As a little girl growing up in the 1950s, I
believed nothing was quite so fine as dressing up in Mama's suits
from her "working girl" days or parading around in one
of her flowery summer hats - unless it was decorating myself with
her costume jewelry.
Looking back, I see how ornamentation has graced every stage of
my life. Sweet baby rings and little gold lockets gave way to
scatter pins and silver charms. At age ten I made my first
bracelet from sea shells and tiny glass elephants. Through the
years, my love of jewelry and fashion has stayed where the
memories linger.
Clearly, it is nostalgia for vintage style and passion for
creative expression that fuel my search for dress buckles, shoe
clips, and art deco buttons. These accessories produced in
celluloid, Bakelite, and other early plastics evoke stories of a
dime store glamour that cheered apron-clad survivors of the Great
Depression and lifted the spirits of World Wat II sweethearts
waiting for their soldiers. Believing these fashion accouterments
are much too valuable to idly lie in handkerchief boxes and
dresser drawers, I bring them from hiding to live again in my one
of a kind brooches. While my work calls up the trend of
recycling, my designs reflect the principles of collage where
unlikely pieces nestle together continuing their legacy of
wearable art.
With humor and whimsey ConArtist Jewelry celebrates
"wonderful (old) things" and the generations of women
who passed them on.
Connie Copley
