Contemporary art gallery Atelier will highlight works on paper featuring jewelry and ornament in its final solo exhibition of 2024, scheduled to run from Nov. 15 through Dec. 28.
GoldiLocks is an exhibition of works by upstate New York-based artist Amelia Toelke. The show includes 16 paintings in 24k gold leaf and gouache on paper and one three-dimensional arched wall installation rendered in layered mirrored acrylic forms.
Toelke creates paintings and wall sculptures inspired by jewelry, according to a news release from Atelier. Through faceted gems, dangling charms and gold-leafed chains, Toelke explores the human desire to adorn oneself and the idea of jewelry as “personal signage.”
Toelke is fascinated by her subject matter, saying “[Jewelry] reveals not only our aesthetic tastes but also performs complex social functions like indicating marriage status, our religious views, our values or our wealth. The innate human impulse to adorn oneself frames how I understand the world, our past and our present. In my work, I borrow and remix the symbols and motifs inherent to adornment and signage, building a visual language that expresses the profound relationship between identity, culture, and adornment. In doing so, I highlight the deep connection between jewelry and those who wear it, showing how we use objects to tell stories about ourselves.”
Evocative titles like “Treasure,” “Amulet,” “Fortune” and “Ice Cold” attest to the power and significance people attach to jewelry. The desire to adorn oneself meaningfully permeates Toelke’s work. In curating Atelier’s sixth exhibition of 2024, Grandon says she was drawn to Toelke’s iconography and her ability to give her subject both the weight of gem and metal but also the feel and sound of draping chain and dangling charms. “The work is quite graphic and bold, yet it evokes movement and delicacy. The work is simply enchanting,” Grandon said.
She said she was particularly interested in an exhibition involving jewelry due to the history of the building in which Atelier resides at 104 E. Center St. in downtown Warsaw. The historical building was home to Crownover Jewelry, a downtown Warsaw institution since 1921, for over three decades. The jewelry store closed in 2013 and the building sat vacant until it was renovated in 2022 to become the contemporary art gallery.
“Since opening, I have had countless visitors share their memories of the former jewelry store and purchasing treasured pieces of jewelry there including engagement rings and wedding bands. I have heard wonderful anecdotes about little girls getting their ears pierced, the bowl of butterscotch candies on the counter, and the watchmaker working in the back. This show is an homage to the history of the building and to all of those emotional ties that members of the community have with the space. Memory and emotional connection is what truly excites me about the power of art,” she stated.
Much like we adorn our bodies with meaning-imbued jewelry, Grandon notes that art collectors have a similar fueling passion. She said, “Collectors of art seek to adorn their homes with symbols and motifs that reflect their identity as an individual, a couple or a family. An art collection evolves over time and becomes the expression of the collector’s personal narrative. It’s a visual record of a life.”
GoldiLocks is a fairytale show perfectly suited to the holiday season, the release states. “Amelia is exploring the profound connection between identity and ornament,” Grandon said. “I hope visitors experience the shimmer and shine of GoldiLocks and find that for them, it’s just right.”
Atelier’s hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.