Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Contemporary art jewellery'

On the base of cultural norms, it seems that it is commonly accepted that one animal is considered 'friend', while the other 'food'. Even though people's opinion may differ in regards to the world's largest animal rights organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal) (Kulkarni, 2009), the organization asks a relevant question: “ If your cat tasted like chicken would you eat her?” As I work within the contemporary art jewellery field, it is through the body, jewellery, and the conscious act of wearing it, that I would like to encourage consumers to reflect on their personal meat consumption and to connect the packaged meat to the animal it comes from: what is it that we are eating? Where does it come from? Through this essay and my work/practice, I aim to critically reflect on the different existing values between animals in our society and to inspire more conscious and well informed decisions concerning meat. This essay is a research project prior to my practical exam work at the Jewellery + Corpus Master program at Konstfack and will serve as a basis for my artistic exam work. Against this background, I look at relevant literature and case studies representative of the field of contemporary art jewellery, in order to research/address the following question in this essay: -          Is it possible to discuss complex questions within society though the media of contemporary art jewellery?  Within the field, opinions differ between art historians as well as makers; it seems that the framework of contemporary art jewellery provides the medium, on one side, with great potential to speak of issues within society, although, on the other side, the same frame work commonly hinders the medium’s ability to reach out to the general public, in order to generate a wider discussion.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study considers the dynamics and nature of neo-avant-garde jewellery with specific reference to contemporary South African (neoavant- garde) jewellery. In Chapter One defensible working descriptions of the terms "avant-garde" and "neo-avant-garde" are established in order to establish some manageable conclusions regarding their application to jewellery design. These descriptions are derived from a consideration of the concepts in contemporary aesthetic discourse. Chapter Two considers the role, justifications and implications of adornment with a view to isolating the development, influences and nature of neo-avant-garde jewellery. A distinction is drawn between the aesthetics, ontology and art-relevant status of such jewellery and commercial or mainstream jewellery. Chapter Three analyses specific examples of contemporary South African avant-garde jewellery in the light of the above-mentioned distinctions. Works are considered in relation to the transgression of material, the transgression of taste, the transgression of integrity of form and the integration of narrative and parochial content and attempts to demonstrate that an appropriate critical posture in regard to such jewellery is art, rather than craft-relevant. In Chapter Four general influences regarding themes and concepts apparent in the author's body of practical work are discussed. An annotated catalogue supplements the general discussion.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: CONTEMPORARY AVANT-GARDE JEWELLERY IN SOUTH AFRICA Hierdie studie ondersoek die dinamika en karaktereienskappe van neoavant- garde juweliersware, met spesifieke verwysing na kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaanse neo-avant-garde juweliersware. In Hoofstuk Een word die terme "avant-garde" en "neo-avant-garde" beskryf. Die doel hiervan is om uiteindelik die omvattende gebruike en definisies van hierdie terme (met betrekking op kontemporêre estetika) vas te lê. Hoofstuk Twee gee 'n oorsig aangaande die redes vir- en implikasies van fisieke versiering. Die ontwikkeling, invloede en aard van neo-avant-garde juweliersware word bespreek en gekontrasteer met komersiêle jeweliersware. In lig van die bogenoemde onderskeidings verwys Hoofstuk Drie na spesifieke Suid-Afrikaanse voorbeelde van neo-avant-garde juweliersware. Hierdie voorbeelde word oorweeg in terme van hul oorskryding van tradisionele grense aangaande materiaalgebruik, smaak, integriteit van vorm en die integrasie van relaas. Die studie poog om die relevansie van neo-avant-garde juweliersware as kuns eerder as kunsvlyt te demonstreer. In Hoofstuk Vier word die outeur se praktiese werke bespreek deur middel van 'n geannoteerde katalogus. Die katalogus word voorafgegaan deur 'n bespreking van invloede, temas en konsepte van die deurlopende ooreenkomste in die outeur se werke verduidelik.

