If you’ve been waiting for a special occasion to wear your favorite piece of jewelry, the Paducah School of Art offers you an opportunity this Friday. The school’s Jewelry and Metals Invitational Exhibition opens at 5 p.m., and the work — contributed by both local and national artists — is designed to open viewers’ eyes to the possibilities of metalworking.

“The exhibition is an exciting mix of jewelry and small objects, which often push the boundaries of the art through the use of alternative materials in combination with metals,” said Paul Aho, dean of the PSA.

Some of the more experimental pieces include a pinhole camera created from metal and brooches made with rubber balls. The exhibit also includes work made with gold and silver, as well as enameled pieces.

Curator Shannon Duffy said her goal in putting the exhibit together was to show various areas in the field of metal arts, giving viewers ideas of different ways to work with the material.

“(I was) thinking about the community and the student body, what they could see coming out of this program we’re trying to build,” Duffy said.

The exhibition is designed to draw attention to PSA’s jewelry and metalsmithing classes, which will be offered in the school’s new studios at Madison Hall this January, Aho said.

The inspiration behind the artwork is as varied as the media used to create it.

Duffy said that her work draws from the walks that she takes with her children in western Kentucky, while Mary Hallam Pearse, an Athens, Ga., artist whose pieces will be featured in the exhibit, says she appropriates her imagery from advertisements and fashion magazines.

“I’m interested in how the media portrays women in advertising... . There are always these very seductive images,” Pearse said.

Pearse prints these digital images on materials such as aluminum, she said. Her jewelry, which also incorporates pearls and decorative gems, is meant to be worn, although not every day. 

The artist says she is fascinated by the intimate relationship between jewelry and the people who wear it.

“Jewelry is given as gifts ... It functions as a marker for an anniversary or rite of passage. It has all of these functions within our culture, but these are very private moments,” she said. “Then we wear it out into the world and it becomes very public.”

Other exhibiting artists include Lynette Andreasen (Meza, Ariz.), Alicia Boswell (Boise, Idaho), Danielle Embry, Jill Baker Gower (Sewell, N.J.), Doug Harling (Hindman), Nissa Kubly (Phoenix), Mary Hallam Pearse (Athens, Ga.), Mel Miller (Brunswick, Australia), Sarah Perkins (Springfield, Mo.), and Sarah Renshaw (Carbondale, Ill.)

A free opening reception will be held at 5 p.m. Friday in the Clemens Gallery on the campus of West Kentucky Community & Technical College, 4810 Alben Barkley Drive. Visitors can also see the work during gallery hours, which are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays; 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays; and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays. It is closed on Friday.

Call Laurel Black, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 575-8641.

Want to go?

What: Opening reception for Paducah School of Art’s Jewelry and Metals Invitational

When: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21

Where: Clemens Fine Art Gallery, campus of WKCTC.