Austrian Jewelers Exhibition

All five artists in this 5 Austrian Jewelers show were trained at the Hochschüle für angewandte Kunst in Vienna. While their work goes in slightly different directions, they all consider themselves "jewelry artists" and make basically one-of-a-kind pieces, and they all work in a nontraditional way, thinking of jewelry as a nonverbal expression of our time.

5x Austrian Jewelers
Gallery Spectrum, Munich, W. Germany, 1983
Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria, 1984

Verena Formanek, Brooch (open and closed versions) Silver, steel, plastic

Verena Formanek calls her work Body needles/body signs. The needles are made out of thin, clear nylon pipes and stainless steel. When adjusted to the body they show very unusual and exciting lines and combinations of lines. Formanek is strongly influenced by Roland Barthes's work.

Anna Heindl works in a technique which nowadays is seldom used among jewelry artists in Europe. She makes heads, which she calls portraits, in enamel, using fascinating colors and shapes. Her work often shows the influence of Kandinsky.

Veronika Schwarzinger continued her studies after Vienna at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. While there she developed a series of work in glass and steel. The forms are simple geometric signs; some have flexible springs which allow them to be fixed to one's clothing in a variety of forms.

Peter Skubic, one of Austria's most well known jewelry artists, works mainly in stainless steel. His brooches are based on different tension systems, which can easily be separated while holding the single parts together. He often departs from jewelry and works in sculpture.

Karl Vonmetz's work is made of stainless steel; it is meant to be touched and played with. He makes little cars and rollers which he calls Kultwagen. His rings when removed from the finger roll irregularly on a tabletop.

By Veronika Schwarzinger & Verena Formanek

Metalsmith Magazine – 1984 Winter

In association with SNAG‘s

Metalsmith magazine, founded in 1980, is an award winning publication and the only magazine in America devoted to the metal arts.