Bottoms Up!

Bio

Carmel Boerner creates in a studio in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She has worked for almost 30 years in various non-profits in Canada and the U.S. Her jewelry has been exhibited in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Artist Statement

“Bottoms Up!” revels in Camp, inciting irrepressible joy. Cocktail rings were once defiant, emerging during Prohibition, when a woman raised a ring-festooned hand audaciously requesting an illicit alcoholic drink. They also symbolized women’s emancipation during the 1920s, a time of female rebellion and increasing independence. This ring salutes insurrection and invites play. It is flamboyant and fabulous, fiercely opposing the boring, the bland and the banal. It ignites performance, and inspires movement. Imagine the wearer of “Bottoms Up!” sashaying through a crowd, martini brazenly held aloft, revealing Camp’s beloved bright Schiaparelli pink and silver leopard skin. The ring flirts with Sontag’s definition, “style at the expense of content”, the tottering glass representing the irony of artifice.