{"id":26461,"date":"2017-10-27T03:50:51","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T10:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=26461"},"modified":"2017-10-25T23:11:42","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T06:11:42","slug":"from-graceful-to-outrageous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/10\/27\/from-graceful-to-outrageous\/","title":{"rendered":"From graceful to outrageous"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the left: Zack Gallery\u2019s Linda Lando and jewelry artists Julie Kemble and Barbara Cohen. (photo from Zack Gallery)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Just as our clothing defines us to some degree, so does the jewelry we wear. Our choices often reflect not only our likes or dislikes, but how brave we are and how adventurous. The current group show at the Zack Gallery, called Light, features a range of unusual jewelry, from stylish and graceful, to whimsical, to outrageous. Practically everything on display, with the exception of a couple of metal sculptures, could be worn, and the gallery supplies a mirror for those intrepid souls who dare to try the pieces on.<\/p>\n

Presented by the Vancouver Metal Arts Association, the exhibit introduces jewelry made not only of traditional materials, like silver, but of many unorthodox materials and objects, some of which have never been considered for adornment, until recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese pieces remind me of far-away places, of mystery and romance. Some of them \u2013 you need a large personality to wear,\u201d said Julie Kemble, the association\u2019s liaison for the show.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Zula, wearing her own creation, which is on display at the Zack Gallery. (photo from Zula)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Kemble, the show\u2019s title, Light, invokes different interpretations. \u201cWe want to bring light into our works, into the lives of our artists and the people who wear our creations,\u201d she said, adding that the association encourages artists to use alternative materials as well, like plastic or fabrics.<\/p>\n

As did several other participants in the exhibit, Kemble started out as an amateur artist. She was a university teacher for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always liked art,\u201d she told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cAt first, it was a hobby, but it is much more now. I began with textiles and gravitated towards metal and jewelry about 20 years ago. Metal allows a certain immediacy. You see right away what\u2019s coming out of your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explained that this show is the association\u2019s fifth annual one and the second at the Zack. \u201cWe want to increase the profile of art jewelry in Vancouver,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s why this is a juried show. We invited the judges and jewelry artists from across Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of those artists are professionals, while others are taking their first steps on the artistic road. One of the beginners is Raymond Schwartz, but nobody would guess that by looking at his sterling silver necklaces. Elegant, sophisticated and relatively smaller than some other pieces on display, they represent a more traditional approach to jewelry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m brand new to jewelry,\u201d he said. \u201cI started two years ago. I\u2019ve always been artistic, always liked doing things with my hands, but my business was construction. Now, I\u2019m getting older, so I began making jewelry. It\u2019s like construction, but making mini things. I also paint oils, but jewelry allows both creativity and working with my hands; it fills the void.\u201d<\/p>\n

This show is Schwartz\u2019s first, although he has already sold some of his pieces.<\/p>\n

Barbara Cohen, meanwhile, is a professional jewelry-maker with years of experience. \u201cMy background was in textile before I switched to metal. Now, I\u2019m moving away from metal, too, using more of other materials,\u201d she said. \u201cI like the scale of jewelry. It is portable art.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also the most understated form of communication. When you wear a piece of original jewelry, it often starts conversations. I curated several jewelry exhibitions. Sometimes, I would wear a piece from the show, and people would admire it and ask me where it came from. They didn\u2019t notice it in a display case but they noticed it around my neck. Jewelry should be worn. That\u2019s why we have a mirror in the gallery, so people could see themselves wearing our art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her necklaces, asymmetrical and quirky, draw the eye. Their patterns and textures make people wonder and try to decipher the artist\u2019s ideas. They definitely start conversations.<\/p>\n

Zula, also a professional artist, represents an extreme trend in jewelry-making. Her pieces, part of her new Neon Love collection, are a bright acrylic extravaganza, playful and flashy and fairly large. They use geometric shapes and are not for the faint of heart. It is a new development for the young artist, an experimental departure from her more traditional plant-patterned collection in silver and copper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a health crisis recently,\u201d Zula explained. \u201cI lost my hair to alopecia. Now I\u2019m bald, but I chose not to wear a wig. I asked myself, what is my identity now? If I was a brunette before, am I still a brunette? I had this colourful plastic in my studio and I started playing with it. I needed to be edgy, and my new pieces provide that. They interact with light.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many other artists are part of the Light exhibit, which runs until Nov. 12.<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at\u00a0<\/em>olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the left: Zack Gallery\u2019s Linda Lando and jewelry artists Julie Kemble and Barbara Cohen. (photo from Zack Gallery) Just as our clothing defines us to some degree, so does the jewelry we wear. Our choices often reflect not only our likes or dislikes, but how brave we are and how adventurous. The current group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[7510,7512,7511,4109,40,7509],"class_list":["post-26461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-barbara-cohen","tag-julie-kemble","tag-raymond-schwartz","tag-vancouver-metal-arts-association","tag-zack-gallery","tag-zula"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}