RECODING JEWELLERY: identity, body, survival addresses a central problem facing contemporary jewellery practice: through the course of the Contemporary Jewellery Movement, the potential of the jewellery-object to mediate intricate social relationships has become constrained. This is in part due to a singular focus of ideas in the field, and in part due to the developmental trajectory of contemporary jewellery networks. Caught up in the art-craft debate, contemporary jewellery missed the potentials in theory for developing a critical voice. This was not helped by the fact that academic discourse (philosophical, social, sexual, political) has largely neglected the significances of jewellery. The aim in this thesis is to negotiate this mutual neglect - or 'double gap' - by finding connections between theory and jewellery in practice. Jewellery involves complex interactions between makers, objects, wearers and audiences within social networks. Possessing a distinct set of codes enlivened by its relationship to the body, jewellery is a way of thinking and connecting which is strongly embedded in the activities of managing identity that define cultures and epochs. In the process, the instinct for adornment becomes an integral means of survival. This thesis draws on modern and postmodern theory, as well as art and jewellery practices, to examine contemporary shifts in thinking about identity, the body and reproduction. Through the three main chapters of this thesis I endeavour to: (i) provide an informed interpretation of the internal and external pressures that have defined contemporary jewellery practice over time; (ii) introduce relevant examples of my own work, and seek ways to move beyond the limitations of my own practice; and (iii) advocate new ways of thinking about contemporary jewellery that might lead it to a different voice. Reflected in this approach are three fundamental influences to my practice: the Contemporary Jewellery Movement; non-jewellery practices such as art, architecture, street culture, technology and performance; and academic writing across a number of fields. The thesis concludes with a discussion of how these interests came together in a single show, Black Intentions. However, the span of work covered extends through my career in jewellery to provide a basis for future directions.

The dating of ancient jewellery is given by the archaeological context. Technology applied by the ancient goldsmith is traceable through archaeometallurgy. The aim of this research is to analyse historical jewellery and to construct copies based on the known technology of the era. Resultant laboratory constructions with their historical correctness and the new knowledge of jewellery structures will then be available for reworking to convey a contemporary visual relevance and a statement of history. The results of these analyses and reconstructions will form the basis of metalwork objects in which contemporary aesthetics are informed by historical practice. Jewellery offers a view into history, of cultural descriptions of stylistic, chemical and methodological correctness. For diagnostic purposes there is the expectation of an archaeological correctness within the fabric and manufacture of the jewellery object. From the vantage point of a contemporary goldsmith, t his has provided me with an arena for artistic interpretation-for 'play'. Historical jewellery becomes contemporary jewellery forms and the 'play' functions as a stumbling block and an upheaval within orthodox classification of authenticity. There is in this disturbance an intervention with coontemporary ephemeral materials into the jewellery artefact in which I manufacture a semblance of an identified 'correctness'. Jewellery remains in a better state of preservation when hidden or concealed-not exposed. The jewellery object once surfaced, discovered, excavated or plundered or even worn becomes part of our time for reworking. Knowledge and applications of technology become the vehicle for scrutinizing these objects. We live in an era where the ancient and the recent, the authentic and the bogus, have begun to mingle and interbreed in the corridors of hyperspace. Television stages Xena the Warrior Princess encountering the young Buddha in the entourage of King Arthur. Fakes with historical associations can s ometimes be considered authentic as a shroud of 'history' can encompass the object to the satisfaction of the naive connoisseur who wants to believe, wants to believe, wants to believe, wants to believe ... . Jewellery as document is available for interpretation-for'play'. There is potential to return to an imaginary history where ffictional detail has been confused with historic fact and this can be both intentional and unintentional. Jewellery of the past therefore exists in the present and the jewellery artefact becomes available for evaluation and for 'play'. In the analysing and categorizing of type, jewellery as vehicle conveying the past can become a mixture of one's own inventions and cultural inheritance. From the vantage point of a goldsmith, I am considering how formulated heritage is available for reference, questioning and modification. The option to copy, to replicate, or to modify the historic document jewellery is a possibility and new input can verify authenticity or engender falsehood throu gh the artistic reinterpretation.

