Beyond Physical Adornment: Blurring the Lines Between Fine Jewellery and Art Objects
In the highly creative world of jewellery making, designers are pushing the limits of their imagination by coming up with new ways to envision accessories that can function not just as mere embellishments for the body.
(prHWY.com) December 19, 2012 - Staffordshire, United Kingdom -- In an age when precious metals and gemstones are de rigeur when it comes to fashioning priceless pieces of jewellery, the more unconventional designers have eschewed such items in favor of less traditional materials for crafting accessories that transcend the body and delves into the annals of art galleries and museums everywhere. Cases in point: Wendy Ramshaw of Edinburgh and Kiff Slemmons of Chicago. These two women have made headlines in the jewellery industry for challenging the pre-conceived notions of what jewellery should be, giving birth to exquisite works that are triumphs of unorthodox construction and artistic candor.
Wendy Ramshaw's design philosophy is deeply rooted in abstract forms, in nature, and in fantasy stories, as her pieces reflect a sense of whimsy and grandeur realised in the form of glass, plastic, and gold. In the span of her 50-year career, she has been steadily producing functional pieces that can be used in multiple combinations-a concept she has brought forth back in the 1960s with her now iconic ring sets. Critics have lauded Ramshaw's ability to conceive pieces that can stand alone as art objects like sculptures or paintings when not worn.
Author and art critic Lady Marina Vaisey had commented on this notable aspect in Ramshaw's work, stating: "They work on the human body and they work separately from it. A great deal of her jewellery are designed to move very gently. The cascade of colors you get... give a kind of vivacity, a sense of movement and life to her work."
Across the Atlantic, Kiff Slemmons began her career in jewellery making while travelling to Mexico with her boyfriend (now husband), and discovered an epiphany when viewing ancient ethnic jewellery in an archaeological site. This propelled her to establish a design doctrine that focuses on making original pieces out of unusual materials such as miscellaneous discarded objects and paper-the latter being her preferred item to fashion her avant-garde accessories.
Wearability is not her central concern, as Slemmons considers herself more of an artist who makes jewellery rather than a jeweller who makes jewellery. Despite this personal outlook, many critics and buyers have expressed strong interest in her work, as is the viewpoint of Douglas Dawson, an art gallery director in Chicago, who has praised Slemmons's distinct aesthetic: "[She] has managed to liberate herself from any artificial hierarchy of the inherent value of material. For Kiff, a rusted tin can lid, discovered underfoot, is no less valuable than a semi-precious stone or sheet of gold."
Both women's wearable art pieces have been featured in esteemed museum galleries around the world such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh.
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