The show offers a incredible selection of jewelry from artists from twelve different countries, most them traveled to New York to present their jewelry. I can not tell you how busy the show was tonight with lots of smiling women parading around in beautiful jewelry. The jewelry on view, as you can tell from all of the photos that I have been posting on this blog, is incredibly different but this diversity, is what makes it so interesting. I also can not tell you how many different materials artists are working with these days, everything from glass to plastic to paper to rubber to wood to steel wire and the list goes on and on. LOOT is on view through Saturday at the Museum of Arts and Design, don't miss it.
Melanie Rhodes
Rhodes forged gold necklace reminds me of the whimsical pieces that Alexander Calder made for his friends and family. Rhodes quit her day job in the financial sector when her jewelry making hobby started to bring her more recognition, and more pleasure.
Katherine Richmond
In her own words: "Katherine’s current work explores the fragile relationship between people and objects, and the tensions between control and disorder. She uses books to create wearable pieces that question traditional values associated to the permanence of our material surroundings, embracing the beauty of the imperfect and incomplete."
Nikolay Sardamov
Sardamov will be showing jewelry from his latest collection called "Intersections." This collection "features pieces formed from circles of varying sizes that have been arranged at different angles to create a rigid mesh work, where the cube is the main organizing shape. Sardamov uses the same number of components in variation to create jewelry with different patterns, densities and sizes.These pieces are first created in wax, and then cast in silver or gold."Lynn Sausele
Painter and jewelry artist Sausele will be returning to LOOT 2012 after a successful show last year. Sausele loves that she can incorporate the bold and vibrant colors of her paintings into her beaded work. She also frequently mixes beads with stones and crystals to create modern pieces while "being part of a practice that has been going on for thousands of years."Ines Schwotzer
Schwotzer's work is inspired by pillow - lace although instead of using thread, the artist employs stainless steel wire to weave with unusual pieces. "The craft of making pillow laces has a long tradition in Saxony, the area of eastern Germany where Schwotzer was born, and she learned this art as a child. She was soon inspired to make her own patterns, and when she later studied textile design she sought out new ways of creating lace."Haruko Sugawara
Sugawara likens jewelry to wearable art. She applies the techniques of basket weaving and crocheting to create her pieces. Preferring to work with metals wire, she crochets" very thin silver wire to create the desired shape and then adds a thin coat of glass by using the Shippo method, a Japanese Enamel technique. With the basketry technique, she has more freedom to create new shapes and not be restricted by her materials.
Katja Schlegel
Schlegel’s jewelry vary from her “modification” necklaces, which wearers can combine to create different lengths and layers, to her peep-through pieces, formed into shapes that recall keyholes. She enjoys juxtaposing colors, textures, and dimensions, for example by pairing a smooth, dark, two-dimensional surface with a multi-faceted three-dimensional one. To create these original pieces, she relies on contrasting materials, combining precious and semi-precious elements like silver, gold, or pearls with acrylic glass.
Yoko Takirai
A former assistant of the renowned jewelry artist Giampaolo Babetto, Takirai "jewelry conveys expressions of new concepts of space. The necklaces, the rings and the earrings, both in the three dimensional and in the linear forms, express an emotion or movement which only reveals itself when they are worn. Sometimes enigmatic in their shape, her jewelry unveils itself when it becomes one with the body, revealing a lightness, an elegance and a strong feminine sinuosity."
Ruth Tomlinson
In her own words: "I respond to my immediate environment and am open to spontaneous finds and observations. I use a variety of materials and aim to work them into jewelry of a sensitive and delicate quality. I hope to evoke a sense of wonder around my work which leads people to question the idea of preciousness.” Tomlinson's "variety of materials" includes pearls, beads, ceramics, and antique gemstones.
Karola Torkos
About her work, Torkos says ""As a jewelry designer, I am interested to discover the different and sometimes contrasting aspects of a concept, idea or collection. Therefore, I avoid seeing myself as just a commercial or just an artistic designer working in only one formal language. My current and ongoing project of changeable/variable jewelry offers a huge playground. Giving the wearer the possibility to change the look of a jewelry piece is in some way handing over the last step in the design process. This is a challenge for both the designer and the wearer and it leads to a very personal relationship to design or art."
Georgia Wiseman
Wiseman "strives to encourage successful relationships between the modern sharp lines of the metal structures she designs and the natural qualities of gemstones; geometric forms against the natural beauty of pearls and detailed structures with light refracting facets of diamonds. These contrasting elements create contemporary classics with a non-traditional approach - bold and sophisticated jewelry for women of style."
Linda Van Niekerk
Van Niekerk’s home inTasmania’s Huon Valley "encourages the contemplation of natural beauty, and informs the shapes and materials she uses in her creations. Van Niekerk is also inspired by the aesthetic of her native South Africa. This sense of place has greatly influenced the materials she includes her pieces; she often combines silver with natural Tasmanian elements like driftwood or pebbles. The contribution of other Tasmanian craftspeople, including wood-turners and bead makers, is also important to her work. Van Niekerk’s hope is to create simple, sculptural pieces that encourage their wearers to be bold, proud, and walk tall."
Silvia Uhlenbruch
"Uhlenbruch is recognised as one of Germany`s leading artists and regularly exhibits worldwide as a master goldsmith, designer and artist. Silvia endeavours to recreate old and lost techniques, reinterpreting metal into new contemporary designs. Each piece of object and jewelry contains the years of practice devoted to this pursuit."
