Learn To Bead…At Land of Odds
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Posted by learntobead on November 12, 2009
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
Melissa Finelli
http://mellefinellijewelry.com/
Anoush Waddington
http://www.anoushwaddington.co.uk/portfolio.htm#
Posted in wire and metal | Tagged: anoush waddington, barbara cohen, jewellery, jewelry, melissa finelli, metal, wire, wire work | 2 Comments »
Posted by learntobead on July 16, 2009
2009 7th Annual The Ugly Necklace Contest
Winner and Runner-Up Announced
And the Winner is…..
Land of Odds, Be Dazzled Beads, The Open Window Gallery, and The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts are proud to announce the Winner and Runner-Up in this year’s The Ugly Necklace Contest! These two contestants have succeeded in creating necklaces which were hideous, using clever materials, fashioning a creative clasp assembly, and showing a strong degree of artistic control in their jewelry-making endeavors. Doing something “Ugly” is easier said, than done!
The Winner of The Ugly Necklace Contest – the Jewelry Designer who demonstrated exceptional jewelry design skills by creating The Ugliest Necklace in the America and the rest of the World in the year 2009, and the winner of a $992.93 shopping spree on the Land of Odds web-site (www.landofodds.com), is:
Lynn Margaret Davy of Wimborne, Dorset, United Kingdom
“The Story Of My Beading Life”
MORE DETAILS, Images and her Poem:
www.landofodds.com/store/ugly7davy.htm
The Runner-Up in The Ugly Necklace Contest — the Jewelry Designer who also displayed obvious design talents by creating the 2nd Ugliest Necklace in America and the rest of the World in the year 2009, and the winner of a $399.07 shopping spree on the Land of Odds web-site (www.landofodds.com) is:
Juli Brown of Wells, Minnesota
“Coffin Nails Necklace”
MORE DETAILS, Images and her Poem:
www.landofodds.com/store/ugly7brown.htm
—–
These beadwork and jewelry artists have demonstrated their commendable design skills. They have been judged, from among entrants from across America, Great Britain, and Canada by a distinguished panel of four judges from The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, and voted on by visitors to the Land of Odds web-site.
To view additional images of the necklaces submitted by the winner, runner up and the other semi-finalists of the 7th Annual 2009 The Ugly Necklace Contest, please visit us at www.landofodds.com/store/ugly7contest.htm on-line.
The Ugly Necklace review criteria are discussed on this web-page:
www.landofodds.com/store/ugliestcriteria.htm
Entries for the Eighth Annual 2010 The Ugly Necklace Contest will be accepted between September 1st, 2009 and March 15th, 2010. For official rules, and 2010 special requirements, please visit our web-site at www.landofodds.com/store/uglynecklace.htm .
And if you are in the Nashville area, please stop by Be Dazzled Beads, where the 6 selected Ugly Necklaces are on display through September 15th.
The Ugly Necklace Contest is one of the programs of The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, to encourage beadwork and jewelry makers to test their design skills, push the envelope, and learn some fundamentals about jewelry design in the process.
LIST OF 2009 7th Annual SEMI-FINALISTS:
1. Lynn Margaret Davy, Wimborne, Dorset, United Kingdom
2. Juli Brown, Wells, Minnesota
3. Sarah Allison, Gresham, Oregon
4. Jolynn Casto, Logan, Ohio
5. Deborah Eve Rubin, Rockville, Maryland
6. Lori-Ann Scott, Spokane, Washington
Posted in Contests, jewelry design | Tagged: bead stringing, beading, beadwork, Contests, jewellery, jewelry design, ugly | 1 Comment »
Posted by learntobead on May 27, 2009
PRESS RELEASE –5/27/09
TOPIC: THE UGLY NECKLACE CONTEST 2009
Semi-Finalists Announced – Voting Begins!
