Deco vs. Nouveau

What is the difference between Art Nouveau and Art Deco you ask? Think Titanic vs. Gatsby. (The Leonardo DiCaprio movies obviously.)

This was the aim of our ceramics jewelry unit. I wanted all of my students to know the difference between Deco and Nouveau. As we travel back in time through the movements I want my students to have some exposure, not only to fine art, but to the decorative arts as well.

This was a new unit this year, I decided to replace our unit on vessels with a jewelry unit. For this project I purchased porcelain clay so that our results could be smaller and more fine. I also showed our students work from the beginnings of the Tiffany Company and a particular designer named Clara Driscoll. (Louis Comfort Tiffany had claimed some of her designs as his own, but thanks to the discovery of some personal letters Clara has now been recognized posthumously.) We also looked at beautiful examples of these two schools in architecture, furniture, and of course jewelry.

Once the differences, similarities and influences had been totally explored each student chose which style they liked best. They then had to use our engineering design process to create a piece of jewelry that embodies that particular style. It could be a necklace, a bracelet, earrings or a ring. I brought in all of the jewelry making supplies they would need and did a few demonstrations so that they could get a grasp of the possibilities and limitations. Then we began…

Sketches: