MARJORIE SCHICK Body AdornmentJewellery Designer Marjorie Schick 1941

MARJORIE SCHICK Body Adornment/Jewellery Designer

Marjorie Schick 1941 -2017 ◦ Born - Marjorie Ann Krask August 29, 1941 Taylorville, Illinois ◦ Died - December 17, 2017 (aged 76) Kansas City, Kansas ◦ Nationality – American ◦ Education - University of Wisconsin–Madison, she completed a master's degree in fine art at Indiana University Bloomington. ◦ Occupation – Academic and jewellery artist ◦ Years active - 1967– 2017 ◦ Known for: bold and whimsical large-scale jewellery of wood and papier-mâché

Marjorie Schick Innovative American jewelry artist and academic who taught art for 50 years. Approaching sculptural creations, her avant-garde pieces have been widely collected. Her works form part of the permanent collections of many of the world's leading art museums, Russia, New York City, Japan, Pennsylvania; and the Victoria and Albert Museum of London. Schick was raised by her single mother, who as an art instructor nurtured her creative talent. After studying Fine Art, she then moved to Kansas, shortly thereafter beginning a lifetime association with Pittsburg State University, where she taught as an art professor. In addition to her teaching, Schick developed a worldwide reputation as a jewelry artist, creating works which were more like body sculptures than traditional jewelry. Her conception of pieces allowed her work to be displayed on the body while simultaneously interacting with it, rather than simply being worn as an adornment. As one of the innovators who moved jewelry craftsmanship away from metals in the 1960 s, she experimented with a wide variety of materials, including papiermâché, wooden dowels, rubber, string, and canvas. Her large-scale works were typically brightly colored and represented a modernist abstract aesthetic.

◦ Marjorie Schick's work is rooted in the European jewelry revolution of the 1960 s when innovators, rejecting the traditional materials, techniques, and social meanings of Western jewelry, began to employ the entire human frame—not just a finger, neck, or wrist—as a point of artistic departure. Schick herself views the body as a "living sculpture, " and, using painted wooden dowels and other ordinary materials, constructs additional sculptures with which to adorn it. ◦ Since the body can support large objects—both physically and visually—Schick often fabricates works whose size is startling: a brooch that extends far beyond the wearer's shoulder, animating the surrounding space; a necklace so large it creates its own physical environment; a piece worn on the shoulders that encases the entire head, framing or bisecting the face. Although each construction is designed for placement on the body, her works nonetheless function as independent sculptural statements. ◦ Marjorie Schick's jewelry is equally based on the traditions of twentieth-century abstract art— in particular, constructivism. So strong is the relationship with fine art, her sculptural pieces have been described as abstract art with its roots in jewelry. The artist writes: "there are four major aspects to my work: the constructed, three-dimensional form; the color relationships; the definition of space; and the scale of the objects in relationship to the human figure. " Her principle goal, she states, is to create a "visual tension" among the formal elements of her bright, skeletal constructions. ◦ A powerful, tensile energy results from the dynamic manner in which she arranges bright colors, lines of different length, and sharp angles of intersection. Schick refers to these colorful linear constructions as "three-dimensional drawings to wear. " Instead of marking lines and colors on a surface, she creates her three-dimensional "stick" drawings for spaces that exist at the boundaries of the head, torso, and limbs. ◦ Neckpiece (1986) [1993. 54. 13] is designed to be placed over the head and rest on the shoulders. The complex of dazzling lines thus visually segment the wearer's head, energizing the immediate spatial field where the body and jewelry interact. The dazzling sequence of dots and intersecting lines of vivid color are seen not only from the outside by the viewer, but at the same time, experienced from "inside" be the wearer. A lively tension between subject and object, and figure and ground is produced—a tension that is key to understanding Schick's work as a whole.

Sculptor David Smith –”the sculptor who drew with metal” Marjorie Schick – Influences and Inspiration Nature, bird like patterns and feather like shapes. Fish – scales, underwater colours. Form, 3 D and movement. She wanted work to be sculpture you could wear/interact with

Marjorie Schick– Materials and Processes Created sculptural body adornment handmade eye catching pieces Large scale works that were functional and moved with the body. These 3 D works considered form and wearability She experimented with a wide variety of materials, including papier-mâché, wooden dowels, rubber, string, and canvas. As one of the innovators who moved jewelry craftsmanship away from metals in the 1960 s.

Bold bright Large handmade colourful Experimental cost effective movement Key words Form playful pattern Structure repetition eye-catching avant-garde

Marjorie Schick– wearable blue collar (2006) ◦ Painted papier mache

MARJORIE SCHICK– ‘De La Luna/Del Sol’, 1998. Painted canvas and cord, stitched, painted, and tied