Ornament is the leading magazine celebrating wearable art. Explore jewelry, fashion, beads; contemporary, ancient and ethnographic.
Issue link: http://ornamentmagazine.epubxp.com/i/77981
38 ORNAMENT 35.5.2012 Bielawski were on this blacklist. Eventually the school closed in the late 1940s. 5. De Patta and Bielawski, as jewelry and industrial designers, engaged in the noble experiment of creating a reasonably priced limited-production jewelry line—Designs Contemporary—that lasted twelve years from 1946 through 1957. De Patta decided to close the business because she learned from retailers that her avant-garde designs were too forward-looking for the general public and the line was not selling well enough to make it profitable. 6. On March 19, 1964 Margaret De Patta took her own life. If one reads between the lines, there was a fair amount of angst in De Patta's life. She never seemed settled. Like her floating stones, she was unanchored. She and Bielawski moved frequently, relocating from San Francisco to Napa and converting a farmhouse into a modern residence, and then moving from Napa to Oakland into a joint tenancy situation with another couple. As a dedicated artist, of whom it has been said was very protective of her studio time, it must have been extremely difficult for De Patta to be continually uprooted. It may be as simple as what Merry Renk suggested: "Margaret PENDANT of sterling silver, stainless steel screen, quartz; 10.2 x 7.6 x 3.2 centimeters, 1950. This pendant shows De Patta's imaginative use of stainless steel screen, an unconventional material never before used in jewelry. PENDANT of white gold, ebony, faceted quatz; 9.5 x 2.5 x 6.4 centimeters, 1959. This pendant showcases an 'opticut' stone: large and multifaceted to emphasize the broken line effect of the ebony bar set behind the stone. Blind areas in the stone hide the metal structure holding the stone from the back. of Arts and Design) and the Brussels World's Fair in 1958. De Patta was most honored in 1961 when she was invited by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London to participate in the groundbreaking International Exhibition of Modern Jewelry, 1890-1961. From the eight pieces of De Patta's selected for the exhibition, Goldsmiths' Hall purchased a crystal pendant with inset diamonds for their permanent collection. This was a tremendous acknowledgment of De Patta's accomplishment as a jeweler; she had achieved international stature. 2. De Patta always seemed to have more commissions than she could possibly execute, which meant her work was always in demand. 3. De Patta took the plunge and committed to a fourth marriage to Eugene Bielawski on December 26, 1946. 4. De Patta held several teaching positions at various art and design schools, including the California Labor School in San Francisco, where De Patta was the chairman of the Basic Design Workshop. During her time there, the Senate of the State of California released a report charging several faculty members of conducting un-American and Communist activities and they were blacklisted. The names of De Patta and