Golden Pawn

Installation by Jane Rainwater at The Porter Gallery, Cambridge, MA, June 22- July 1.

There are many ways one can value gold: physical value, market driven value and sentimental value. Unlike other commodities, the inner glow and magic associated with gold throughout history contributes to a symbolic value way beyond gold’s physical cost.

Golden Pawn investigates the value and ultimate devaluation of gold. Objects of “value” are placed in Golden Pawn, stripping them of all sentimental attachment. Each object’s tragic story of desperation and lost dreams become meaningless, as it has been exchanged for cash.

Mostly everything in Golden Pawn is waste, the recycled detritus of society’s demands for the new and the shiny. Many of these objects are broken and useless but are given a desirable value with a golden skin that hides the scars of use and abuse.

Celestial Miners

Assemblage, 6" x 14", antique daugguerotype frames, digital prints, gilded astronauts.
It seems that the closer you look at gold, the more it looks like the cosmos.

Obsession Lesson

Approximately 5' x 4', fine gold chain. This is an actual size Golden Orb spider web. This web was carefully constructed using jewelry jump rings and gold chain. It took two months of obsessive labor to create this. A photo can not do free-hanging installation justice!

The Big Idea

This is a process post from sketch to finished piece for The Big Idea. The sculpture is 48" w x 30" deep. It is made from gilded lead and and chains. Click on the Black & White Drawing to read the text.

Gold Lust

These are small panel boxes with collages on gold leaf and gold paint. These are currently on view at Gallery 11, 11 Whitney Street, Hartford, CT

Cyanotypes

This is a new series of work called, "My Mother's Jewelry Box" These images are cyanotype "sunprints" of old jewelry from long lost relatives. The cyanotypes are collaged onto gold leafed panels. Size, "6" x 6". ©2006 Jane Rainwater

Charms

Ballerina

Video Jewelry Box

This video jewelry box contains a short film entitled, "Golden Girl." The film has interviews I conducted with women from many different cultures discussing their gold traditions. Eastern Indian women discuss the importance gold plays in their weddings and with their children. A woman from Ghana talks about African royalty and their massive collections of gold. In fact, the King of the Ashanti tribe wears so much gold that he has to carried because the "gold is so heavy he cannot walk and must be carried from village to village on a pallinquin."

Video Jewelry Box Detail

This is a "flattened" photo of the jewelry box interior and the video screen

Jane Rainwater in "Golden Opportunity Show" at www.ethicalmetalsmiths.org

See the show at www. ethicalmetalsmiths.org by copying this link into your browser. Whwn you get to the site, click on "Golden Opportunity"

A call to artists went out in February 2006, inviting artists to participate in a global collaboration in to understand gold. Artists were offered a “golden opportunity” to contribute to an exhibition about gold. The work address the past, present or future of gold. The call was posted on a number of websites and read by an international audience.

The North Amercian Goldsmiths showed the work of more than eighty artists from nineteen countries in the Marx-Saunders Gallery in Chicago, IL. This show was funded by Rudolph Steiner Foundation for their New Initiatives grant, for hosting the premier reception and screening, the Society of North American Goldsmiths for providing the occasion, Ron Graziani for his essay, Robin Casady for his webmastery, and Earthworks for their support.

Ethical Metalsmiths was formed for the purpose of stimulating demand for responsibly sourced materials as an investment in the future, and stands for social responsibility, a healthy environment and materials that are consistent with these values.