Life in Photos - Fashion Jewelry at MAD

 

Sometimes, when life is very good, the best things in this world come together in one place. Peanut butter and chocolate. Rainbows and hot air balloons. Sunshine, light breezes and an empty road. I found similar delight in two exhibits in one museum: the "Fashion Jewelry of Barbara Berger" and "Against the Grain." It's no secret that Pie and I are huge fans of any form of adornment, but my husband has recently gotten into woodworking and the combination of two of our passions celebrated under one roof made for an absolutely perfect date night visit to the Museum of Arts and Design.

 

The jewelry was so varied, so colorful, so sparkly that, I must admit, we spent the bulk of our time at the museum pouring over it while I purred in delight and got my eyeballs as close as possible to crystals, studs and rhinestones. The pictures here don't do justice to the variety. There were cases of Asian inspired pieces. Cases of birds, of feathers, of fish, of neon necklaces, deco jewels, faux pearls and lacquer pieces. The breadth was amazing, and for every piece out in the light there was another you could unearth in a drawer. For someone as covetous as I am it was even a little bit maddening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The jewelry stole most of my photography time (woodworking, it turns out, is not done any justice by a tiny iphone camera), but another exhibit on view had us equally enchanted. "Playing With Fire: 50 Years of Contemporary Glass" was whimsical, beautiful and sparkly enough that it kept us calling to each other from different sides of the gallery ("Ooh, did you see this one?", "This... is so awesome"). I found the little boy pictured below particularly enchanting.

 

 

This museum visit just affirmed a sentiment that Pie has been conveying to me for years now: jewelry doesn't have to be precious, or even semi-precious, to be art. And wearable art? Well, that's just about the best art there is.