JAMIE BENNETT
matters of appearance
August 12 - September 11

JAMIE BENNETT is currently Professor of Art at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Bennett is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including three National Endowment for the Arts Individual Fellowships, three New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships and a Massachusetts Council for the Arts Fellowship. He also received a Windgate Foundation Grant and Rotasa Grant in 2005 in recognition of his work. Jamie Bennett's work is in the permanent collection of over twenty museums around the world, among them are The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Yale Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum, NY; Kunstmuseum, Oslo, Norway; Samuel Dorsky Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Museum of Western Australia; The Philadelphia Museum of Art; Musee de Arts Decoratif, Paris; Museum of Art and Design, New York; and the National Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. One of the pre-eminent enamellists in the world, Jamie's work is known for its meticulous use of color and ornamentation. His participation in many pioneering exhibitions such as Jewellery Moves at the National Museum of Scotland; New Times, New Thinking Jewellery in Europe and America at the National Museum of Whales; as well as a traveling museum exhibition of his solo works 2008 - 2010, underscore his influence and impact in contemporary jewelry.

Selected works shown below.
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All works from the series Matters of Appearance, 2010/2011
enamel and silver | enamel and gold

For some time I have been interested in how various cultures portray nature as an explanation of beauty. How nature is mediated by ornamentation and aestheticized continues to hold my interest. Particularly in jewelry, which is my primary format, interpretations of beauty seem to be intractable. My own interest in this subject has evolved and what I seek to characterize as beauty has shifted from an integrated ornamental condition to a more incidental bodily appearance, which I believe matters, thus the title for this series.  These works are intended as topographies of sorts, skin like, land like, amalgams that are taken from the body and brought back to the body. I use the word body here both as a euphemism and actually. The materials I choose are critical to the physical character of the work and the resulting experience for the viewer. How things appear to us are the result of our value systems, and I am interested in representing what I value. Jamie Bennett, 2011