7th Annual 2009 The Ugly Necklace Contest
– A Jewelry Design Competition With A Twist
May 27, 2009 thru July 15, 2009
Six Jewelry Artists from around the world have been selected as Semi-Finalists of The 7th Annual 2009 The Ugly Necklace Contest – A Jewelry Design Competition With A Twist, by a panel of four judges from The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts and Land of Odds. Voting begins On-Line on May 27th, thru July 15th for the Winner and Runner Up Grand Prize: $992.93 shopping spree on Land of Odds web-site (www.landofodds.com ) Runner Up Prize: $399.07 shopping spree on Land of Odds web-site.
OUR SIX SEMI-FINALISTS
 Lori-Ann Scott Spokane, Washington “Sweet” |
 Deborah Eve Rubin Rockville, Maryland “Ode To An Ugly Necklace” |
 Jolynn Casto Logan, Ohio “Four Season’s Necklace” |
 Sarah Allison Gresham, Oregon “Walk In My Garden” |
 Juli Brown Wells, Minnesota “Coffin Nail Necklace” |
 Lynn Margaret Davy Wimborne, Dorset, United Kingdom “The Story of My Beading Life” |
LAND OF ODDS
Attention: Warren Feld
www.landofodds.com
718 Thompson Lane, Ste 123, Nashville, TN 37204
Phone: 615-292-0610; Fax: 615-460-7001
Email: warren@landofodds.com
Synopsis:
It’s not easy to do Ugly!
So the many jewelry designers from across America and around the Globe who entered our 7th Annual 2009 The Ugly Necklace Contest, found this contest especially challenging. After all, your brain is pre-wired to avoid and reject things which are ugly. Think of snakes and spiders. And even if you start your necklace with a bunch of ugly pieces, once you organize them into a circle, the very nature of an ordered round form makes it difficult to achieve Ugly. Yes, “Ugly” is easier said than done.
Who will win? We need the public’s help to influence our panel of judges.
Does our Minnesota entry make even lung cancer look pretty? Or does our entry from Ohio give the four seasons a bad name? Surely, our Oregon entry didn’t mean to step on and crush all the flowers in her garden. Nor did our entry from Washington intentionally put down anyone with a sweet tooth or an obsessed passion for the fork. From Maryland comes this perplexing challenge: can Trash be Ugly? We would assume so, until we try to make a necklace from it. And from England, another kind of trash – bead project trash – comes to signify what ugly things happen when you don’t finish what you started.
Our respected judges evaluated these creatively-designed pieces in terms of hideousness, use of materials and clasp, the number of jewelry design principles violated, and the designer’s artistic control. Extra points were awarded for artists’ use of smaller beads, because it’s much more difficult to do Ugly with these.
Now it’s time for America and the World to help finalize the decision about which of these 6 semi-finalists’ Ugly Necklaces to vote for. The winner will truly be an exceptional jewelry designer. The losers….well….this isn’t a contest where you really can “lose”.
Come see these and the other semi-finalists’ pieces at www.landofodds.com, and vote your choice for the Ugliest Necklace, 2009.
And if you are in the Nashville, Tennessee area, please stop by The Open Windows Gallery (fine art jewelry) at Be Dazzled Beads, where the 6 semi-finalists’ Ugly Necklaces are on display through September 15, 2009.
ABOUT UGLY NECKLACES
The UGLY NECKLACE CONTEST (www.landofodds.com/store/uglynecklace.htm) is a jewelry design contest with a twist. The contest presents a challenge not often tackled — at least intentionally. The contest draws the jewelry designer into an alternative universe where beautiful artists create ugly necklaces. It’s not easy to do.
“Ugly” is more involved than simple surface treatment. It is not just laying out a bunch of ugly parts into a circle. It turns out that “Ugly” is something more than that. “Ugly” is the result of the interplay among Designer, Wearer, and Viewer. “Ugly” is very much a result of how a necklace is designed and constructed. “Ugly” is something the viewer actively tries to avoid and move away from. “Ugly” has deep-rooted psychological, cognitive, perceptual, sociological and anthropological functions and purposes.
