Atlanta Contemporary Jewelry Show - 2011 Review

November 5, 2010 - What qualifies a jewelry artist to participate in the Atlanta Contemporary Jewelry Show? You’ve got to be an award winning, nationally, or internationally renowned, master of your art form. Not an easy achievement, but Debra Lynn Gold (pictured) and Leigh Griffin, both accomplished artists in their own right, bring together 25 artists achieving such stratospheric levels, in exemplary fashion.

If you’re in the Atlanta area, and you want to experience the artistic works of highly accomplished jewelry designers, you’ve got to make your way to the Atlanta Contemporary Jewelry show. You’ll have to hurry as the show only lasts through Saturday, November 6th 2010.

You’ll find spectacular jewelry made from in a wide variety of formats from precious metals and stones, to highly technical formats of cloisonné and anticlastic raisings. These are amont the best handmade jewelry designs I've seen.

Debra explained to me this is like the superb American Craft Council (ACC) shows, with everything removed except the top jewelers. And believe me, ACC only attracts the best (we blogged about these shows from Baltimore and Atlanta earlier this year).

OK, now for a couple standouts for me.

I was absolutely mesmerized by the metal-smithing works of Michael Good (www.michaelgood.com). His anticlastic raising technique where the artist takes a metal disk and compresses the edge until it begins to buckle. Michael’s artistry is absolutely superb as he forms 3-dimensional handmade earrings and necklaces. Also in his line are bronze and gold jewelry that includes ribbon torques with one side gold and the other a patina bronze.

Of spectacular elegance are the earrings and necklaces of Jonathan Lee Rutledge (www.rutledgejewelry.com) of Evanston, Illinois. Jonathan works primarily in high karat gold presenting a bright yet warm metal design contrasted with embedded simple gemstones. He also uses a technique called granulation where tiny gold granules are fused together resulting in a most interesting relief to his handmade gold jewelry designs.

I’ll mention once again, an artist that I’ve seen now at two other shows, his works using the technique called cloisonné never fails to amaze me. Ricky Frank (www.rickyfrankenamels.com) starts by creating small compartments (cloisons) in his designs with precious metal wires or thin strips. He then fills these intricate structures with colorful enamels that bring to life his spectacular designs.

I could go on and on about each of the award winning high quality handmade jewelry designs and designers at this show. But check them out yourself. If you’re in the Atlanta area the first weekend in November, get to the Defoor Centre in midtown Atlanta, and find that special piece that you’ll cherish for a lifetime.

Remember, go to high quality craft shows, and Brothers-Handmade.com, and

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