Experience of Antarctica is unique and overwhelming and the phenomenon of the landscape and knowledge of its history continues to inspire artists and writers. Since Antarctica's discovery and exploration both before and during the Heroic Age; explorers, expeditioners, artists and writers have attempted to record and visualise Antarctica. In1982 international Antarctic programmes started to assist artists to travel to Antarctica with the intention of providing perceptive interpretations no longer attached to science or exploration. This practice-led research is the first project where a jeweller has explored and interpreted a personal experience of Antarctica to produce souvenir and jewellery objects. These objects reveal new interpretations of Antarctica that engage with the viewer through the recognisable personal jewellery and souvenir object. This research has produced new contemporary souvenir and jewellery objects by interpreting both personal photographs and re-examining the historic stories, photographs and representations of Antarctica. The bibliographic investigations of historical jewellery and souvenirs provided specific examples of historical personal mementos that are now displayed in museums. This research analyses the meaning of historical examples of souvenirs and jewellery and examines the way in which photography has been manipulated and used on hard media. Through this analysis and examination of historical examples the research focuses on studio-based experimentation with enamelling and contemporary technologies to establish the links enamelling has had with micromosaics and miniature painting. This practice-led research investigates new and innovative ways to interpret these historical techniques and draw on the notion of the souvenir. Thinking through the processes used in this research and retelling the personal experience of Antarctica, contemporary technologies are used to reimagine historical examples of tourist jewellery and personal souvenirs presenting a further understanding of Antarctica's significance both culturally and environmentally. The research not only provides an addition to the diverse range of interpretations of Antarctica it also explores the area of enamelling in contemporary jewellery and object making by contributing to the current revival of the tradition both locally and internationally. This research offers new experiences and knowledge through the investigation, experimentation, manufacture and installation of enamelled objects.

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis interrogates my own memory in order to illustrate its fragmented and unstable nature. I revisit a specific childhood memory and attempt to recreate it visually through the creation of jewellery pieces. However, the unattainability of a consistent memory becomes increasingly evident in the process of its externalization. My work thus speaks of the unravelling of memory, as well as the piecing together and imagining of a new memory. This thesis and my practical work are an exploration of this ambivalent nature of memory. Even though memory is concerned with the past, it is also about the present as our memories can also be manipulated by present prejudices.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek my eie geheue met die doel om die onstabiele en gefragmenteerde aard daarvan uit te wys. Ek verwys na ‘n spesifieke herinnering van my kinderdae en poog om dit visueel uit te beeld deur die maak van juweelstukke. Die onbekombaarheid van ‘n konstante geheue word egter al hoe duideliker wanneer ek my herinneringe visueel probeer uitbeeld. My werk demonstreer die ontrafeling van my herinnering en die konstruksie en verbeelding van ‘n nuwe herinnering. Hierdie tesis en my praktiese werk dui op die ondersoek van die wispilturige aard van die geheue. Hoewel herinneringe en die geheue te make het met die verlede, het dit egter ook te make met die hede, aangesien die hede ons herinneringe van die verlede kan manipuleer om aktuele behoeftes te bevredig.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis I examine the extent to which interpretations of African material culture play a role in the creation and visualisation of an ‘African aesthetic style’ in South African contemporary jewellery practices. My investigation of an ‘African aesthetic style’ in this thesis is informed by the production, display and writings on African cultural objects. I demonstrate contemporary jewellery design to derive from a critical methodology, particularly as it facilitates a renegotiation of the relationship and dialogue between the producer and viewer of contemporary jewellery objects.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis ondersoek ek die wyse waarop interpretasies van Afrika materiële kultuur 'n rol speel in die skepping en die visualisering van 'n 'Afrika estetiese styl' in Suid- Afrikaanse kontemporêre juwelierspraktyke. My ondersoek van so 'n styl is ingelig deur die produksie en uitstalling van, sowel as diskoerse rondom Afrika kulturele objekte. Ek ondersoek kontemporêre juweliersontwerp as 'n kritiese metodologie, veral ten opsigte van die wyse waarop dit 'n nuwe verhouding tussen die vervaardiger en toeskouer van kontemporêre juweliersobjekte fasiliteer.

