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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Garden brooch
Melanie Bilenker (American, born in 1978)
American
2007
Medium/Technique
Gold (18kt), silver, ebony, resin, pigment, and hair
Dimensions
Height x width x depth: 7.2 x 5.2 x 1.1 cm (2 13/16 x 2 1/16 x 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by the Board of Trustees in honor of Susan W. Paine, President of the Board of Trustees, 2003-2007
Accession Number2008.1047
CollectionsJewelry, Contemporary Art, Americas
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Brooches
Philadelphia-based jeweler Melanie Bilenker has long worked with hair as a primary material, using strands placed at different depths in resin to create delicate, intricate drawings. Once it emerges from the skin's surface or is detached from a living organism, a strand of hair isn’t alive anymore. However, the tenderness with which the artist treats this material as a vehicle to tell tiny, everyday stories revivifies it. This brooch and other such jewelry demonstrates the storytelling power that materials like hair hold, especially when used as adornment.
DescriptionThe hair drawing is placed at different depths in the resin and the silver frame is attached to the teak with small, gold rivets.
Marks
Impressed mb on right bottom of silver frame
Provenance2007, Sienna Gallery, Lenox, MA; 2007 sold by Sienna Gallery to MFA; 2007, gift from MFA to Susan W. Paine, Cambridge, MA; gift from Paine to MFA (October 22, 2008).