall. This can be as simple as using a piece of foam core or wood panel, or can be more elaborate. The piece may be supported with a frame, and a paper or cloth backing. Any backing/framing/matting will not be counted in the measurement rules and limitations. Thus, if the Beaded Tapestry were 16″x25″, and a frame and matte resulted in a finished piece that was 20″x29″, that would be OK. If the Tapestry is meant to hang like a curtain on a rod, using backing would be optional, depending on whether the backing will help or hinder your piece.

C. Hanging Mechanism: The Beaded Tapestry should have all the mechanical attachments affixed to the backing/frame that allow it to be hung. This might be picture wire strung across the back, or a picture hook, or a dowel that slides through the piece at the top like a curtain.

D. The Tapestry Canvas: The Beaded Tapestry will work off a canvas of some sort. What this canvas is and how it is created, would be up to the Artist. The canvas might be loomed (or stitched in some way) with threads, other fibers, cloth, or beads, or might be a stretched cloth, or might be some kind of surface (or webbing, netting or string-curtain) off of which to work your Tapestry, like bead embroidery off of ultra-suede.

E. The “Cartoon”: The cartoon is the designed image/sketch for your piece. This image should be original, and not have been submitted to any other contests or competitions. The judges are especially interested in how you transfer your cartoon to your tapestry, how you incorporate details, and how you bring dimensionality to your piece. The cartoon, thus final Tapestry as well, must include the Title of your chosen book.

F. The Use of Beads and Fibers: Beads must comprise at least 70% of the the surface of your Beaded Tapestry. A bead is an object with a hole in it. It may be applied to the Tapestry with stitching or sewing. It may be glued. It may be wired. It may be encapsulated. Your final Tapestry may be done with 100% beads, or with a mix of beads and fibers. The judges are especially interested in seeing a mix of techniques within your piece.

G. Relating Your Tapestry To This Year’s Competition Theme – Mystery Genre Book Covers

1. Based on a real book: Your Book Cover must relate to a real, published book.
2. Interpretation of Cover Design must be your own. While it’s logical that you might use elements from an existing cover, it must NOT be a copy of the book’s existing cover.
3. The Title of the Book must be incorporated into your Tapestry design
4. Your Artist statement should reference the book’s title, author, publishing company, and date of publication.
5. “Mystery Genre” refers to fictional and non-fictional books which deal with the solving of a crime.

 
H. The Artist’s Statement: Write a short Artist Statement (between 1000-2000 words), covering the following topics:

1. List the Title of your book, the author, the publishing company, and date of publication.
2. A synopsis of the general story-line of your book. Tell us the story progression. Highlight key characters including the hero or heroine, the victim, clues, mysteries, double-entendres, the murder weapon, the solution/resolution and the like.
3. Why did you choose this book?
4. How did the story-line influence you in your book cover design choices? What details did you decide to highlight on the tapestry? What details in the story line did you decide Not to highlight on the tapestry?
5. What materials did you use to create your book cover tapestry, backing and framing, hanging mechanism, canvas?
6. How did you transfer your Cartoon sketch to your finished Tapestry?
7 . What techniques did you use in creating your book cover tapestry
8 . What were your strategies for creating the Title on the tapestry — fonts, sizes, materials, placement/positioning?
9 . What were your strategies for adding a sense of dimensionality to your book cover tapestry?

 
I. Your Book Cover Tapestry may be done either as an individual or as a collaboration. If a collaboration, please list all the “collaborators” with your submission. Identify one person of the group to be the lead and contact person.

We Need Submissions!

A Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, and composed of two sets of interlaced threads. Threads running parallel to the piece create the tension. Threads running back and across along the width create the pattern or image. It is these threads which show in the traditional tapestry. Tapestries were very portable. They could also be draped on the walls of castles for insulation during winter. They could be hung as decorative interior elements and displays of wealth. The “Cartoon” — that is, the design image — ranged from the purely decorative to tales of heroicism, mysticism, or religiosity. Often, to make these loomed pieces feel more 3-dimensional, they were embellished with beads, pieces of glass, and pieces of mirrored glass, which would create fascinating interplays with light. The beads might be used to create border fringes, or might be sewn into or embroidered onto the tapestries themselves.

