Review: Retrospective reveals Jamie Bennett's wide range of enamel work

Jewels! Jewels with floral and abstract designs, undulating curves, three-dimensional illusions, contemporary images and images that evoke the Middle Ages, Istanbul, the Orient.

All are the work of Jamie Bennett, one of today's most important enamel artists. This retrospective reveals the wide range of Bennett's art from his enamel jewelry to his paintings, drawings, sketchbooks and wall sculptures.

Growing up in New York, Bennett often visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He enjoyed all the collections, but the medieval enamels mesmerized him. He knew art would always be a source of pleasure but expected his career to be in business.

Shortly after receiving a degree in business administration, however, he enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at State University of New York, New Paltz, where he focused on metalworking, particularly on enameling. He is now a professor there, teaching graduate students from around the world this ancient art as he has revolutionized it.

Enameling is a process by which metal surfaces are decorated with a layer of glass. The artist carefully sifts or places finely ground glass powder onto the metal then heats the piece to melt the glass and fuse it.

Traditional enameling has its limitations. The plane is flat, and the artist has to work within set frames. As Bennett's skills advanced, so did his techniques. He experimented, invented and borrowed from other art forms to create previously unimaginable depth, design, form and texture in his pieces.

One of his major innovations was to apply the process of electroforming to the art of enameling. The great advantage of electroforming is its ability to create metal in any shape on any base. After much trial and error, Bennett perfected the process and was making lightweight metal in configurations to delight his imagination. He was freed from the restrictions of cloisonné and could enamel free-form pieces without wire framing.

His mastery of this process is wonderfully displayed in his series called Florilegium. This Latin word first appeared in English in the 18th century in reference to books of flower illustrations. Bennett's Florilegia include color-rich brooches and necklaces of amazing variety. Many of the pieces, including all of the components of the necklaces, have separate images on front and back.

It's interesting to compare early pieces with recent ones. The color palette changes from neutral to lush. Shapes become more fanciful. Matte surfaces appear beside the traditional shiny ones.

Bennett's work is a balancing act between invention and tradition where superb technical skills combine with creative flair.

Nancy Worssam: nworssam@earthlink.net