Materials: Sterling Silver
Dimensions: 60mm x 35mm x35mm 21/4" x 11/4" x 11/4"
Spinning Top designed as a box that can be opened from the top.
Base box in shape of star of David with 6 dancing figures - one on each triangle. The top also rattles.
Orly Ashkenazy
Vancouver, British Columbia. USA
I draw inspiration from my personal life, from nature, from historical and traditional objects, and contemporary social concerns. I find that I am drawn to process and inquiry as much as form and content.
I seek out the moments where everything clicks into place and the design of the piece reveals itself to me, where excitement overtakes me and the idea, after hours of search, turns into sketching and drawing as well as experimentation. From a thought comes an art object that is meaningful and beautiful and will bring joy to someone or make them think or dream or hope or do something better in this world.
My desire is that each piece will be used, viewed, and passed on through families, from one generation to the next, to be loved and cherished as they were when first created.
These containers and vessels definitely hold their place in the world of stunning art objects as well as in the world of metalsmithing.
Since the dawn of time humans have created containers to hold things that were important to them, from large vessels to hold food and harvests to intimate containers for small precious things. They might hold memories, ashes, medicine, beverage, fruit or food - but all spring from the imagination and skill of the maker. Some have specific religious functions, some are meant for everyday use. When one thinks of a vessel or container the inclination is to think of something with solid walls - yet many of these works involve the exploration of positive and negative space, and the use of negative space to help create the illusion of the wall of the vessel.
As the world’s largest jewelry related internet site, Ganoksin strives to develop exhibitions showcasing work from around the world. This exhibition was open to all metalsmiths, professional and amateur, advanced and beginner. Participants are from The Netherlands, the USA, Canada, Australia, Costa Rica, the United Kingdom, Israel, Hong Kong, Colombia, Romania, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia and Denmark. While most of the pieces are by an individual metalsmith, some are collaborations, one of three artists spanning 50 years.
In total 319 artists contributed 729 show pieces for the permanent online exhibition.
Objects in the exhibition include boxes, lockets, urns, ash containers, bowls, wine cups, reliquaries, match holders, vases, teapots, pitchers, sugar bowls, baskets, nests, pillboxes, clutches and a range of sculptural forms. A variety of techniques are showcased covering a wide range of metalsmithing techniques. Materials used include everything from gold and silver to less expensive metals. Ornamentation includes the addition of enamel, chasing and repousse’, gemstones and found objects.
The exhibition was curated by Beth Wicker, President of the North Carolina Society of Goldsmiths in the United States, and Adjunct Instructor at Northeastern Technical College in South Carolina. Director of the exhibition is Hanuman Aspler, founder of The Ganoksin Project, the world’s largest internet jewelry site.
