The Artist

Deborrah Daher is an internationally published award-winning artist. Originally a painter and ceramic artist, she fell in love with the art of jewelry making in 1980, bringing her appreciation for color and texture with her. Caught by the quiet elegance found in things often overlooked or taken for granted, Daher’s work draws attention to the precious and unexpected beauty of life.

"I am interested in the concept of dissipative structure, the structure of self-renewal, of flowing balance. Nature’s forms and textures are my inspiration; the ongoing cycles of new growth and decay, the shape and movement of fish. Some shapes I choose to use repeatedly for the visual pleasure they give me, and because of the meanings I associate with them. The pod, boat and bowl are repeated forms in the work. I am attracted to the intimacy of the forms, to the possibility of their contents...to containers.

I am caught by the idea that transcendence can be found in what’s common and small, awareness and appreciation can create a mysterious and strange beauty. The work is an expression of my emotions and thoughts about life.

When you look at my work, you are looking at me."

Photo: Eve Daher

Art Review - Deborrah Daher

Deborrah Daher is doing something very interesting. She approaches fine jewelry with an artist’s sensibility, creating handmade, rough-hewn pieces balanced with fluidity of form in traditional jewelry categories like cuff links, earrings, brooches, and tuxedo pins. Fine jewelry, mass produced by machines, has the advantages of perfection and ubiquity. But Daher’s human touch, with its appealing irregularities bestowed on those same traditional jewelry categories, is comparatively compelling.

Daher’s appreciation for nature and dissipative structure result in textures reminiscent of strange, archaeological finds. The artist acknowledges how her background as a painter and ceramicist enables her to create unique jewelry forms, “I am caught by the idea that transcendence can be found in what’s common and small, awareness and appreciation can create a mysterious and strange beauty.” Daher’s aesthetic sensibility and her eye for fashion converge in a way that is unsettling—and this is what an artist needs to stand out. You don’t quite know where to categorize her work. Is it art jewelry, fashion jewelry, or fine craft? The ambiguity is what makes Daher’s work so exciting.

"Hey...These Things Just Snap Right Off!", Society for Midwest Metalsmiths, 2006.

STONE/S: a piece of rock for a specific function, The Society for Midwest Metalsmiths, 2004.

Art Jewelry Today, by Dona Z. Meilach, published by Schiffer Publishing, Limited, 2003.

1998 Exhibition in Print, Metalsmith Magazine, juror Barb Jordan, Fall issue,1998.