Faculty Research Lecture Series: Mary Hallam Pearse

Jewelry Narratives: Lost and Found

I’m fascinated by how jewelry has been imbued with extraordinary superpowers across all cultures since the beginning of time. Jewelry as a complex and dramatic signifier playing a leading role in seduction and desire, flirting and flaunting while signaling what it means to be human is at the root of my work.  

Mary Hallam Pearse received her M.F.A. in Metal from SUNY New Paltz and a B.F.A. in Crafts with an emphasis in Jewelry and Metals from Kent State University. In her ongoing work Mary is interested in how jewelry has functioned historically as a marker of status, class, wealth, and a record of human experience. Her work has been selected for competitive exhibitions in museums and galleries both nationally and internationally and included in  publications such as Metalsmith, Ornament and American Craft. Curatorial projects include; Crafting History: Textiles, Metals and Ceramics at the  University of Georgia, and The Ring Shows: Then & Now and Putting the Band Back Together and Coming into View. She has been invited to present lectures and provide workshops at Penland, Anderson Ranch, Kent State University, East Carolina University and Humboldt State. Currently she is Associate Professor and area chair of the jewelry and metalwork area at The Lamar Dodd School of Art in Athens Georgia.