Rings ! at Houston

Biba Schutz
Ring: Sparkiln, 2010
Sterling silver, fine silver, 18k gold
Photo by: Ron Boszko
Part of: Private Collection
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Ted Noten
Ring: Greed, 2018
3D-printed steel, 24k gold-plated
Photo by: Virginia Price
Part of: Private Collection
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Helen Britton
Ring: Scull, 2009
Silver, glass, paint.
Part of: Helen W. Drutt English Collection
The work started in an old warehouse in America. Beginning in 1948, the company had been buying up mass-produced jewellery leftovers worldwide, in a kind of frenzy of collection. You could find stuff from virtually every country and every decade of the 20th century. There were millions of elements, and I read them as a kind of emotional history of the everyday. In having been produced quickly and cheaply, I enjoyed the freedom of design I found in these small objects, how closely they reflected the popular culture of their period, and their experimental qualities as different companies tried to initiate a jewellery craze or catch onto something new. I selected elements because of their strangeness, their beauty, the memories they evoked (I actually found parts of things that I had worn as a child too), or where they were made. I started to make simple drawings of the things I found and then I continued with drawing my own collection of mass-produced jewellery, and then went on to drawing the jewellery from my childhood and so the drawings developed their own momentum. Alongside these drawings, I produced a group of jewellery with the elements from the warehouse. I concentrated on simple production techniques, stamping and folding, building housings, and contraptions. I wanted to give the elements the chance to continue their lives in a new context, without denying their roots. With the experience of this place as incentive, I also took the opportunity to vent my own decorative fury.
 
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Peter Chang
Ring: Untitled, 2009
Acrylic, resin, found object, aluminum, silver.
Unique piece
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Elisabeth Defner
Ring: Untitled, 2014
Gold, Australian opal. Mexican fire opal.
Unique piece
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Kenneth Derengowski
Ring: The Greatest Generation: Torpedo, 2021
Silver, found object, slate.
Unique piece
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