Not in a silver casket cool with pearls

The title is taken from Edna St. Vincent Millay’s eponymous poem. Not in a silver casket cool with pearls. Because these are objects that do not necessarily shine with precious stones or metals, but rather with their singularity. Artist-made jewels, and works that approach them, moving away from luxury jewelry to explore freer, more experimental forms, straddling the line between sculpture and accessory.

The pieces brought together for this group show reflect multiple approaches to the ornament. Natural and organic elements meet manufactured objects, while everyday items or those drawn from popular culture blend with imprints, fragments, or materials taken from living things and minerals. Jewelry thus becomes a space for experimentation where materials shift in status and where preciousness resides in the forms the materials take rather than in their intrinsic value.

For the most part, these pieces are unique, sometimes developed on the fringes of a broader artistic practice; these jewels and works share a common focus on material, gesture, and transformation. Presented on the wall, they are first encountered as forms to be viewed, before being considered as objects to be worn.

Timothée Villemur