Ornament is the leading magazine celebrating wearable art. Explore jewelry, fashion, beads; contemporary, ancient and ethnographic.
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RACHAEL NYHUS, California College of the Arts. centers around China, visiting "factories and wholesale centers that specialized in mass-produced sentimental jewelry (e.g., wedding rings, heart pendants)." Her research of the mass production of jewelry as well as an earlier workshop she took with designer/jeweler Ted Noten inspired her to create jewelry that exists in the intersection between craft, design and industry. Her work often addresses the value and meaning that society assigns to jewelry. In 2007 she and Meg Drinkwater founded The Opulent Project (T.O.P.), which Gardner describes as "a collaboration, a brand, a series of projects." For their Costume Costume Ring, Gardner found several vintage costume jewelry cocktail rings from which they made rubber molds that they stacked and cast in silver to make a single ring—using copies of imitations to create a subversive interpretation of costume jewelry. Like Gardner, many of the fellows are pursuing artistic careers that incorporate numerous media, various types of production and multiple areas of practice. For example, when Amelia Toelke (2006) was nominated to be a fellow, much of her work was enamel on metal brooches—including images of scrolling banners and Rorschach inkblots—while most of her current work is large scale sculpture and installation that employs the visual vocabulary of jewelry, including a wall-size charm bracelet silhouette. Completing the cycle of influences, she is working on a line of production jewelry, called Piecemeal, inspired by the visual themes in her installation work. For more images visit Web Exclusives at ornamentmagazine.com SUGGESTED READING "Windgate Charitable Foundation: Wow." Fiberarts Vol. 33, No. 3 (Nov.-Dec. 2006): 14. 49 ORNAMENT 36.2.2012 AMELIA TOELKE, State University of New York at New Paltz. Daniel Icaza (2010), who used his fellowship to establish a studio in Costa Rica (he has dual United States/Costa Rican citizenship), acknowledges the sense of responsibility the fellowship brought with it: "Becoming a Windgate Fellow has deeply influenced my motivation and incentive to continue producing art. Not only has it provided me with the opportunity to have my own space to create art, but it has also made me realize that people appreciate the work I produce and want me to make more of it." During his fellowship he focused on his ongoing Monetary Bondage series, in which he places banknotes and coins in elaborately embellished metal settings, both to highlight their artistry and to raise questions about the significant role money plays in social interactions. The success of The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design's Windgate Fellowship program is illustrated by the talent, curiosity and professional commitment of the young artists involved. Staiger sums up the influence of her fellowship experience by remarking, "All of my current work I can honestly say would have not been possible or the same without the Windgate Fellowship." Perhaps the best illustration of the program's influence is the college freshman who found a postcard announcing the Windgate Fellowship in his student advisor's office when he registered for his first classes: "I stuck that card on my fridge when I got home and told myself I would be on one of those cards when I graduated." That motivation guided Wes Valdez throughout a college career marked by craft excellence and culminated in a Windgate Fellowship.