(AAPNW) – Whether it would those ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ types: Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, or Betsy Ross, Harriet Powers, including Mamie Hughley, Annie Heard, Mary E. Ingram, Pearl Walker and Annie Parks of the Reynoldstown Quilters of Atlanta, they all would be in a glorious state of mind through October 31 at the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus, Ohio. Why? Modern jewelry designs by 20 South African artists and quilts are on view in the exhibit, “Dichotomies in Objects: Contemporary South African Studio Jewelry from the Stellenbosch Area” that will focus on artists working “within a complex political, social and economic context,” South African jewelers “often express a feeling of isolation from the global metal-smith making community,” expressed curators Lauren Kalman and Carine Terreblanche.
Aligned with this exhibition, quilting artist Odette Tolksdorf, who lives in Durban, a city on the east coast of South Africa, creates quilt works that “have often been influenced by the multi-layered African environment and by other personal experiences,” she said. “In my work, the formal elements of design are always important. I find the relationships and contrasts between shapes, lines, colors and textures endlessly fascinating.”
On Sunday, October 10 from 1:00-4:00 pm, Debbie Jackson, a clay artist and author, will present a CraftView Afternoon workshop, “South African Pendants” for teens and adults. Participants will create colorful pendants using polymer clay and seed beads, inspired by the bead embroidery of the Ndebele people of South Africa. Fees only range between $10-12, but space is limited.
Sponsored by the Society of North American Goldsmiths, Stellenbosch University, the National Research Foundation, and Anglo Platinum, the works are foremost South African, although the European process plays a part, the platinum and diamonds are mined locally; thusly, the known artistic signatures that are dominant when viewed or studied.
For further information on the Ohio Craft Museum and the classes and workshops with this exhibition, telephone 614.486.4402; or see: www.ohiocraft.org and for other works on this exhibit: http://www.ohiocraft.org/exhibition_dichotomies.html