Chinese New Year
(2008)
Mixed Media on Canvas
20” by 20”

Celebrations
(2008)
Mixed Media on Canvas
20” by 20”

A chance encounter with an exhibit of the Weiner Werkstätte and Josef Hoffman’s exquisite brooches at the Neue Galerie in New York in July 2008 was the inspiration for a new collage style, what I refer to as “Wall Jewelry”.

I fell in love with several two-inch square brooches by the architect Josef Hoffmann from 1904-1908. Hoffman’s brooches are gridded, architectonic structures of gold and silver which serve as foundations for bubble-like ovals of richly colored semi-precious stones.

Hoffman founded the Wiener Werkstätte with the painter and graphic designer Koloman Moser. The workshop was an Austrian school of design and architecture modeled on the Arts-and-Crafts movement in England. Both promoted the viability of good design and fine craftsmanship in the modern world. Seeing jewelry as art was central to their philosophy. The value of the workshop’s jewelry creations came not from the raw materials but from its aesthetic, the purview of artists and designers, and its craftsmanship, handled by the workshop’s expert artisans.