Is Jewelry Making an Art?

Jewelry Discussion
61 
Somewhere along the way, however, failure to comprehend a piece of
art became an additional justification, if you will, on why it was
art. That we demurred to that logic was our first mistake; that no
one wanted to be perceived as "stupid" was probably what has led to
us now having to accept a pile of rocks in front of SF MOMA.

Cameron - In the immortal words of Tonto, with the L.R., about to be
massacred by Indians, “What you mean ‘We’, Kemosabee?” I don’t mean
that personally. When I mentioned “A Movement of discontent”, that is
it. There are many people who are not part of the We you use (I
understand it’s just language, too), and do not accept a pile of
rocks in front of MOMA, and they’re voicing that more and more. Very
thoughtful post…

62 
In America, we do not have tribal objects that unify our identity,
and our icons have become Ipod and Nike.

Yes to all, Richard. I will say for myself that anything I would say
about it would assume the experience is subjective. To bend this just
a bit, Aldous Huxley wrote a provocative (nonfiction) book - I don’t
remember the name, and perusing Amazon quickly didn’t come up with
it. He begins by saying what is actually a truth: All cultures have
fairies, and their fairies are always in the context of their
culture.
Irish have leprechauns, British is proper English schoolgirls, Arabs
have Genji is pointy shoes, etc. His conclusion was that, since we
live in a mechanized age, that UFOs are merely modern fairies, which
I
just say because it’s the ending of the book. Why I bring it up is to
tie in with what you say about one culture’s utensils being another
culture’s art. Interesting observation - one of those things that’s
right in front of us, but few actually take note of.

63 
Why is there this undercurrent of resentment and even
righteousness in some, but not all posts

Hmmm, That’s interesting John. From what I’ve read of all the posts,
the resentment, intolerance and righteousness seems to be flavoring
the posts coming from those who wish to define what art is or lament
the thing that they percieve art to have become. I guess it’s all in
the eye of the be holder.

Andy

64

I recall in a seminar at “art” school related to Art vs. Craft and if
metalsmithing/jewelery design is a “Craft” or an “Art” or both or
neither.

Another focus was production. If something is mass produced does it
deface it’s value? Is it still art if it is produced over and over
again? Everyday utilities was once created, drawn, thought by
someone. Is anything really original? If a machine helped produce
something…is it still art?

These topics/questions still boggle my mind to this day.

Either way, I enjoy doing what I do best (creating) and call it
_______… (fill in the blank)

lauren ananbela

65

Hello, everybody

John’s letter about music reminded me of what a famous music
conductor (the name escapes me at the moment, was it Bernstein?)
said about music: for him, music was cosmos in chaos.

I see art the same way- you can see chaos and create more chaos
(view some of the “trendy” anti-establishment modern art) or you can
see chaos and answer it with cosmos. Personally, I think a
non-response, a reflection, is irresponsible in that the artist
doesn’t explore his or her own self to refine or enlighten his
artwork. Picasso’s work, on the surface, looks chaotic; but a closer
examination reveals an orderly breaking of the rules to redefine
reality as Pablo understood it. The same for Dali - his painting of
the Last Supper is modern, but still employs the Golden Ratio used
by master artists through the ages.

Personally, I think taking a urinal and signing a name on it is
"cheating."

As for jewelry, here’s maybe a new way to look at conceptual vs
"fine" jewelry: if you took Tim McCreight’s pieces and in your
mind’s eye made them from gold and precious gems, would they still
be art? Now reverse it; take any piece of jewelry from, say, Jared’s
and translate it into silver or copper and maybe an acrylic gem. Is
it still fine jewelry? Is it now art? Was the item’s original value
in the materials and nothing else? Personally, I’m not smashing
Jared’s, now; personally I think art straddles the two categories
more easily than “fine” does.

Either way, there seems to be plenty of snobbery to go around on
both sides of this issue. But for me, not necessarily anyone else,
for me I think that art without craftsmanship applied to it is bad
art. Perhaps “art” is in the eye of the beholder?

Susannah

66

John, can you tell me what skills or qualifications the person has
that rejected you work in favour of the Barbie doll?

Sam Trump.

67

All,

Not only am I pleased to see this thread in all its versions, but I
am having a blast reading everyone’s ideas about jewelry in all its
forms and contexts.

