University Daily Kansan / Friday, January 22, 1988
Jacque Janssen, arts/features editor
7
Arts & Entertainment
Local artists wear their art on their sleeves
By Kathleen Faddis
Kansan staff writer
Leather, plastic, beer cans, wood, book covers, Venetian blinds, bottle caps, plastic toy soldiers and door keys. An unlikely assortment, but all are potential media used by artists who express their art in jewelry making.
Art to wear, a movement that grew out of the early 1970s, includes forms of expression as varied as the artists who create it. Local artists are using media as traditional as gold and silver and such non-traditional media as book covers and beer cans. Many artists in the movement have relearned traditional crafts or have utilized designs from the primitive arts.
"Each piece is original because the book jackets are all different," she said. "Using artists' reproductions allows me to express the different colors."
"Adorn yourself in a masterpiece!" said artist Suzanne Perry, who is also a program assistant at the Art Library. Perry said she has access to high-gloss art book jacketts that often were reproductions of the artist's work.
She cuts the brightly colored book covers into triangles and then rolls and glues them, making oval beads about a half inch long. She combines these with glass, metal, wood and stone accent beads to make necklaces and earrings, creating her own unique style of wearable art, which ranges in price from $6 for earrings to $18 to $22 for a necklace.
Perry also creates what she calls rug couture. She recycles old clothing by tearing it into long strips. She interlaces the strips, crochets them with a large hook and makes sweaters, vests and scarves.
makes sweaters, veils and bonnets.
Some of Perry's work is on sale at the book shop at the Spencer Museum of Art. So is the work of another local artist, David Van Hee.
Van Hee is a prolific artist who makes earrings, necklaces, bolo ties, pins and scarfs, hats, wristbands, baseball cards, baseball cards, plastic toys, squashed bottle caps, plastic coiled springs and multiple colors of acrylic paint.
Van Hee creates unusual images in his jewelry by combining common symbols that take on new meaning when juxtaposed.
One technique he uses is applying many layers of paint to make different shapes. He slices the shapes, making a kaleidoscope of color, or he chops off smaller chunks to decorate pins and earrings.
eyes that I have.
Van Hee was hesitant to say what, if any, statement he was making with his works. They mean different things to different people, he said.
For a pair of earrings, he hung a peace symbol from the vertical bar of a crucifix and plastic hot dogs from the horizontal bar. A necklace that he said was a popular seller included plastic toy soldiers cut in half and plastic babies strung together. Another popular piece he makes is pins made of brightly colored faces with little glued-on eyes that roll around.
Rings by Jim Connelly.
"Often, I will do it first, then think about what it might
mean to someone," he said. "A lot of it is just pure design."
He uses popular themes that evoke intense feelings.
"What's emotional topic ... it's a good seller," he said.
"Death is the greatest."
Van Hee has outsets for his work across the country and even in Amsterdam. Locally his works can be found at the Natural Way, 820 Massachusetts St., and the Phoenix Gallery, 812 Massachusetts St. Pieces of his jewelry on sale at the Spencer Museum Book Shop range in price from $5 to $24.
Nancy Ness is another local artist who makes jewelry. "It's pretty hard to pin me down to any specific style."
A nin by Nancy Ness.
Ness creates jewelry with wood, plastic, antique beads and even cut out Venetian blinds.
"I'm not a serious jeweler," said Ness, who has a degree from KU in drawing, painting, and illustrating. "I do it for fun and to keep me stimulated."
Ness said she worked in whatever medium suited her mood. Recently she began weaving. She has sold her work at the Phoenix Gallery but has nothing there now.
Massachusetts. Connelly is also an artist who creates and sells his work at the gallery. His works range in price from $50 to $2,000.
Connelly works with the traditional metals: gold, silver, copper and brass. He likes to see his creations as more than just ornamentation.
photos by Joe Wilkins III/KANSAN
"I'd like to think it could be admired without wearing it," he said. Connelly said he built a piece of jewelry like a sculpture.
"I like the way a line moves through space then is incorporated into a piece of jewelry," he said.
Connelly sells the work of artists from other parts of the country as well as local artists who sell their work on consignment. They use media as diverse as titanium, copper, silver, porcelain, glass, leather and paper. One artist creates her own metals using copper, gold and nickel silver.
Jim Connellly and his wife, Cara, own Silver Works, 715
Olli Valanne, associate professor of design, creates his jewelry with an ancient Japanese technique called mokume. The element is composed of fused layers of copper and silver. Valanne said he made bulges in the metal and then filed them down. The technique creates an appearance of wood grain in the metal. He has a
A pin by David Van Hee.
number of items made with this technique for sale at Silver Works. They range in price from $65 to $70.
Buyers of art jewelry are more interested in expressing themselves than in following trends, Connelly said.
When you see a 60- or 70-year-old woman wearing tunicum $1.50, it means "It means they're not afraid to touch" and bringing new
There is only a small group that appreciates creativity. Connelly said. He blamed the educational system in part for this.
"More people would buy art if they felt comfortable with it and understood it," he said.
Kyle Van Vliet, Lawrence graduate student, buys much art jewelry. She said she started collecting it about five years ago.
Van Vliet said collecting art jewelry was fun and affordable. She said that she gave it for gifts and that people were always asking her for it.
"I didn't realize how much I had," she said. "I must be attracted to the bright colors.
"I think of myself like a bird who likes shiny, bright things in her nest; I like shiny, bright jewelry."
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