This essay will deal with ideas for jewellery in the future. One approach to this issue is, to investigate the meaning of materials which might become rare or even deplete in the future. Along with science and science fiction it will focus on established scientific postulated laws of nature, although some elements might still be pure imaginative speculation. The paper will also explore about academic discourse on value with a focus on understanding jewellery material values connected to rarity as well as value of experience and the increasing need for it in society. It will draw a futuristic picture of change, meaning and development in the field of contemporary jewellery and society.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is motivated by my own art practice, which exhibits a keen interest in objects and activities historically associated with the domestic, specifically with relation to needlework, in the making or producing of contemporary jewellery. Visual analysis of the work of other contemporary jewellers resulted in my realisation that the use of domestic objects and needlework in contemporary jewellery can refer to the idea of “home” through the use of phenomenological devices such as memory and nostalgia. My own art practice makes specific use of memory and nostalgia, and references trauma as experienced in the home. I investigate these themes specifically as they are depicted in contemporary jewellery. I begin my study by discussing how humans go about forming relationships with the objects with which they surround themselves. I discuss Martin Heidegger’s theory of hermeneutic phenomenology, regarding human interaction with objects and our relationship to them with regard to their specific functionality. I argue that taking the domestic objects out of their context, and in so doing ‘removing’ their functionality, allows the subject (maker, viewer, wearer) to suggest a new ‘background or horizon’ (Thomas 2006: 47) against which the object can now be read and understood. I discuss how jewellery can function as a mnemonic device, and how the domestic objects used in the specific jewellery pieces that I discuss add to this reading, identifying memory and nostalgia as the main devices facilitating a discussion of these themes. From here I work towards a definition of the domestic. By tracing the ways in which the domestic has come to denote a “space” traditionally gendered female, I look at the material culture represented within this “space” and how it relates to women. I draw on Svetlana Boym and Susan Stewart’s thoughts regarding nostalgia and its appearance in contemporary culture. Trauma and how it manifests in individual identities is then discussed with the aid of Michael S. Roth and his discussion surrounding Memory, Trauma, and History (2012). I discuss specific contemporary jewellery projects by Manon van Kouswijk (Lepidoptera Domestica, 2007); Gesine Hackenberg (Ceramic Jewellery, 2006-2011); Esther Knobel (My Grandmother is Knitting too, 2000-2002); and Iris Eichenberg (Heimat,2004). In my final chapter I discuss my own work, and highlight the ways in which I use domestic objects and needlework to reference memory, nostalgia and trauma thematically with relation to my own recollections of home.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is gemotiveer deur my eie kunspraktyk, wat my belangstelling toon in voorwerpe en aktiwiteite wat histories verband hou met die huis, spesifiek met betrekking tot naaldwerk, in die vervaardiging van kontemporêre juweliersware. Visuele analise van die werk van ander kontemporêre juweliers het gelei tot die besef dat die gebruik van huishoudelike voorwerpe en naaldwerk in kontemporêre juweliersware kan verwys na die idee van "huis" deur die gebruik van fenomenologiese idees soos herinneringe en nostalgie. My kunspraktyk maak spesifiek gebruik van herinneringe en nostalgie, en verwys na trauma soos in die huis ervaar. Ek ondersoek hierdie temas spesifiek soos hulle uitgebeeld word in kontemporêre juweliersware. Ek begin my studie deur die wyses te bespreek waarop mense te werk gaan in die vorming van verhoudings met die voorwerpe waarmee hulle hulself omring. Ek verwys na Martin Heidegger se teorie van hermeneutiese fenomenologie, ten opsigte van menslike interaksie met voorwerpe en die verhouding wat met hulle gevorm word met betrekking tot hul spesifieke funksies. Ek argumenteer dat deur die huishoudelike voorwerpe uit hulle oorspronklike konteks te neem, en sodoende hul funksie te ‘verwyder’, kan die subjek (maker, kyker, draer) 'n nuwe “agtergrond of horison" (Thomas 2006: 47) voor stel waarteen die voorwerp gelees en verstaan kan word. Ek bespreek hoe juweliersware kan funksioneer as 'n mnemoniese toestel, en hoe die huishoudelike voorwerpe wat gebruik word in die spesifieke juweliersware wat ek in hierdie studie bespreek kan toevoeg tot hierdie bespreking, deur die identifisering