- 21 artists, collection of jewelry & tableware
-'evocative', is that the wide range of human emotions waiting to be triggered can lead to an unusually diverse set of objects
-focus on potency of an object as a direct result of the artist's studio craft practice (the actual making)
and their individual response to the format with all its personal and social relevance
-the making of objects that embody... 'an expressive voice distinct from other art forms'
-narrative elements
-potential emotional impact of the unique maker's mark
-transformative qualities that are activated by physical interaction
-movements produce mesmerizing effects that evoke childhood play and suggest the infinite
-interaction with the body
-weight and point of impact alters the way in which its wearer moves through the world
-direct format removes interference and allows immediate access to memory
-objects of adornment and components in a larger installation
-irrefutable evidence of human individuality. these gain considerable strength in numbers (particularly in presentation)
-strains of thought emerge in response to the various artist's work
Sculpture (Journal). V.17 No4 (1998) p.73
"Crafting Identity: Commemorative Objects by Mary Douglas"
(Wearly Studio Gallery. Royal Oak, MI)
Review by Gerry Craig
-through material and intellectual culture, collectively shape our national identity
-honoring fundamental need of humans to surround themselves with objects
which have meaning to them, even if they are ugly or ridiculous objects
-souvenirs are no less authentic than the art found in museums because each is a cultural 'product'
-commemorative objects represent our fascination with place, serve as mnemonic devices,
and perhaps are true definitions of broad cultural values
-visual reference to these humble manufactured trinkets,
yet are also a denial of them because they are individual and handcrafted
-ricochet visually and intellectually between personal decorative objects which
grace domestic spaces to public monuments which shape our collective understanding of American history
-irrational mix of cultural icons at tourist attractions (example: mini china set painted with the Hoover dam)
-reference ordinary decorative domestic objects
-maintain their reference to the ordinary
Metalsmith. V.29 No5 (2009) p.22-30
"OBJECTS OF REMEMBERANCE: Contemporary Mourning Jewelry"
By Marjorie Simon
-to lose a love object, be it virtual or tangible, is to feel in some measure abandoned, adrift...
-mourners crave comfort, and people connect to share the heavy work of mourning. Artists turn to making.
*-objects can be the vessels for ideas and vectors for feelings, including memory
-nearly everyone has cherished objects inhabited by past narratives,
and it is no accident that jewelry has historically been a major repository for memories.
-jewelry worn to signify mourning communicates wordlessly to others
-[17 &18th C.] jewelry provided a way to express tender and deep emotions which might be otherwise prohibited
-[victorian era] mourning itself seemed to become an art
-wide range of contemporary mourning jewelry:
1. historically themed work, memento mori objects
(memento mori= "remember, you are mortal", general warning about the transitory nature of life)
2. conscious Victoriana
3. commemorative narratives
-hair curled in decorative patterns given in friendship or worn to signify closeness between women
-mourning brooch... cut ends would be visible;
the cut edge 'embodied' the moment of transition from the natural (living) to the cultural (dead)
*-jeweler have at some time created objects that refer to a significant personal loss
-a loss that for them cannot be metabolized without making something
-life is long; losses accumulate.
*-the personal commemorative object has layers of meaning, some of which may be coded.
-work done mainly for oneself, often not for public consumption, may be quieter and contemplative.
-talisman, materializes fear
-historian Christiane Holm believes that mourning jewelry serves the function of 'showing and hiding'
and that it is important to understand how 'hiding and revealing, absence and presence, anonymity
and naming operate to sustain acts of memory'.
-function of souvenirs:'mourning jewels,' she says, 'are exhibited secrets.'
-when we concentrate on a material object, 'the very act of attention may lead to our involuntarily
sinking into the history of that object... transparent things, through which the past shrines.'
**-commemorative objects, jewelry, and mementos stand in for an historical moment and everything
associated with it from that time forth.
-creating an intimate object offers as much solace as possessing it
-literally, painstaking work. work at which one takes pains can gradually abrade the pain of loss
