Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Monday, November 15, 2010

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Students and their families attended the Nov. 12 opening reception for "Improbable Baubles," which is on display through Dec. 23 at the Headley-Whitney Museum.

Inspired by the permanent collection at the Headley-Whitney Museum, middle school art students have created their own small objects of curiosity, beauty or rarity called faux bibelots.

Nearly three dozen pieces are on display through Dec. 23 as “Improbable Baubles” following the museum’s third annual design competition for students.

The late George Headley III was a jewelry designer and crafted bibelots featuring precious and semi-precious stones and metals. The "jewel room" was among the first sections of the museum he opened on his family farm in 1968. While his bibelots contained materials like gold and diamonds, today’s students work in non-precious media to design fake versions.

“They’re small decorative artwork made out of found objects like glitter, pipe cleaners and paint, just to make it look as if it were expensive,” said Shayna Shia, educator at the museum.

Stephen Bennett, the art teacher at Edythe J. Hayes Middle School, asks his students to aim for the unusual – a car with frog feet in place of tires, for instance, or a birdhouse shaped like a golf tee.

“They bring in some kind of found object to start the sculpture – it could be plastic bottle, a rock or a branch,” he said. “They have to come up with a theme.”

The kids also write short reflections to describe their efforts.

“They should be able to discuss strengths and weaknesses and elements of design and notice how those things are working in their own art,” Bennett said.

His counterpart at Beaumont, Jonathan Hall, also had his students sketch their designs and write an artist’s statement. “It got kind of personal and reflective and expressive as far as their personalities go,” he noted.

Some of his students used ceramics with a clay base, some designed masks, and others made sculptures or jewelry boxes with colorful glass jewels and feathers.

“The kids are mimicking the priceless work of others,” Hall said. “The whole thing is supposed to be a prized treasure or trinket. It’s almost like a disguised artwork.”

SCAPA Bluegrass and Crawford and Jessie Clark middle schools also participated in the latest contest. A local private school was invited this year, too, and the competition expanded to include grades 6-8.

As many as 100 students per school designed bibelots. Each school picked its top 25, the museum selected six from each school for the exhibit, and a panel of judges chose three overall winners. They were announced at the Nov. 12 opening reception.

Maegan Keeton, an eighth-grader at Hayes, took home the $100 first prize for “The Necklace Dress,” and Beaumont eighth-grader Madison Dedman received $50 for her second-place entry “Princess Mary.”

Maegan’s bibelot, made of clay and aluminum wire, can serve as a decorative jewelry holder.

“I put warm clay and carved in it to make the ruffles on the dress,” she said in describing the process, which ended with a glaze after the firing for a glossy finish.

Madison, who used white clay, metallic paint and sparkly string, designed an elegant masquerade mask with detailed leaves as accents.

“I tried to make it more simple and clean – not cluttery,” she said.

Third place and a $25 award went to seventh-grader Harrison Lane from Jessie Clark Middle School for “Dog Heaven.” He said the contest helped him to be more expressive with a variety of objects, even dog biscuits!

Sarah Jeoung from SCAPA and Randy Delgado from Crawford received honorable mention for “Carousel” and “Rooster in the Morning,” respectively.

“The students clearly worked hard on their pieces,” said the museum’s Shia. “They keep getting better every year.”

If you go

“Improbable Baubles”

What: Exhibit of faux bibelots made by middle school students

When: Through Dec. 23; museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Where: Headley-Whitney Museum, 4435 Old Frankfort Pike, (859) 255-6653