UGLY Necklace Contest

http://www.landofodds.com/ store/uglynecklace.htm

Throughout BEJEWELED, we have learned about the

Jewelry Design Criteria, applied it to both Ancient and Modern Jewelry and worked to utilize these concepts in our own jewelry creations. As your last project of the year, the tables will be turned, and you will exhibit your grasp of these important design concepts by
creating a piece of jewelry to the standards of the exact opposite criteria.

Welcome to the ugly necklace contest,

The jewelry design contest with a twist.
The contest presents a challenge not often tackled, drawing the jewelry designer into an alternative universe where beautiful artists create Atrocious works of wearable art.

ugly
Chinese (Simplified): Chinese (Traditional): Czech: o!kliv" Danish: grim Dutch: lelijk Estonian: inetu Finnish: ruma French: laid German: hlich Hungarian: csnya Icelandic: ljtur Italian: brutto Japanese: Latvian: neglts Lithuanian: bjaurus Norwegian: stygg, heslig Polish: brzydki Portuguese: feio Russian: Slovak: !kared" Slovenian: grd Spanish: feo Swedish: ful Turkish: irkin

The Judges Criteria

Each necklace will be scored on 10 jewelry design criteria:
1. Overall Hideousness 2. Clever Use of Materials 3. The Clasp Assembly 4. Violation of Color Principles 5. Bad Balance or Arrangement 6. Bad Rhythm and Focus 7. Dis-Orientation 8. Parsimony 9. Wearability 10. The Poem

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

very unattractive or unpleasant to look at; offensive to the sense of beauty; displeasing in appearance. disagreeable; unpleasant; objectionable: ugly tricks; ugly discords. morally revolting: ugly crime. threatening trouble or danger: ugly symptoms. mean; hostile; quarrelsome: an ugly mood; an ugly frame of mind. (esp. of natural phenomena) unpleasant or dangerous: ugly weather; an ugly sea.
uglily, adv. ugliness, n.

ugly

adjective, -lier, -liest.

Synonyms 1. ill-favored, hard-featured, uncomely, unsightly, unlovely, homely. 3. base, heinous, vile, monstrous, corrupt. 4. disadvantageous, ominous. 5. surly, spiteful. 6. stormy, tempestuous. Antonyms 1. beautiful.

On the next page is a more in-depth description of the contest and criteria by which you will be judged

The Ugly Necklace Contest -- Judges Criteria

1.

Overall Hideousness-

A measure of the judges' overall reactions to the piece and its noteworthiness.
The idea of "Noteworthiness" is key here. Noteworthiness means the extent the artist took something ordinary and made it extraordinary.The best examples were the unexpected use of familiar materials. For example, felted dog hair shaped into beads; llama droppings, colored and drilled to be used as beads; a toothbrush used as part of a clasp assembly; a banana peel used as a pendant drop. In some cases, the artist tried to make the necklace into a political statement, such as a Saddam Hussein necklace with bullets and pink shoes; or the gluttonous fast food necklace with the gummi hot dog and gummi bun as the clasp.In many cases, found objects, insignificant on their own, were organized to call attention to special meanings, such as the grenade box found among shells at the beach; or the remaining parts of a cat along with the chicken bone that led to her demise; or plastic jewels that seemed electrifying to the designer as a young girl, and so not as an adult. Other things the judges look at include the clasp assembly, the artist's anticipation of the effects of wearing the piece, the overall goals of the artist with the piece, and their first reaction to the piece.

. Clever Use of Materials

The degree the piece represents a clever use of materials, how they interrelate, and their coherence.
In too many cases, the jewelry artist chose ugly pieces and assumed that a necklace made of ugly pieces would itself be ugly as well. But this strategy does not work well. The artist has to have a deeper understanding of why the materials are ugly. The artist also needs to stay focused and strategic enough in the design process, so that she or he maintains this sense of ugly as the necklace gets organized. For example, one necklace used felted matted dog hair, and made beads out of this. This was a start at a clever use of materials. But once strung into a circle, the necklace looked like something someone might actually wear. A necklace of cigarette butts, again once organized into a circle, doesn't look quite as ugly. In addition, the necklace over-used cigarette butts -- too many -- which started to make the necklace a bit boring. This diminished the power of the cigarette butts to make a statement about "ugly". This criteria looks at the total picture. Not just the ugliness of each individual piece, but also the degree to which the assembly of pieces maintains this sense of ugliness. The concern here is "design-cleverness in the USE of materials".

3.

The Clasp Assembly

How well the clasp design contributes to the ugliness of the piece, without diminishing the piece's functionality and wearability.
A better clasp assembly is one that seems to be an integral part of the necklace, not just an after-thought or add-on. It should anticipate how it contributes to the ugliness of the piece, how it re-affirms the artist's concept and goals, and how it adds to the wearability of the piece.

4.

Violation of Color Principles

The degree the piece violates good principles of color.

This might include using colors in incorrect proportions; or which violate color schemes; or violate rules of dominance/submission; or disturbing arrangements - vertical vs. horizontal, shading and tinting, sharp vs. blurred boundaries, placements and balance, projecting forward vs. receding; or violating socio-cultural rules and expectations. For example, the appropriate proportions of yellow to purple should be 1:4, meaning in any grouping of 5 beads, 4 should be purple and 1 yellow. When you deviate from this, your piece gets uglier. COLOR THEORY discusses the use of the color wheel to select colors that work together within a "scheme". There are many schemes, including Analogous, Complementary, and Split Complementary. An ugly necklace would select colors that violate this scheme. This might mean selecting colors that do not fit together within a scheme. It might

mean using the wrong proportions of color within the scheme. It might also mean violating expectations about which colors should and should not predominate within the scheme.

