Peacock Necklace - Changing Hues

Materials: Sterling silver, hand-pigmented resin, brass
Dimensions: Pendant - Approximately 2.25" H x 2" W Necklace length - 20"

Hand-fabricated sterling silver pendant with cloisonne-style hand-pigmented resin inlay with sterling silver and brass inclusions.

Photo credit: Jason Dowdle

Jena Matzen
JM Design
Durham, NC. USA

I am a self-taught designer and metalsmith who has been creating art in various media since childhood. I adore the creative process and delight in experimentation. When designing, I like to explore universal motifs, natural phenomena, minimalism, negative space, geometry, whimsy and color. I am inspired by nature, science, architecture, relationships, spiritualism, pop culture as well as art + design through the ages and around the globe.

I am also inspired by the creative community of North Carolina. I moved to Raleigh many years ago to be an advocate and to practice human rights law, but what I found was so much more than just worthy clients and causes. First it was clay, then glass, and finally metal. The lure of the creative class was so great that I left the law to pursue and develop my art. Living in Durham, I couldn't be in a better place to do so. I am fortunate to now be a part of a collective of artists in a gallery in the heart of the city.

I consider jewelry to be one of the most intimate forms of expressive art. Worn on the body, it is selected with great care and consideration of the wearer's personality, comfort and desire to express. Thus, I seek to create simple yet interesting, evocative pieces which will be enjoyed and worn daily. I hand fabricate each unique piece using silver, copper, brass or gold, adding color and texture with tools, patinas, hand-pigmented resins, enamels, pearls, or stones.


The exhibition explores metal works whose primary theme is color embraced as their primary visual focus, whether that be using colored materials, exploring creating colored surfaces, or encasing the object in color.

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.

In total 303 artists contributed 814 show pieces for the permanent online exhibition.

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.

Hue is one of the primary properties of color, it refers to the place the color occupies on the visual spectrum. Humans have used hues throughout time, to create cave paintings, to decorate themselves, their clothing and their housing.

Different hues have taken on different meanings throughout time. Gold traditionally has been a color of purity - the metal gold is relatively unchangeable, and the hue of gold has come to stand for gods and goddesses, for royalty, for durability and for purity. Red has often meant love, or passion. Hues often reflect the meaning of the seasons, with pastels referring to spring and the burst of new life after the pale hues of winter. Summer is reflected in vibrant, deep hues, followed by the browning of hues in the fall as plants go to seed and die, and the land turns fallow.

The worth of a hue has often been tied to what is necessary to make the pigment that creates the hue, and the expensive involved in the process. Often created from crushed stones that had to be mined and carried by caravan over thousands of miles, or from fermented roots of plants only grown in certain areas, or the carapaces of rare insects - the creation of hue in a way that could be used by man was an involved and generally expensive process.

In today's world metalsmiths have access to perhaps the widest range of materials and hues in the history of man - and in some of the most affordable ways ever.

This exhibition celebrates hue - color - as an integral, inherent element of the work. We talk of the "richness" of color, and examples of this abound here. One expects hues from the colors of gemstones used in metalsmithing, but we also have hues from some less expected places. Glass enamels are an ancient way of adding color, as are a variety of patinas. Today's artists also use synthetic man-made materials to add color in ways that didn't exist a century ago.

We invite you to enjoy this celebration of hue, and the ways hues and their use have changed over time.