Personal adornment is one of the oldest and most fundamental needs of man. Superstition, awareness of social position and the desire for secure investment are some of the fundamental urges behind man's desire to adorn his person. Jewelry and personal adornment have been invested with magic, symbolic meanings and commemorative values. Contemporary artists have attempted to emphasize the aesthetic value of jewelry, demanding a reexamination of conventional attitudes toward jewelry; designing forms which are an expression of their insight into life rather than an article of value mainly for the precious materials from which it is made.
A variety of techniques have been used to create the jewelry in this collection. One collar is silver and gold; the pieces cut from sheet silver, flat silver wire, and gold filled wire. Another collar is copper woven mesh flooded with silver, linked with silver jump rings and embellished with silver domes. A large breast plate pendant is an interpretation of the filigree technique, using silver rings in a variety of sizes to form a large butterfly shape.
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