Persistent Ephemera by Elaine Zukowski

We are pleased to share the work of Elaine Zukowski in the Jewelry Box. Her show Persistent Ephemera runs from July 5th to August 31st, 2024. Please join us for an Artist reception Friday July 12th from 5 to 7 pm.

Elaine Zukowski is a craftsperson based in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2002 she received her BFA in Fiber Art from the Maryland Institute. An introduction to the Baltimore Jewelry Center in 2009 sparked a love of metalsmithing and art jewelry. Continuous exploration with materials and processes has resulted in several collections since 2012. In recent years Elaine’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at New York Jewelry Week 2021-2023 and Milan Jewelry Week 2022. Her work was a part of the Museum of Art and Design’s MAD about Jewelry showcase in 2023, and she participated in Arrowmont School’s winter Pentaculum in 2024.

Persistent Ephemera 

Artist Statement

Fleeting moments can be captured accurately only through our imagination and ability to recall observed phenomena. The glow of sunlight through a wall of tree leaves, a thin slice of blue sky in the distance between cloud and mountain, a perfectly translucent spray of graffiti paint glimpsed in passing. Having been seen, these pieces of imagery are visual ephemera. The word being both plural and singular, part of its origin means: ’daily’ or lasting only a day”. This body of work captures the light, the glow, and the feeling of having seen something that will last for only a short while before it is replaced or forgotten. The forms are constructed with fluorocarbon and monofilament which have been crocheted with micro hooks, the stitching combining singular elements into organic shapes. The process of stitching is a record of patient effort, a marker of the accumulation of time. The notion of trying to capture something not destined for permanence, to bring into solid form that which only our memory holds, creates a connection to nostalgia. We perhaps will always look back, always try to capture and to hold fast.

Pod Necklace by Elaine Zukowski