Invitation to Artists, February 2007

I have been "toying" with an idea for a jewelry show at Facere Art Jewelry, Seattle, WA, for October 2008.

You came playfully to mind! And, seriously, as well.

Here are the rules:

Nine girls who make jewelry are asked to create a group of unique, wearable pieces in her own visual vocabulary employing media we have come to associate with her, motivated by the specific challenge and topic of games and play.

Each artist will have a 21 x 21" case to fill with her own work. This will mean from 3-10 pieces each, depending on one's chosen scale and particular inspiration. This may result in inspired ideas to create a sequential piece of multiple parts or one piece presented as a complete something or separate, individual works.

I am seeking the unexpected, as well as your unique vocabulary and imagination which I have been watching and delighting in.

Think about:

• Games as interaction between players: jewelry as engagement between maker and wearer, cause and effect, actual or implied manipulation.
• A game we know, one referred to obliquely, a newly invented purposeful intention. Or it could be about the "games" played in life.
• The eye, the hand, the result.

The works may be amusing, entertaining or serious competition—a test of skill; diversion and recreation; the wearer may be a player, a team member, a contestant, an opponent, a performer, a competitor.

It's all in your hands and imagination! I hope you want to PLAY! (GIRLS PLAY GAMES may even entice boys to participate as wearers.)

Karen Lorene, Facere Art Jewelry Gallery, has been exhibiting antique and contemporary jewelry for 30+ years. With her abundant knowledge and enthusiasm, she has helped to build crossover interest, visibility and a receptive audience for the field in the Northwest. You may have met at SNAG Conferences. I have had the pleasure of curating four other exhibitions for her: THE BEGUILING BROOCH, 1996, PERSONAL MEMORY BYTES, 1999, NEW MAKERS/ Fresh Visions, 2001 and CHARMED LIVES, 2003.

She invited me to pursue this idea of wearable games for the potential surprises, inventions and diversity the subject may inspire.

Thank you for your consideration. Have fun—serious or playful—inventing and embellishing YOUR IDEAS.

Gail M. Brown

 

Go back to the main Girls Play Games page or to Gail Brown's Home page.