Explore the World of the Human Spirit. Passion, Ingenuity and Skill.
Editor’s Picks
Silver & Gold
These precious metals have been part of the lexicon of jewelers since humans mastered blacksmithing, thousands of years ago.
RAPHAEL SANZIO PENDANT
by Roberta and David Williamson.
Features and Departments
Mary Lee Hu Volume 44.4
We revisit the mesmerizing jewelry of Mary Lee Hu by the late Carolyn L.E. Benesh. Carolyn had a personal appreciation of Hu’s meticulous work, and in this article, she offers a paean to beauty, accomplished and mighty, through Hu’s own journey of teaching and innovating.
Ornament at 50 Volume 44.4
Robert K. Liu takes us back through fifty years of Ornament Magazine and the Bead Journal, showing through photographs the magnificent journey that he and the late Coeditor Carolyn L.E. Benesh have undertaken, and the incredible people they have met along the way.
Chunghi Choo Volume 44.4
Having received the Visionary Award in Metal at the 2023 Smithsonian Craft Show, we explore the jewelry of Chunghi Choo.
Smithsonian Craft Show 2024
Patrick R. Benesh-Liu brings readers on a tour of the Smithsonian Craft Show, and delves into the people whose volunteered time makes the show possible.
Wolfgang Vaatz Volume 44.3
Wolfgang Vaatz’s intricate portrayals of aspens and landscape-infused jewelry is a clarion call to awareness, where he seeks to impress upon the viewer the beauty and value of the natural world.
Maria Wolff Volume 44.3
Visiting with Maria Wolff, a multimedia jewelrymaker whose father was a Danish furniture maker and immigrant, reminds us of the power of our heritage.
PMA Craft Show 2023 Volume 44.2
Patrick R. Benesh-Liu muses on the great changes of the past several years and how they’ve affected the importance of communal, in-person activities like the Philly show.
Creativity in Glass 44.2
Exploring over thirteen hundred years of glass beadmaking, Ornament presents examples from its Study Collection to illustrate the beauty of these miniature adornments, past and present.
Aaron Macsai & Frances Kite 44.2
Delve into this extraordinary exhibition of Japanese folk clothing, as well as examples of Ainu dress and other native peoples of Japan at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts.
Carl and Irene Clark Volume 44.1
Patrick R. Benesh-Liu describes the superbly intricate micromosaic jewelry of this Navajo couple.
Armenian Lace Volume 44.1
Janyak, or Armenian needle lace, is the subject of a small exhibition at the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Prescott Trading Post and Bead Museum Volume 44.1
Robert K. Liu describes how Thomas Stricker fulfilled a lifelong dream of opening a bead museum and trading post, to display perhaps the largest extant bead collection and related artifacts, especially from Northwest Africa.
Samunnat Volume 43.4
Leslie Clark delves into the Nepali organization Samunnat, which helps abused women to earn a living through education and self-empowerment.
Smithsonian Craft Show 2023 Volume 43.4
Patrick R. Benesh-Liu reminisces on this year’s Smithsonian Craft Show, which made a triumphant return in-person in 2022.
Felting a Life Volume 33.3
Ruth E. Wiedenhoeft Walker explores her journey with felting.
Queerphoria Volume 43.3
These jewelrymakers share how their identity, often paired with difficult experiences, gives them great joy.
Portable Universe Volume 43.3
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art recently held a landmark exhibition on precolumbian Colombia, with an emphasis on their gold jewelry.
Dressed by Nature Volume 43.2
Delve into this extraordinary exhibition of Japanese folk clothing, as well as examples of Ainu dress and other native peoples of Japan at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts.
Deb Karash Volume 43.2
A new multimedia exhibition by jeweler Deb Karash pairs brooches decorated by the use of colored pencils with her painted canvases.
Sporting Fashion Volume 43.1
As part of a touring exhibition organized by the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, this remarkable collection illustrates how women’s clothing has evolved in the past two hundred years.
Please note that these articles have been reformatted for web viewing. To read the full article as it was intended, purchase the magazine or article PDF.
Best of
Wearable Artists
As the 60s and 70s, the heyday of wearable art as a new medium, fade into the past, contemporary wearable art has become more refined, minimalistic, and influenced by fashion. This divergence has seen some of the spiritual successors to wearable art branch off into popular culture, such as Burning Man, cosplay, and fursuiting.
JACKET by K. Riley, of hand-carved blockprinted fabric, 2019.
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We revisit the mesmerizing jewelry of Mary Lee Hu by the late Carolyn L.E. Benesh. Carolyn had a personal appreciation of Hu’s meticulous work, and in this article, she offers a paean to beauty, accomplished and mighty, through Hu’s own journey of teaching and innovating.