In our The Illustrative Beader: Beaded Tapestry Competition, we define the idea of a “Tapestry” very broadly, to include any stitched, sewn and/or woven wall hanging which combines some kind of fiber and beads. Fiber might consist only of the threads used to stitch the beads, or it might include quilted materials, yarn, cord, of anything that might broadly be called Fiber. The Tapestry might be loomed with fibers and embellished with beads. It might be loomed with all beads. The Tapestry does not necessarily have to be loomed in the traditional sense. It might also be knitted and embellished with beads, or quilted or cross-stitched or crocheted or braided and somehow combined with beads. The Tapestry canvas might begin with stretched, appliqued, or quilted cloth. The surface area of the finished Tapestry must be 70% made from beads.

THE ILLUSTRATIVE BEADER: BEADED TAPESTRY COMPETITION: is more than a beauty pageant. It is a design competition. The Competition will take into account the Artist’s intentions and how well these are incorporated into the theme, the design, the materials, the use of techniques, the use of details and elements which create dimensionality.

Need For Critical Writing and Dialog About Beading

One of the major gaps in Bead World is the support of more open and frequent critical writing and dialog about beading.   What it is.  Why it is.   It’s relationship to art.   The relationship of current modes and techniques to historical ones.   Contemporizing Traditional Beadwork.    Adding dimensionality.   Why there are numerous ways to work thru the same stitch, like Peyote, Brick, Daisy Stitch or Right Angle Weave.    Design elements and rules of composition underlying beading.    Beading structures.  Documenting beading techniques.  Forms and functions of beading.    Sex and sexuality, wealth and poverty, emotion and no emotion, and other pertinent themes underlying beading.   Comparative analyses of artists works.    Use of color with beads.    The relationship of jewelry as display item and jewelry as item as it is worn.   Why beads have power.   What makes some jewelry resonate.

Bead World lacks an academic center, which would encourage such discussions.   Bead World lacks magazines and journals which support these kinds of discussions.   Bead World is very step-by-step craft focused, and doesn’t tend to raise a lot of questions.     It doesn’t tend to support detailed documenting of beading traditions.   It doesn’t support urgent efforts to document and collect beadwork of rapidly disappearing ethnic groups, such as those in Dafur Africa.   It doesn’t create a clear sense of what is good beadwork, and what is sloppy beadwork. 

We have a recent history of beading in the US that began around 1960, and few people have witnessed the story.   Few people have asked deeper questions of the artists and teachers who first brought about an unbelievable increase in beading in the  1990s.   A lot of information has been lost.  

The information could be used to broaden the field, attract more people into beading, and encourage experimentation, research, deliberation.

Very sad.

At the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Oregon, they have created exhibits and ongoing discussions about criticality in craft, in general at least.   Beading and jewelry come into play occasionally.  

Their new discussion series — CALL + RESPONSE — is outlined on their web-site:

http://museumofcontemporarycraft.org/call/introduction.html

It’s definitely worth a visit.   Be sure to read the full essays from each participant, as well as view images of the works associated with each essay.

Anya Kivarkis, area head, jewelry and metalsmithing, University of Oregon

Namita Gupta Wiggers, curator, Museum of Contemporary Craft
Complaints about a need for critical writing on craft surface with great frequency. Drawing on the musical concept of “call and response,” this exhibition opens a space for critical dialogue and exchange between craft-based artists and art historians. From nearly three years of discussion, studio visits and exchanges of ideas, the resulting exhibition presents artwork and essays by eight pairs of artists and art historians, all of whom currently teach in Oregon colleges and universities.

Kate Mondloch, assistant professor of contemporary art history and theory, University of Oregon on
Josh Faught, assistant professor and program coordinator of fibers, University of Oregon
Knitting was passed down to me from my grandmother. However, I attribute most of my early experiences with craft to my time in summer camp. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that I learned to weave before I learned to draw or paint. It’s a biographical aspect of my work that I still like to talk about since it locates my skill set from a time iconically loaded with issues of identity construction. In college, I studied art history and English but when I graduated I gained a bit more confidence in my creative abilities. 

Abby McGehee, associate professor, Oregon College of Art and Craft on
Anya Kivarkis, area head, jewelry and metalsmithing, University of Oregon

For any student of material culture, objects provide the means for understanding social values, ritual and domestic procedure, and individual artistic development. Objects and structures are proxies for vanished makers and patrons, and remnants of the world they created. But there is always a tension between the substantiality of these physical remains and the absence of their historical context.

