I've been meaning to blog about this artist for a while now. But then I bought my Quillinan neck piece, and didn't feel that I should cheat on it before it even arrived. That, however, was before I realized that Opus Magnum creates much more than fabulous snowy felt jewelry (such as this). I do remember going through her previously sold items and seeing some quite delightful clothing, many pieces being of the Victorian persuasion. How I managed to miss the items still available for sale below the felt jewelry boggles me. I'm just glad I peeked into the shop again today and scrolled down far enough this time.
The four gems I found at the bottom of the shop are the artist's "Powdered Wig" series, which are three-dimensional collages attached to basswood. The thing that drew me to all four of these works is that they are made of cutouts from the pages of vintage books. That alone completely satisfies this bibliophile. I honestly wasn't even aware of what the collages were meant to represent until I read the descriptions and clicked on all the photos in each listing. I've posted the full picture of each piece here, but you must do yourself a favour and go to the listings for a close-up to fully appreciate the intricate assemblage of the page cutouts.
The second element of these pieces that I love are the abstract wig stands, which are actually "outlines of...faces...inspired by 16th Century grotesques and are cut from vintage pages as well." I adore how the artist chose to omit the faces of those the wigs are meant to represent (being Mozart, Henry VII, Elizabeth, and Marie Antoinette), as the focus should remain on these elaborate
paper hairpieces, rather than becoming portraits of the people. I, for one, have a very hard time finding art that I would actually want to hang on my walls. These, however, all four in fact, I would proudly display in a heartbeat.