As research into color and design has shown, your eye and brain compensate for imbalances in color or in the positioning of pieces and objects – they try to correct and harmonize them. They try to neutralize anything out of place or not quite right. You are pre-wired to subconsciously avoid anything that is disorienting, disturbing or distracting. Your mind and eye won’t let you go here. This is considered part of the fear response, where your brain actively attempts to avoid things like snakes and spiders…. and ugly necklaces.
This means that jewelry designers, if they are to create beautiful, wearable art, have to be more deeply involved with their pieces beyond “surface”. Or their pieces will be less successful, thus less beautiful, thus more disturbing or distracting or disorienting, thus more Ugly.
Luckily, for the jewelry designer, we are pre-wired to avoid these negative things. This makes it easier to end up with pieces that look good. Beauty, in some sense, then, is very intuitive. On the other hand, it makes it more difficult to end up with pieces that look bad. You see, Ugly goes against our nature. It’s hard to do.
The Ugly Necklace Contest is one of the many programs at The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, that encourage beadwork and jewelry makers to test their design skills, have fun, and learn some fundamentals about jewelry design in the process.
Call for Entries – 8th Annual 2010 The Ugly Necklace Contest
— A Jewelry Design Competition With A Twist
Read the Contest Rules at www.landofodds.com/store/uglynecklace.htm . Entries accepted between 9/15/09 and 3/15/10.
To add your name to our email list associated with The Ugly Necklace Contest, send an email to: oddsian@landofodds.com
and Write “Ugly Necklace Email List” in the subject line.
Sponsors:
Land of Odds www.landofodds.com,
Phone: 615-292-0610; Email :warren@landofodds.com
Land of Odds provides bead and jewelry making artists with virtually all their beads, supplies, books and jewelry findings needs, with over 30,000 products. Retail/Discounts/Wholesale.
Be Dazzled Beads www.bedazzledbeads.com
Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts www.landofodds.com/beadschool
Open Windows Gallery – Fine Art Jewelry www.landofodds.com/store/openwindowgallery.htm
Learn To Bead…At Land of Odds Blog blog.landofodds.com
Other Programs at Land of Odds:
ALL DOLLED UP: Beaded Art Doll Competition
www.landofodds.com/store/alldolledup.htm
Jewelry Design Workshops in Cortona, Italy, with Toscana Americana
www.landofodds.com/store/toscananarrativesynopsis.htm
Posted in Contests, jewelry design | Tagged: bead contest, beadwork, handmade jewelry, jewellery, jewelry artist, jewelry design, jewelry making, jewerly contest, ugly, win prize | Leave a Comment »
Posted by learntobead on May 21, 2009
Jewelry artists are often, perhaps most often, inspired by nature. Inspiration could mean imitating forms, transposing reality, or utilizing natural materials.
These three artists are inspired by nature in very different ways.
Sally Grant, Edinburgh
try to capture the vibrancy, transience and intricate patterns found in the natural world in my jewellery. Nature does not stand still – it is a joy to capture a moment in time with my camera and transfer this image forever onto silver by the technique, photoetching.
Ulrike Hamm is an artist from Berlin who makes jewelry from parchment
Sabine Lang
Loops, circles and soap bubbles
Posted in jewelry design | Tagged: art gallery, bubbles, jewellery, jewelry design, jewelry making, nature, parchment, sabine lang, sally grant, ulrike hamm | Leave a Comment »
Posted by learntobead on April 3, 2009
THE PRIMAVERA GALLERY
210 11th Avenue at 25th Street, Suite 800, New York, NY 10001
http://www.primaveragallery.com/index.asp
Jewelry is a major part of Primavera Gallery. They offer fine, rare and collectible jewels spanning over 200 years of jewelry design, with pieces dating from the late 17th century up until the present. Their emphasis, however, is on unusual signed pieces, Art Deco through the 1960’s.