5.

Bad Balance or Arrangement

The degree to which sizes, shapes, textures, materials do NOT balance, or are poorly arranged within the piece.
Does the placement seem satisfying, such as a graduated necklace that starts with smaller sizes, works up to larger sizes in the center, then works back down to smaller sizes at the clasp? Or not? When looking at the piece, can you see alternative arrangements that might make the piece look even uglier? Another aspect of bad balance and arrangement has to do with "dimensionality". This is the degree, whether the piece is flat or 3-dimensional, that this is satisfying, or not. For example, a flat loomed piece with an extra large button clasp on the top of it, would probably be less satisfying than one with a smaller clasp on the end of the piece. Dimensionality can also be created through mixing beads or objects with different finishes, like mixing glossy and matte. An ugly mix somehow would feel dissatisfying.

6.

Bad Rhythm and Focus

The degree the piece does NOT engage and lead the viewer's eye.
One of the goals of the jewelry artist is to motivate the viewer to take in, experience and appreciate the whole necklace. One of the major techniques is to create a rhythm with the patterning of the beads, and to create a focal point. This influences the viewer's brain/eye to want to see each part of the necklace from beginning to end, and then come to rest. An ugly necklace, would either have no rhythm or a boring rhythm or a nauseating rhythm. An ugly necklace would either have no focal point, or have a focal point that is in a very disorienting or disturbing place on the necklace, or be very disorienting or disturbing in and of itself. RHYTHMS: Fast, staccato, Moderate, fox-trot, Slow, glide or slide

7.

Dis-Orientation

The degree the piece is disorienting, meaning the degree it does NOT suggest what is up or down, or what is right or left.
Jewelry plays a critical psychological role for the viewer in a room or in a space. It orients them. It is one of the important things in any person's visual environment that lets the person know what is up and what is down, and what is right and what is left. The natural state in life is to be dis-oriented. It takes walls and ceilings, trees and horizons, things with clear right angles, clear perpendicularity, obvious horizontal and vertical planes, to enable us to orient ourselves within any space. Otherwise people would fall down, lose a sense of how to turn or position themselves, or feel paralyzed. The wearing of jewelry plays a critical function here, in that it visually establishes for the viewer appropriate horizontal and vertical lines and planes. If you see someone with their earring dangle at a 90 degree angle, or their necklace turned around so that the clasp is showing when it shouldn't -- you know how uncomfortable this makes you feel, even wanting to cringe. And you know you want and need them to straighten things out. This jewelry is dis-orienting you, at a time when you subconsciously rely on it to be orienting.

8.

Parsimony

The degree the piece doesn't seem overdone or underdone.

Once the artist has made their point, they don't need to keep making it. For example, one entry used plastic trolls to create a sense of Ugly. There were over 20 on the necklace, but in their particular design, 6 or 8 were probably sufficient. The additional trolls served no other purpose in this piece. Just throwing in a lot of ugly pieces doesn't necessarily result in something that is uglier. The additional trolls could have been used to make additional design points, but they were not. Instead they added a sense of repetition and disinterest. A necklace of felted dog hair beads was a very clever idea. It was over 36". No other design points were made, so an 18" necklace of felted dog hair beads would have been as good as 36". In a similar way, a very long necklace of cigarette butts would have been equally as good, or better if shorter, since no other design points were made.

9.

Wearability

The degree the artist has been attentive to how the piece will be worn, particularly if the wearing of it might enhance its ugliness.
From a design perspective, Jewelry is Art As It Is Worn. In other words, you can only appreciate the artistic qualities and sensibilities of any piece of jewelry only when you see it worn -- as it moves with the body, as it conforms to the body, as it enhances the wearer's sense of self, and the viewer's sense of the situation and context.To the judges, wearability means that there should be clear evidence that the designer anticipated where the parts came from, and where they are going to, when the piece is worn.

10.

The Poem

How well the artist made their point about their design intentions, as reflected in their Ugly Necklaces
The poem must relate to the piece. It should clearly explain the artist's goals and concept. It should detail the artist's strategies for making the design choices she or he did.The judges ask themselves, given what the artist wrote in the poem, to what degree have they successfully created an ugly piece of jewelry?

Ask Yourself:
- Can I make a necklace that is off-sided or disorienting, or not have a clear beginning, middle or end? - Can I disrupt my pattern in a way that, rather than jazz, results in discord? - Can I work with colors and materials and patterns and textures and placements and proportions that shouldnt be used? - Can I create a piece of jewelry that represents some awful feeling, emotion or experience I'm uncomfortable with? - Can I design something I do not personally like, and perhaps am unwilling, to wear around my neck?

Remember:
1. Your Necklace should be Ugly, yet still function as a piece of jewelry. 2. Good designs will demonstrate a degree of control over achieving these ends. 3. Good designs will convey a sense of how both the larger context within which the jewelry is worn, as well as the overall effects of the wearer wearing the piece, will increase the pieces Ugliness. 4. Good designs will have an intuitive design sense and show some strategic control over the design process.

Good Luck!