As the raffle organizer, I’m going to make a little pitch here. It’s
important for all of you to support Ganoksin in order to have these
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These threads are very important to our development as artists and
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please help support this vision.

Thanks,

Karen
M E T A L W E R X
School for Jewelry and the Metalarts
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
781 891 3854
www.metalwerx.com

68 
But you decide to go to the show, anyway, just to see. You're
walking around, looking, and there in the space where your pride
and joy could be, is a Barbie doll lounging on a dime-store sofa,
put in a wooden fruit box, nailed to the wall.

I thought I was done, but this post just made me laugh a little
more. I was the one who told the Barbie story and it is true. My work
did get into the show though. I had spent a lot of time on my
necklace and I thought “all that work just to be placed next to
something like this?”. Ever the optimist, I say, well, it’s a
resume-builder anyway.

I was at a friend’s house a few weeks ago and she said “I just have
to show you the piece I bought last week”. She was so excited. I
follow her to the other room and she leads me to something hanging on
the wall. She was gushing over it, but, to my surprise, it was a
canvas that someone had glued 3 lengths of yardstick to. No joke.
Nothing else but some background color and 3 pieces of yardstick.

Now, when I saw it, I thought of the remake of the movie “The
Stepford Wives”…Glenn Close says “I figured, this is Connecticut
after all, if I turn a bunch of men into robots, who’s going to
notice?”

Believe it or not, this post is not to make fun of my friend or the
person who glues yardsticks (although I sound pissed, I know), it is
to say: This work my friend bought, it spoke to her in some way. It
didn’t speak to me because I am not open to it. It’s not my thing. I
feel (my opinion, please note) that it was art, however, because it
said something to her.

You guys are taking this too seriously. This time of year,
everything should be about starting fresh…new ideas, new work, new
direction. What will you do this year? Will more take the initiative
to apply to the Smithsonian show? Put your money where you mouth is.
If you don’t like the pool of applicants, show them your best and
bring the work up to snuff.

For me, I’m not ready for the Smithsonian, but, I told you, I am
taking this as my cue to get the ball rolling here. I’m busy coming
up with new ideas, applying to shows, putting my order together for
new equipment.

I’m here today: my new puppy is sleeping at my feet, Anita Baker is
playing in the background, I’m finishing an order to ship out today,
and putting together my application for the Stowe Fall Foliage
Festival. It’s a perfect day.

Let’s start some new discussion about how you guys are planning to
have a successful year. Hop to it.

69

In my humble opinion, there is no discussion about jewellery making
being art. Of course it is! It is applied art. Other sorts of art,
the so called high arts are no different to the applied arts. They
are all forms of creativity. The application of skills to create
something beautiful. Jewellers shouldn’t be so coy about their
abilities to create beautiful objects. Fine artists often get huge
sums of money for their work. Are they more able than jewellers? We
all know the answer, mostly not. They have a better publicity
machine. The rich and famous are lined up to buy their wares. We
jewellers need the same machine. It’s a matter of confidence in our
own abilities. It is because of the schism between fine art and
applied art, which happened when it was realised that jewellery
making it to much like a trade where people get their hands dirty. In
fine arts, apparently artists do not get their hands dirty and stand
around waiting for inspiration from on high to create wonderful works
of art that have high and spiritual meaning. ( I exaggerate) This is
what (in the public perception) makes us craftsmen and women of
lesser value than fine artists. Comments warmly welcome.

Richard Whitehouse

70 
Why such a passionate, ardent need about what is ultimately just a
label anyway?

John, that’s what i was getting at earlier when i asked So if one has
lofty goals for art, and one considers oneself to be a jewelery
artist…is there a subtle ego motivation going on there?

Good Lord, I just quoted myself. How tacky is that? Very.

Somewhere, in another thread dealing with learning, someone said
something about how a student sometimes takes on the style of his/her
teacher. Could it be that someone’s opinion on this subject(is it
art?) is influenced by her/his early teachers? So that for example,
your first real art teacher was a fantastic personality and their
love for art impressed you to the point that you cherish that love
and respect. Conversely, in art class you felt you did not either
measure up or get recognition, so one may have a disdain for
esoteric discussions of the definition of art.(those were purely
hypothetical)

Society trains us to make decisions. To the point of discrimination
sometimes(all too often). So we carry around attitudes we might not
have had if we were to reappraise things without those early
influences. If art does indeed have a higher purpose it might be to
that end.