They are not interested in large diamonds or masses of precious stones — this, for them, is geology rather than jewelry. They are interested in great style, exciting design and integrity of workmanship. Their collection includes all of the major individual designers, as well as the great jewelry houses. In their spacious new Chelsea gallery, they are also showing jewelry by both well-known and emerging Studio jewelers.
They also offer the work of individual contemporary jewelry designers of special merit, among them Pol Bury, Bruno Martinazzi and Andrew Grima, and they are adding interesting contemporary and studio jewelry from many talented designers working today.
Some things in the Gallery:
MARCHAK TURQUOISE AND DIAMOND RING
A very unique cocktail ring. The sugar-loaf turquoise set in a domed turquoise and diamond base creates, literally, high drama. The House of Marchak excelled at creating unusual pieces, and especially this kind of jewelry in the 1950’s.
Marchak, Paris
ART DECO BRACELET WATCH
An elegant and refined bracelet with great Art Deco style in 18k gold set with damonds and calibre-cut rubies. The clasp is also set with rubies, and the central motif cleverly conceals a watch.
BOIVIN “LILAC LEAF” BROOCH
The House of Boivin is well known for beautiful jewelry based on natural forms. This leaf shimmers with the colors of aquamarines, peridots, citrines, and amethysts. It will bring Springtime to any season.
French, ca. 1938
BUCCELLATI DIAMOND RING
A wonderful vintage Buccellati, with their famous exquisite gold and silver work, and a 4 carat diamond of unusual and mysterious color.
Buccellati, Italy
SUSANNE BELPERRON RING
Pale blue chalcedony was one of Suzanne Belperron’s favorite materials. Here, it is finely carved and centers a fine pearl. Belperron’s jewelry is in great demand, and there are few pieces around. This is a beauty.
France
Lot’s of pretty stuff to admire on their website.
Posted in jewelry design | Tagged: art, art deco, collectible jewelry, fine art, fine art jewelry, gallery, jewellery, jewelry, jewelry design, vintage | 3 Comments »
Posted by learntobead on March 31, 2009
Jewelry Exhibits Around The World:
Let’s Web Surf
I don’t have the money nor the time to go visit every museum with ongoing or special exhibits on jewelry. So thank God for the internet. I can get my cultural fix.
WIRE KNOTTING WITH LOREN DAMEWOOD
New York City 92nd st Y
Loren describes himself as “I’m a middle aged guy with a red face and not much hair, at least for now. I was born in the early fifties, observed the hippie generation mostly from the sidelines, and managed to survive the Viet Nam war by dint of becoming a technician instead of a killing machine. The former might not pay as well, but it’s a more marketable skill. That’s what I’ve been doing ever since, anyway, up until the end of 2006, when I retired from the aerospace industry.”
Many of his pieces are based on what he calls the Turk Head Knot. See the ring above.
GIA MUSEUM
Carlsbad, California
http://www.gia.edu/research-resources/museum/index.html
The GIA Museum’s current focus is building the Historical Collection, a sophisticated collection of jewelry, objets d’art and gemstones of known provenance from earlier cultures and periods.
Barbara Paganin and Patricia Lemaire
Galerie Orfeo
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
http://www.galerie-orfeo.com/ausstellung.html
Founded in April 1992 by Susy Ciacchini, the Orfèo Gallery is the meeting point of the Art of contemporary jewellery in Luxembourg.
Link to other jewelry artists which the gallery represents:
http://www.galerie-orfeo.com/kuenstler_e.html
LUCCA PREZIOSA
Contemporary Jewelry
Toscany, Italy
Group Jewelry Artist Showing
http://www.luccapreziosa.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=205&Itemid=62&lang=en
Posted in jewelry design | Tagged: bracelets, chain making, earrings, gallery, hand crafted, jewellery, jewelry, jewelry artist, necklaces, wire knot, wirework | Leave a Comment »
Posted by learntobead on March 27, 2009
This question comes up often:
What is Craft?
Is Craft Art?
Can Craft be Art?