 

 

 

 

Kirsi Peltomäki, assistant professor of art history, department of art, Oregon State University on
Jiseon Lee Isbara, associate professor and fibers department head, Oregon College of Art and Craft

Hand-sewing, whether to join fabric pieces together or make a mark on them by embroidery, remains at the center of Jiseon Lee Isbara’s artistic practice, although she freely makes use of a sewing machine as well, and, on occasion, includes other techniques such as inkjet printing on fabric. A fiber-based artist by training and profession, the material and conceptual dimensions of Lee Isbara’s works simultaneously resonate with contemporary sculpture, particularly work by Eva Hesse and Mona Hatoum, and with the Korean textile tradition of pojagi wrapping cloths. Lee Isbara’s recent work involves pieced fabric stitched into patchwork forms and displayed in three-dimensional installations or two-dimensional wall arrangements. In any configuration, Lee Isbara’s work constitutes mental maps, visualizing territories that are coded and decoded in languages at once familiar and uncharted.

 

 

 

 

Dawn Odell, assistant professor, department of art and art history, Lewis & Clark College on
Sam Morgan, ceramics instructor and art chair, Cascade Campus, Portland Community College

Although the necessity for a division between the fine and decorative arts has been under assault for decades, the ghost of this separation continues to haunt discussions of contemporary craft. When considering ceramics, for example, the fine/decorative divide is often breeched by emphasizing the sculptural qualities of ceramics, both in terms of the objects’ three-dimensional form and also by assuming that the work is best contemplated from a distance. Sam Morgan’s art resists this conflation of ceramic as sculpture. 

 

 

 

 

Rob Slifkin, assistant professor of art and humanities, Reed College on
Studio Gorm (John Arndt and Wonhee Jeong), associate professors, product design, University of Oregon

Understood in its most expansive sense, to design is to forge a possibility. Whether one sketches a preliminary study for a painting or sculpture, or draws a plan for a building or a piece of furniture – or outlines a draft for an essay – the act of design entails the projection of a desired future outcome from a present moment. 

 

 

 

 

Matt Johnston, assistant professor, department of art, Lewis & Clark College on 
Karl Burkheimer, associate professor and head of the wood department, Oregon College of Art and Craft
From Karl Marx to Clement Greenberg and beyond (and probably echoing as a refrain in this collection of essays), both craft and art are portrayed as heroic but losing enterprises within an increasingly pervasive dehumanization of life brought about by the growth of capitalist society. A tool-making species, in this apocalypse of our own creation, we are losing touch with basic hand-eye skills required to fashion, manipulate, and interpret objects; in effect losing the ability to re-imagine and re-make the world, and are instead becoming mere passive consumers of machine-fabricated commodities. 

 

 

 

 

Anne Marie Oliver, assistant professor of intermedia and contemporary art theory, Pacific Northwest College of Art on
David Eckard, chair of the sculpture department and an instructor in the foundation and intermedia departments, Pacific Northwest College of Art

It would be a mistake, however, to view magic simply as a reenactment of social behavior, the logic of belief, or a mere lure or decoy by which attention is drawn away from some tasks in order for others, often traumatic or violatory, to be accomplished. In the final analysis, magic is far more disturbing than any conjectured relation between duplicity and consciousness, belief and disbelief, distraction and destruction. 

 

 

 

 

Jewelry Exhibits at Galleries Around The World

The Sting of Passion
Saturday 11 July 2009 – Sunday 25 October 2009
Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester, England
http://www.manchestergalleries.org/

Twelve international jewellery designers present new commissions in response to our Pre-Raphaelite painting collection.

Marianne Schliwinski for Joli Coeur by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Jivan Astfalck for Sappho by Charles-August Mengin

Guild of Phillipine Jewellers
Winners from Past Design Competitions
http://www.guildofphilippinejewellersinc.com/index.php

Dorothea Pruhl
http://www.farlang.com/exhibits/padua-dorothea-pruhl/home

Dorothea Pruhl is a leading exponent of the current art jewellery scene.

Her aesthetic stance is informed by abstract impressions from nature, concentration on essentials, eminent sensitivity and sculptural power.

She makes basic statements in gold and silver – but also in wood, aluminium, titanium and stainless steel – impressions manifest in generously proportioned, clear entities.

Starting with what is there, she tracks it down to its inmost core, applying to its quintessence a new aesthetic idiom – it might be a flower, the wind, a house, birds in flight.

Born in Breslau in 1937, Dorothea Pruhl studied art at Burg Giebichenstein in Halle before working in industry as a designer of manufactured jewellery.

Susanne Klemm
http://www.susanneklemm.com/susanne.html

“Art creates memories of nature.”

