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A Girl's Best Friend Isn't Always Diamonds

Tom Van Eynde

Whether your jewelry was bought at your favorite store, passed down from your grandmother or handcrafted by yourself, it has some type of value in it. 

The Racine Art Museum specializes in contemporary crafts; showcasing things like glasswork, ceramics, and jewelry of all kinds. One of the prominent artists represented in their permanent collection is American jeweler and metalsmith Robert Ebendorf. 

Since the 60’s, the Kansas native has focused on the value of the objects used in his contemporary collection of adornment pieces. Bonnie spoke with Executive Director and Curator of Collections at the Racine Art Museum, Bruce Pepich, about Ebendorf's exhibit The Life and Times of Robert W. Ebendorf: Jeweler and Metalsmith.

Ebendorf's work could be described by the saying, one man's trash is another man's treasure. He is a pioneer for using found objects in his pieces. On the cover of the exhibits catalog is a necklace made out of tags, caps from a ballpoint pen, plastic silverware and a few other miscellaneous items.

"My design concepts and things I want to say in the jewelry are where the value is, not in how big the diamond is. And Bob was one of the early, early American artists who looked at that discourse and took it much further…" says Pepich.

Robert Ebendorf will be speaking at the Racine Art Museum the night before he holds a two-day workshop in November. More information will be linked to our website.  

Bonnie North
Bonnie joined WUWM in March 2006 as the Arts Producer of the locally produced weekday magazine program Lake Effect.