van herinneringe en nostalgie as die hoof toestelle. Van hier het ek gewerk aan 'n definisie van wat die huishoudelike behels. Deur ondersoek in te stel na die manier waarop die huishoudelike as 'n tradisioneel vroulike "ruimte" geïdentifiseer is, kyk ek na die materiële kultuur verteenwoordig binne hierdie "ruimte" en hoe dit verband hou met vroue. Ek verwys na Svetlana Boym en Susan Stewart se idees rakende nostalgie en die voorkoms daarvan in hedendaagse kultuur. Trauma en die maniere waarop dit in individuele identiteite manifesteer word vervolgens bespreek met die hulp van Michael S. Roth en sy bespreking van “Memory, Trauma, and History” (2012). Ek analiseer spesifieke kontemporêre juwelierswareprojekte deur Manon van Kouswijk (Lepidoptera Domestica, 2007), Gesine Hackenberg (Ceramic Jewellery, 2006-2011), Ester Knobel (My Grandmother is Knitting too, 2000-2002), en Iris Eichenberg (Heimat, 2004). In my laaste hoofstuk bespreek ek my eie werk, en verwys veral die maniere waarop ek huishoudelike voorwerpe en naaldwerk gebruik om tematies na geheue, nostalgie en trauma met betrekking tot my eie herinneringe van die huis te verwys.

This practice-led research project explores English and French sentimental jewellery of the Victorian period. ‘Sentimental jewellery’ or ‘message jewellery’ denotes jewellery created to function as a tangible expression of feeling between donor and recipient, mediated through complex narratives relating to its exchange. These artefacts codify emotion through use of complex visual languages, employing the symbolic and coded use of gems, human hair, emblems, words and wordplay. The research has expanded to encompass memorial garments known as ‘widows weeds’. The aims of the research have been threefold: firstly, to add to understanding and interpretation of aspects of Victorian sentimental jewellery and associated craft practices; secondly, to explore the metaphors and narratives inherent within them; thirdly, to test the visual and technical possibilities of knowledge thus gained to address human feeling through art. Outcomes take the form of a body of new artwork and a written thesis, which are designed to be mutually informing. Together, they articulate my response to the project’s central question: can consideration of the ‘grammar of sentiment’ at work in Victorian sentimental jewellery yield new possibilities, through fine art practice, for communicating love and loss in the 21st century? The four artworks that are a main output of the research take the forms of: REGARD:LOVEME, an artist’s book exploring gem codes and wordplay; Plocacosmos, a set of hairworking trials; The Cyanotypes, which reflect upon the materiality and aesthetic of the amatory locket; and Widows Weeds, a large format photographic installation, which considers the materiality and lineage of mourning cloth. Collectively, they explore the typology of the sentimental artefact through development of text/image vocabularies that are conceived as providing a ‘grammar of sentiment’ through which to articulate aspects of human feeling. It is this exploration that constitutes my main contribution to knowledge.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
The purpose of the thesis is to contextualise my art works in theoretical terms. As counterpart to my art practice and consistent with its subject matter, the thesis deals with the handbag as subject and investigates the formation of an idiomatic, metaphorical or symbolic visual language that emerges in my handbag Collections. The thesis traces how such language pertains to social, cultural and personal history as sources of its conception to also serve as foundation for the conception of my art works. Its central questions are formulated around ‘how’, thus investigating the formative, the developmental and the process. Its thinking is relativist, embracing the belief that no option is absolute, but rather as susceptible to change as it is open to interpretation. As events of change and change inducing events, developmental processes are posed in a framework of generative structuralism that comprises the internalisation of externalities and the externalisation of internalities. As such it structures an attempt to define the genesis of my aesthetic idiolect in and from a cultural context. The thesis therefore posits its secondary aims as investigative rather than determinist of how social and cultural context informs my art-making processes and how generation and development occur in my art-making processes in order to determine how these factors contribute to a personal voice becoming evident in my work. My art practice and art works serve as primary sources of information and the thesis partially serves as a process of textual re-articulation of my own art-making practices to reveal the relationships between habitus as generative structure, enaction of identity and aesthetic idiolect.

