Schmoozing

This semester during the Metals Club “Late Night”, Cathy Hartman came to visit us to “show and tell” her personal jewelry collection. Cathy is the associate dean of the UNT Libraries and it was so nice of her to share her collection with us. She had some pieces that were from the 1970s, some of the newer ones were from around 2010 and so on. It was very interesting to see all of the same techniques we all use in our metals projects and how they were used 40+ years ago to today. She had about 25+ pieces to show us with some more left at home. Some pieces were not stamped with a maker’s mark, this helped us all realize how important stamping our pieces truly is. Cathy had many questions about understanding the techniques that were used in the pieces she has collected which allowed us students to explain the process/technique to her, with the metals program professors there to approve of our explanations. She had some pieces that used techniques like reticulation, champlevé enamel, cloisonné enamel, many textured pieces, some with different stone settings, and some with very interesting mechanisms (necklace latches and hinges). Some pieces were very simple in design while others were more complex.

Meeting and talking with Cathy Hartman helped me realize that there are people who simply just want to collect unique jewelry pieces and that the pieces do not have to be “practical” to wear. It truly opened my eyes to more possibilities with my jewelry designs. Though, I do not know if she wears the pieces she has collected, I would imagine some that she has she might wear, but probably not all of them. Seeing her collection made me realize that I do not have to worry so much about a piece of jewelry to be wearable, for there ARE people who will simply buy it to collect it. Yes, I want to make wearable/practical pieces but it doesn’t have to always be so uptight. I should allow myself to let loose and do something fun for the collectors out there. Getting to talk with Cathy in our environment made it a very relaxed meeting.