Deborrah Daher is doing something very interesting. She approaches fine jewelry with an artist’s sensibility, creating handmade, rough-hewn pieces balanced with fluidity of form in traditional jewelry categories like cuff links, earrings, brooches, and tuxedo pins. Fine jewelry, mass produced by machines, has the advantages of perfection and ubiquity. But Daher’s human touch, with its appealing irregularities bestowed on those same traditional jewelry categories, is comparatively compelling.
Daher’s appreciation for nature and dissipative structure result in textures reminiscent of strange, archaeological finds. The artist acknowledges how her background as a painter and ceramicist enables her to create unique jewelry forms, “I am caught by the idea that transcendence can be found in what’s common and small, awareness and appreciation can create a mysterious and strange beauty.” Daher’s aesthetic sensibility and her eye for fashion converge in a way that is unsettling—and this is what an artist needs to stand out. You don’t quite know where to categorize her work. Is it art jewelry, fashion jewelry, or fine craft? The ambiguity is what makes Daher’s work so exciting.
(Image credit, Meadow cufflinks in the Landscape Collection, by Deborrah Daher)
Filed under: Art Review | Tagged: artist, fine art, jewelry, review
I just found your blog review of my work and am so pleased to find your response to what I make. Working alone can lead me to think that no one else sees what I see. Reading your words lets me know that you do. Not surprisingly, I find I am drawn to your work, also. We both find irregularity beautiful.
Your comment “You don’t quite know where to categorize her work. Is it art jewelry, fashion jewelry, or fine craft? ” accurately expresses one of the challenges of working the way I do. It’s difficult to find your place in the world when what you do is always just a little different than what is expected.
Deborrah, I’m so glad you stopped by and liked what you saw. I think jewelry artists like yourself are doing important work in expanding our understanding of adornment and in turn the different ways that we express our identities.