APPROPRIATED ADORNMENT EXHIBITION
Society of North American Goldsmiths Online Exhibition 2018
Juried by Michael Dale Bernard (UW-Milwaukee) and Emily Stoehrer (MFA Boston)

Excerpts from the Jurors Statement:

"Personal exploration of historical design and fabrication has become effortless, hyperlinked, and cross-pollinated. An emerging nonchalance, moving away from traditional notions that research must always be rigorous or chronological, has yielded transmigratory design elements. The Appropriated Adornment exhibition features these refugee samples, elements that are being domesticated into the contemporary jewelry and metalsmithing vernacular.

The artists featured in this exhibition are reinforcing the fact that adornment has become malleable on a fundamental level.  In thinking about the potential consumer or observer of these ornaments, the narrative might be different from that of the maker. What might they bring to the piece? Will they understand or see its historical reference? Does it have a very different meaning for them? Does it matter?

Architecture. Art. Memory. Nostalgia. Politics. Technology. Tradition. Talisman. Nearly all of the jewelry selected demonstrates the tension between progress and tradition. But, few are obvious and each demonstrates the way that jewelry can spark a conversation. It became clear to us that while there was a general consensus on what “adornment” meant, the word “appropriation” led you down many exciting paths—some expected, some truly unexpected."