Thesis (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis provides a critical discussion of, and motivation for, my jewellery practice, in which fat from the human body is transformed into adornment. Drawing on Julia Kristeva’s theory of ‘abjection’, this research scrutinises the grotesque status of body substances in the modern media, with the intention of changing viewer reactions to these substances from repulsion to aesthetic enjoyment. I consider the influence of popular culture, where idealised bodies are promoted as ‘better’ than non-normative body types, and then consider how (or whether) the abject remainders of the ‘ideal body’ can successfully be refigured as adornment. In order to situate my practical Masters work in the wider field of contemporary avant-garde jewellery practice, I study the work of select jewellers, who also refer to, or use, body substances in critical ways in their work. Through this, I hope to scrutinise both normative notions of the body and of jewellery as adornment.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis dien as ’n kritiese bespreking van en motivering vir my praktiese juwelierswareontwerp, waarin vet afkomstig van die menslike liggaam verander word in versiering. Die navorsing gebruik Julia Kristeva se teorie van ‘abjection’ om die groteske status wat liggaamstowwe in die moderne media het, uit te pluis, met die doel om die toeskouer se reaksie op hierdie stowwe van afkeer in estetiese genot te verander. Ek oorweeg die invloed van populêre kultuur waarbinne geïdealiseerde liggame as ‘beter’ as nie-normatiewe liggaamstipes aangebied word. Ek kyk verder na hoe (en of) die vernederende (‘abject’) oorblyfsels van die ‘ideale liggaam’ suksesvol as versiering omvorm kan word. Om my praktiese werk vir die Meestersgraad binne die wyer veld van kontemporêre avant-garde juwelierswarepraktyk te vestig, ondersoek ek ook werk van sekere juweliers wat ook liggaamstowwe in hulle werk gebruik, of daarna verwys. Hierdeur hoop ek om die normatiewe idees van beide die liggaam en juweliersware as versiering uit te pluis.

Through collecting, gathering and transformation I look at themateriality in bodies of human and animal. The asymmetricalrelation rules we have created to approve our behaviour oftoday. I write this paper with the contradicting approach ofbeing scientific yet sentimental to the meanings of physicalmatter.

碩士
國立新竹教育大學
藝術教育與創作碩士班
104
As a way getting to know oneself, to me, creating each piece of work feels like regaining a piece of myself, sometimes it seen so unrecognisable like a piece of puzzle. By constant producing, gradually each piece of work integrated the "me" as myself. Once I was afraid of getting harmed in the relationships. I overreacted, for a while I disconnected from people and let the negative thoughts pile up. I trapped in the quicksand that formed in depression, the more I struggled to escape, the more I sunk down in it. When I felt detested toward my work of creation that I used to enjoy so much, I was in shock. Then I realised if I wanted to keep going forward, it was inevitable the confrontation to my demon: my-imperfect-self and the source of my deepest fear. I pinned down the causes of emotional negativity by recognising them in psychological theories and analysis. More than that, my works coherently recorded my transformation and re-identification. I came through those process to comprehend: the path to true happiness and the peace of mind is not to ignore and escape from one's own demon, but to be fearless and live in the moment. I often don't know how to vocalise my ideas, I choose to express through my works of creation by my bare hands. To creat, is the media of communication between me and the rest of the world. My work combines two series, "Daily Record" represents what I have observed and the emotional feedbacks in day to day life. And the "Inner Observation" recorded my internal progress within this period of creation.