In my early years as a wannabe poet, a published poet(Wow
published!, I thought at the time) told me to imitate my favorite
writer and from there I would develop my own style. So I adopted my
favorite Ginsberg quote…“The mushrooms are neither God nor not God”
as my guiding principle. Now I see that is inadequate. Jewelery is
neither Art nor not Art doesn’t quite cover it, ya know? Maybe we
could contemplate individual works instead of a genre. Either way
though, might require a very elastic definition.

Whoops, sorry, ran off at the keyboard again. getting back to the
question…I believe it’s human nature to take a posture and then
defend that posture. Not necessarily because the posture is/is not
correct but because it is OUR posture.

I think I deserve a martini for that.

two olives. yeah. on an artfully crafted yet utilitarian toothpick.

71 
You guys are taking this too seriously

Kimberly nails it. I enjoy a good discussion, and the discussion on
this thread has been as good as it comes. But when it gets into venom
and ego battles it just gets ugly. I have been a major post-er on
this thread but jeez, it’s just philosophy. Here in San Francisco we
learned long ago that “Tolerance” all too often means “Tolerance for
ME.”

72 
I think the most humble artist creates the most art. If an artist
declares his works to be art because he declares himself an
artist, there is less likelihood he is creating real art

I had a teacher in college who said that you are an artist if your
daily job is making art; i.e., that it is what you do most of the
time. I call myself an “enamel atist.” It took me years to reach this
point of sanguineness, and I think I am a pretty humble person, but
also an artist.

Alana Clearlake

73

Karen et al

I have only been reading the threads for several weeks - but I have
to read these with my first cup of coffee - maybe sometimes before I
have coffee. I have gleaned a real bunch of info and have enjoyed the
controversial threads!!! Gonna go take a class in Argentium. Even
added my 2 cents worth!!

It is wonderful knowing that the “whole” planet can pick these up!!!
I love viewing the many websites!

Rose in Denver - where we are not anxiously awaiting #4!!!

74 
John, can you tell me what skills or qualifications the person has
that rejected you work in favour of the Barbie doll?

It’s only a hypothetical situation, Sam, although the dolls are real,
and making the rounds of galleries, presumably being in space that
others could also be in. It’s not my work that has been affected,
it’s what’s being chosen for display in general, and, yet again, do
we
favor craftsmanship or literal not-craftsmanship? I will say
point-blank that the radical flip side is to say, “It doesn’t matter
that you made that. We don’t care about your schooling and training.
We don’t care about your intimate self-expression, or the time and
effort you put into it, meticulously crafting something from nothing.
Don’t bother going to school. Don’t bother learning how to paint, or
sculpt, or bend metal. Nothing matters. Anything goes. Just wing it.”
There is a middle ground, and I (despite what you might think) am
firmly planted there. ALL I have been trying to stress is that there
is more to life than bean dip.

75 
.."The mushrooms are neither God nor not God" as my guiding
principle. Now I see that is inadequate. Jewelery is neither Art
nor not Art doesn't quite cover it, ya know? Maybe we could
contemplate individual works instead of a genre.

Neil, you could call me simple, but I might interpret the Ginsberg
quote as “They’re mushrooms.” (Vonnegut: God the profoundly
indifferent {I’m not atheist, just food for thought}) And applied to
jewelry could be the same, “It’s jewelry.” As I’ve said (many, many,
many, many) times here, I don’t care if jewelry is art or not, I
just enjoy the discussion, and hearing other people’s views. And I
have a boundless curiosity, which is the source of my question to
begin with: "A discussion of the Philosophy of Art is one thing, but
why this huge Need to have jewelry called “Art”. Me? Call it what you
like, it makes no difference to me. But there’s a voice that is,
like, “It IS Art.”, like, offended and stuff. I have wondered if
it’s to try to establish a genre of “art jewelry”, except that the
voice is more wide-ranging than that, plus Van Cleef and Oscar Heyman
have already made it anyway. If jewelry is art then of course Cartier
is art. And a plain gold wedding band. This I genuinely do not
understand, but I would like to. There is no guile here - I don’t
understand it, and if anyone can give a rational reasoning of it,
I’d be interested in hearing that. And I will recall the story of the
woman who called the police complaining of an obscene phone call,
“Officer, he just went on and on and on.” Well, hang up the
phone…

76 
I am serious - please enlighten me, if you can. Why such a
passionate, ardent need about what is ultimately just a label
anyway?