In many circles “jewelry” is considered a craft. In others, “jewelry” is art.
At the Victoria and Albert Museum in England, they have opened up their art collections to include those of craft. Yet they continue to make a distinction between the two, as seems to be common across Europe. Craft is what you do with your hands, and Art is what you do with your mind.
[While you are visiting the V&A museum online, check out their jewellery collections — don’t you love the way the British spell jewelry!.]
I think in America, any distinctions between craft and art are starting to get very murky. I guess we tend to be much more democratic about things.
I recently finished reading a book called SHARDS by Garth Clark on ceramic art. Clark’s is a major voice for understanding craft as art. But he decries the lack of leadership in the ceramics field in how ceramics are taught, and how ceramics are promoted. He feels that ceramics relies too much on an industrial model — making the best toilets, and not enough on an art model — making objects that resonate from an artist’s personality, sensibilities, and social/cultural perspectives.
I wonder sometimes if there are not parallels in jewelry and beading to Clark’s assessments of ceramics.
Another book I’ve just begun is THINKING THROUGH CRAFT by Glenn Adamson. He asks provocative questions about the marginalization of craft within modern art. He advocates for visual artists to take a renewed look at craft to better understand the “working in media” craft techniques and theories which also underly the visual arts, but are too often ignored.
And just in time for our blog discussion on craft vs. art, I received this announcement from the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, OR.
Community Conversations
Museum of Contemporary Craft, Pacific Northwest College of Art and panelists from Oregon’s creative community invite you to engage in a series of conversations about the anticipated integration of these two institutions. Explore the broader concepts relevant to creating a more vibrant and expanded organization that will strengthen its contribution to the cultural voice and economic vitality of the region. Conversations are moderated by Tim DuRoche, community program manager at Portland Center Stage.
Thursday, April 9, 6:30 pm
The Changing Dynamics of Craft and Design
Pacific Northwest College of Art, 1241 NW Johnson, Portland
Panelists:
Andrew Wagner, editor-in-chief, American Craft magazine
Namita Gupta Wiggers, curator, Museum of Contemporary Craft
JP Reuer, chair, MFA in applied craft and design, Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) and PNCA
Karl Burkheimer, head, OCAC wood department
What Does Craft Mean To You? What Do You Think It Means To Others?
How Does This Affect Jewely Making, Beadwork and Jewelry Design?
PLEASE POST YOUR VIEWS AND FEELINGS:
Posted in Art or Craft? | Tagged: art, Art or Craft?, art vs. craft, craft, jewellery, jewelry, jewelry making, teaching craft, victoria and albert museum | 1 Comment »
Posted by learntobead on March 19, 2009
Masriera Gold Enamel Jewelry
A couple of years ago, I visited Barcelona, Spain. I was lucky enough to stumble upon a jewelry gallery displaying the original gold enamel work of Masriera. The Art Nouveau and Art Deco pieces from the late 1800’s, early 1900s were unbelievable. I’ve wanted to duplicate some of them in bead-woven pieces, but haven’t figured out exactly how to go about that.
The company still exists and presents new and reproduced pieces each year.
Masriera pioneered the idea that each piece of jewelry should be a miniature piece of art. Prior to that, the primary focus of jewelry was on particular stones, cut or otherwise. Everything else within the piece of jewelry was “frame” or “outline”. In Masriera’s pieces, the stone became part of the artistic story or presentation of the whole piece.
Years ago, there was a fabulous coffee table book published about the Masriera collection. I reviewed the book at the gallery in Barcelona, but it’s been long out of print. Every year I search the used art book websites to try to secure a copy. No luck so far.
Other links with images:
http://www.geoffreyrothgallery.com/masriera_gallery.html
http://www.jacksonsquare.com/sc-jewelry/sc-masriera/masriera.html
Posted in jewelry design | Tagged: art deco, art jewelry, art nouveau, barcelona, gold enamel, jewellery, jewelry | 1 Comment »
Learn To Bead 