NEW JEWELRY IN A NEW MEDIUM

The Art of Polymer Clay

Dec 17, 2011 - Jun 17, 2012

Curator: Christine Knoke
Upper North East Gallery

A synthetic modeling compound, polymer clay has come into its own as an art material.   One of the most adaptable art mediums available, it mixes like pigment and has properties that allow it to imitate natural materials or create millefiori-type patterns as in glass.  Among other things, polymer can be modeled like clay, printed like fabric and replicate numerous jewelry techniques.  For many, its range seems limitless.   Today, polymer is used to create beads, jewelry, sculpture, dolls, books, mosaics, vessels and wall art.  

This exhibition will include individual beads and beaded objects of adornment such as necklaces and bracelets.  It will also include polymer beads from the collection of The Bead Museum, formerly in Glendale, Arizona.

People who are so involved with an idea that they bring in others for mutual benefit intrigue me. The bead world is full of enthusiastic inhabitants, but I’ve found two who, for me, are standouts — Elise Winters and the late Gabrielle Liese. Each has contributed not only to the Museum’s forthcoming exhibition NEW JEWELRY IN A NEW MEDIUM, but to the appreciation and enjoyment by a larger audience of beads in general and polymer clay beads in particular.

from Martha E's blog post, Inspiration Times Two, read the rest here.