Ok, you asked, this is my thought for the day: I think it’s because
we are dealing with a question involving spirit, which is a very
powerful impulse streaming through us all. When streaming through a
human, it is very volatile. It manifests differently in every single
person. If we are of the mind that we need validation from others in
the form of exact agreement of our belief in this power, we will
always find conflict. If we can find beauty in differences and honor
our individuality, we can get a lot more done, which is what I think
Daniel Spirer was trying to get at!! Get busy, get to work!!

Marta

77

Well after many hours of reading all I can say is “Thank goodness I
was never burdened with a formal education in art appreciation or
history or any of the other art courses adneausium. I can think for
myself and if I like it great and if I don’t that is ok too. And if I
think it is ugly that is good too because I’m not beholding to
someone else telling me what I should like or appreciate in a piece
of garbage that someone else calls art.” So you all have a great day
now,

John (Jack) Sexton

78

I thought I would put my pennyworth in before this thread runs out.
Of course some jewellery is art, but most is just the production of a
manufacturing line. Perhaps the original piece of any line could be
considered as art, but the reproductions are just that, copies of the
original art. I am not a jeweller, I am a goldsmith, with papers to
proove it! I think can make any type of jewellery, given enough time.
My biggest moan about our trade is that the craftsman rarely gets the
credit for his work. We all know the art of Rene’ Lalique or Tiffany,
but who knows the names of their craftsmen. The craftsmen who
actually created the art. I have a book called "the Art of Faberge’“
but we all know that Faberge’ never made a single piece shown in the
this book, perhaps there should be seperate books printed, may I
suggest " the art of Michael Evamplovitch Perchin” who to my mind was
one of Faberge’s greatest craftsman. Personally apart from the Orchid
Gallery, nobody really knows of my skills as 90% of my work output is
sold as the “Art of Asprey”, I have met many of the Asprey family and
I can tell you that they would all be hard pressed to make a cup of
coffee, let alone any goldwork. They are just good at running shops,
or were until recently when they sold out.

To finish I would say that a piece that is designed and made by a
craftsman could be their work of art. But who takes the credit when a
designer is involved, is it the designer’s art or the craftsman’s
art. No matter whos it is, I say if it is an original one off, it is
ART.

Peace and good health to all fellow Orchideans
James Miller FIPG. in the UK.

79 
Well after many hours of reading all I can say is "Thank goodness
I was never burdened with a formal education in art appreciation or
history or any of the other art courses adneausium. I can think
for myself and if I like it great and if I don't that is ok too.
And if I think it is ugly that is good too because I'm not
beholding to someone else telling me what I should like or
appreciate in a piece of garbage that someone else calls art." So
you all have a great day now,

Jack…

You done took my thoughts and put them into words…

I do remember one ugly piece I saw once…

Was a full body portrait (3/4 life size maybe)of a Neanderthal-type
cave guy… And he facing front, and yelling, or screaming…

Wasn’t pretty at all…but for me was one of those things that
stopped me in my tracks…

Not sure what the artist was trying to say…

But I can still see it to this day…

Gary W. Bourbonais
A.J.P. (GIA)
P.S. Way before the current flood of insurance company ads…

80

Hi, this is my first post, I too, have been a “lurker” for about a
year, reading all the great tips and info on this great subject of
jewelry, and I thank you all for all I have learned from all of your
experience. On the subject of "Is jewelry making an Art? "

I agree with quite a few opinions on this thread, such as John Sexton
"thank goodness I was never burdened with a formal education in art
appreciation". Also with James Miller, who stated “that some jewelry
is art”. And again, with Kimberly for saying “You guys are taking
this way too seriously”, but especially to John Donivan, for starting
this thread, and said quite a bit on this subject…,truthfully, at
first, I thought he would get bombed for his sentiments, but he’s
right (imho). I am not a jeweller, artist or goldsmith (althought I
wish I could claim one of those titles) I am merely a “jewelry
craftsperson” and I consider some of my pieces “art”, but that’s just
MY opinion ! I would never presume to tell other people what to call
it.

In the end I would hope that we all enjoy what we “make " or “do” or
"create”, and as John put it, “let’s all get back to work” and for
heaven’s sake Enjoy it !

Happy New Year to you all, and thanks for all of your great
information