An Interview With Vintage Costume Jewelry Collector Carole Tanenbaum

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-vintage-costume-jewelry-collector-carole-tanenbaum/

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis, Collectors Weekly Staff (Copyright 2009)

Carole Tanenbaum talks about vintage costume jewelry, discussing the major designers (such as Coco Chanel, Schiaparelli, Trifari, and Schreiner), popular fashion trends, and the origins of costume jewelry. She can be contacted at her website, caroletanenbaum.com.

jennifer trask: flourish

Susan Lomuto | Aug 11, 2009 |

http://dailyartmuse.com/2009/08/11/jennifer-trask-flourish/

Jennifer Trask’s latest series, Unnatural Histories: Flourish, begins with the following definitions of the word flourish:

1. To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive
2. To do or fare well; prosper
3. To be in a period of highest productivity; excellence or influence.
4. To make bold or sweeping movements.

The Hudson Valley, New York based artist, best known for jewelry that incorporates snake vertabrae, beetle shells, feathers, bone, pre-ban ivory and sea urchin shells, might have included her own name for a fifth definition. As her new work of removable jewelry mounted on encaustic drawings and paintings shows, Jennifer.Trask.Is.Flourishing.

Polymer Art Archive
http://polymerartarchive.com/

This is a site where professional artists working in the medium of polymer will find inspiration. Museum and gallery curators will be able to access documentation about the evolution of this vibrant medium for artistic expression. And serious collectors will discover windows to new works and the medium’s most collectable artists.

Sandra McCaw, Persian Cuff, 2007

Rachel Carren, William Morris Sebo Brooch, 2009

All Dolled Up: Beaded Art Doll Competition
www.landofodds.com/store/alldolledup.htm

St. Fedupia by Kathleen Lynam

Every other year, Land of Odds and The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts sponsors a beaded art doll competition.    This year’s deadline is August 31, 2009.

The theme is Earthen Mother.    Each artist submits images of their doll.   And each artist has to write a short story about their doll, starting with this sentence:

“The mirror reflects more than my hands can feel.
Lines, edges, shadings, a weariness under the eyes, an awkward stance.
Yet, not reflected is a certain vibrancy –
a compassion and wisdom and wonder so many people rely on.
Only you, my beaded art doll,
capture the fullness of me as I age in place .
You embody changes I want to make, so I aptly name you…”

Here our images of our first three submissions:

by Dawn Ott

by Bonnie Prebula

by Gabriella DeLawey

PHOTOGRAPHS and JEWELRY and FASHION and BUSINESS

You have to be creative in how you stage the set for photographing your jewelry.   If people are web-surfing, you want to entice them to stay on your page a little longer, rather than click-thru to somewhere else.    If they are looking at items in a magazine or newspaper, you want them to linger a bit longer than turning the page.

I first began looking for some good ideas for photographing jewelry at the 7th International Festival of Fashion Photography in Cannes.     There were few examples of jewelry photos, however.   These included two by Marc Turlan

marc turlan

marc turlan

These didn’t excite me, so I kept web-surfing and came across the website of a fashion photographer names Niva Kedem.     Now I was getting closer to the mark.

Her website:
www.nivakedem.com

She groups her photos into photo-style categories, so you can actually learn a lot about imaging on her website, from how she groups her own examples.

niva kedem

niva kedem

niva kedem

niva kedem

It’s difficult to photograph jewelry.  You need to convey details in the piece, and the details are small.    You want to convey a sensibility about the piece — its emotions, its sexuality and sensuality, its use of materials, its relevance to certain contexts.     Many of the components have reflective qualities, which can change colors in photos, or affect the colors of the nonreflective surfaces around it.    You want to convey the artist’s style.

“The photography of jewelry can achieve a whole lot more than just depicting products. It can focus on unique details that generate very different feelings and can contribute to the visual communication of the jewelrys inspiration. Unfortunately, we see time and again that jewelry designers adopt a strangely ambivalent position when faced with how to communicate their products. This applies in particular to jewelry manufacturers in the initial stages of their careers. It is a crying shame that there are so many designers able to achieve the highest standards of precision and perfect craftsmanship in the production of jewelry and then proceed to take inferior photos of it that in no way do justice to their own excellent work. Conversely, established designers who are familiar with trade fair business and with handling the media have usually already discovered or experienced how important it is to define a clear approach in communicating ones own style of jewelry and its special features. An idea of who is or may be the target group for the jewelry can help the photographer or designer find a suitable language of images….   –