Jessica Rose (American, 1950-2006), Mama Blanket

1988, woven from wire and custom Austrian-made "spinel" glass tile beads and African brass rondelles, and smaller glass beads beneath, creating a tactile kinetic blanket. Included with the Lot is a listing of the artwork on the artist's letterhead.

The Contemporary Art Collection of Francine & Benson Pilloff, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Purchased directly from the artist in 1994.

Exhibited:
Artwear, New York City, 1988

Accompanied by a photograph and official replacement value on Jessica Rose letterhead, 1994 for $54,000

American born artist, Jessica Rose, attended a Swiss boarding school as a young girl and later the French Lycée in London. While in London, she met her first love, Pablo Picasso's son Claude. Her career began as an assistant to Bill King, an American fashion photographer who was shooting for Vogue and other magazines during the 1960s.

Jessica moved to New York in 1970. She met and married Aaron Rose and the two eventually settled in Soho. While working as an assistant buyer at Bergdorf Goodman, she was inspired to create art jewelry from the old discarded decorative buttons found in a storage area. Her work was influenced by her extensive travels and the materials she found. She found immediate success and stores like Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, Brown's, Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus sold her pieces in their showrooms. Robert Lee Morris, proprietor of Artwear on New York's Upper East Side, championed her creations.

Jessica made jewelry collections for Yves St. Laurent in Paris and collaborated with Issey Miyake. Her pieces were worn by Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction and Whitney Houston in Waiting to Exhale. Her wearable art was featured in Vogue and is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. In June 2000, Sotheby's London mounted a retrospective exhibit of her work. A photograph of Jessica at the exhibit shows her wearing a beaded vest like the one here.

Jessica Rose's exquisitely detailed and intricately crafted beadwork begs to be touched. It flows through your fingers, is delightfully weighty, and is impossible not to covet.

Good condition.