Ornament Digital Volume 40.5

With our newest issue, Ashley Callahan describes how construction processes, urban architecture, her father’s continuous remodeling of their house and demolished buildings have all been a powerful influence on the jewelry of Demitra Thomloudis. Using primarily nonprecious materials, including salvage, fabrication methods and miniature imagery, Thomloudis’s purpose, above all, is to “ignite conversations” in her objects.

Glen R. Brown delves into the intricate reasoning behind a continuing series of interpretations of ancient jewelry by Robert Baines. A master of technique and history through his many museum studies, Baines’s intricate and technical replicas are almost metaphors, with reference to art history and newer methods of color application, like powder coating.

Robert K. Liu surveys the complex subject of Zhou Dynasty silicate ornaments, including those of faience, glassy faience, composite material, frit, and glass. During the Warring States period of this dynasty, the most precise, complicated glass and composite beads were made, never to occur again in Chinese material culture. He attempts a preliminary chronology and shows many of the known examples of these ancient beads. 

Carl Little highlights 2018’s PMA Craft Show, where the best of American craft is displayed to a public audience. Among those noted by Little are a polymer jewelry artist, a maker of straw hats, a clothing artist, a pair of partners who make decorative mirrors, a ceramicist who investigates the progression of decay, a well-known enamelist who produces both jewelry and vessels, and a woodworker using rescued and reclaimed wood.