A joalharia contemporânea em Portugal emergiu com visibilidade pública em 1963, sendo nessa data ainda denominada como ourivesaria moderna. As designações para os novos trabalhos que surgiam obrigaram à procura e inserção de novas terminologias que expandiram o significado etimológico do termo joalharia. Para uma definição da joalharia contemporânea, no capítulo 1, marca o início desta investigação. Centra-se na redefinição que sofreu e nos novos significados que adquiriu este segmento da joalharia que emergiu na década de sessenta. Joalharia contemporânea no contexto artístico português, o capítulo 2, prossegue situando a joalharia contemporânea face aos movimentos artísticos no período balizado por três exposições, duas individuais e uma coletiva. As primeiras, datadas de 1963 demarcam a singularidade de dois autores que se afirmaram redefinindo o termo joalharia, reverberando a época e os contextos artísticos subjacentes, e a terceira, de 2004, mostra o trabalho de um conjunto amplo de artistas de três gerações que tem como afinidade eletiva diversos tipos de vínculo à escola que motivou múltiplos “pontos de encontro”, nacionais e internacionais, em torno deste objeto de estudo. Os capítulos 3 e 6 ampliam o seu espectro temporal, de modo a perspetivar os períodos anterior e posterior à baliza cronológica deste trabalho. Esses dois capítulos – tal como o 4 e o 5 – pretendem indagar, sistematizar e analisar a documentação reunida no campo da joalharia contemporânea, estabelecendo um enquadramento das décadas inscritas no período demarcado. Um tempo que carecia de inventariação e análise de factos, ações, e trajetórias de artistas que trabalharam no contexto português. Esta investigação é sustentada com os depoimentos de artistas, especialistas e outros, que subsidiam a ausência de um corpo bibliográfico de referência sobre a joalharia contemporânea em Portugal. Esses testemunhos integram esta tese e evidenciam que este objeto de estudo não se encontra encerrado e, por isso, ainda está a construir a sua história. A consciência deste processo em construção move o leitor às considerações finais que diagnosticam e procuram dar resposta à explicação tardia desta pesquisa, bem como ditam a importância de dar continuidade a este trabalho no próximo futuro. Uma cronologia gráfica encerra este estudo, elencando diversos eventos e facilitando ao leitor uma leitura célere e sintética de quarenta anos sobre o tema.
Contemporary jewellery (joalharia) in Portugal emerged into the public eye in 1963, though at the time it was still known as modern goldsmithing (ourivesaria). The designations for the novel work then appearing led to the search for and use of new terminologies that broadened the etymological meaning of the term jewellery. For a Definition of Contemporary Jewellery, in chapter 1, marks the start of this investigation, focusing on the respective redefinition and new meanings acquired by this area of jewellery which arose in the 1960s. Contemporary Jewellery in the Portuguese Artistic Context, chapter 2, continues by situating contemporary jewellery vis-à-vis artistic movements in the period framed by three exhibitions – two individual and one collective. The first two, in 1963, highlighted the distinctiveness of two outstanding artists who were redefining the term jewellery, reflecting both the time and its underlying artistic contexts, while the third, in 2004, showcased the work of a large group comprising three generations of artists with a particular focus on different links to the school that led to multiple national and international “meeting points” around this study subject. Chapters 3 and 6 expand their scope to consider the periods before and after the timeframe of this work. Those two chapters, like chapters 4 and 5, aim to investigate, systemise and analyse documentation gathered in the field of contemporary jewellery, providing a background for the decades included in the given period – a time which lacked inventorying and analysis of the facts, actions and careers of artists working in the Portuguese context. This research is supported by statements from jewellery artists, experts and others which compensate for the absence of a bibliographic reference corpus on contemporary jewellery in Portugal. That testimony is included in this thesis, showing that this study subject is not closed and is still building its history. The consequent awareness of this process under construction leads readers to the Final Considerations which diagnose and seek responses to the overdue explanation of this research, as well as stressing the importance of continuing this work in the near future. A graphic chronology closes this study, listing various events and providing readers with a brief and straightforward forty-year overview of the subject matter.