Hannah Oatman, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, is the winner of the 6th edition of the JPLUS Award by Klimt02. The award consists on a solo exhibition presenting a selection of the graduation project works consisting in 3 series: Collect me!, Art Over Time and Build Your Own!

Hannah Oatman’s thesis work investigates relationships between art, product, advertising, packaging, collecting, interaction, and choice. Her work reflects on the insular nature of contemporary art jewelry and introduces strategies that can increase its appeal and access to a wider audience.


Klimt02 Jury Statement
What we saw in Hannah Oatman's works is the questioning of how art jewelry can be perceived in a society based on fast consumerism society, in an era dominated by the image where critical contents lose relevance in favor of a superficial look the products that the market uses to bombard us daily. We also discover on her pieces art and design references such as the DIY culture, Memphis group Designs or Pop Art. The objective to bring artworks to the mass by using any contemporary tool in our digital age, image, social media, packaging, catching the eye colors, shapes to create a desirable object, beautiful, attractive, useful, wearable, collectible… also loaded with content and critical attitude to our compulsive behavior.


Manifesto at Hannah Oatman Master Thesis Work
In order to have a purpose, and in order to justify its existence, an object needs to be loved—or, at the very least, cared about. We’re all familiar with the trail of plastic junk that consumer culture leaves in its wake, and many of us romanticize the “handmade”, a term that seems to exist more for the purpose of marketing than for accurate description. The process, in the end, doesn’t really matter—the result does.

People are socialized to care about jewelry. We know it can be highly symbolic, or an heirloom, or a stand-in for a loved one. Fine jewelry, costume jewelry, stick-on earrings—it’s all easy to love for as long as it lasts (and diamonds are forever). 

When I buy something, I want it to be good and special. I can’t define exactly what makes an object good and special, but I know it when I see it. Good can mean beautiful, or well-made, or highly functional. Special often means I am convinced that this thing is the best version of whatever it is—or at least the best version that I can afford. If it’s a limited edition, it becomes especially special.

Maybe contemporary jewelers think that their work is automatically good because it’s “art.” Maybe they think it’s automatically special because it’s one-of-a-kind. But we need to make things that people care about. Things that people can fall in love with. Things that people see and keep thinking about for days afterward. Jewelry is inherently participatory, and we must allow people to participate.

We make things that are small, highly portable, and usually wearable. As jewelers, we have an opportunity, more than practitioners of any other art form, to make things that people can afford and display proudly.
We can make people feel beautiful, or formidable, or cultured, or subversive, or playful—and that’s powerful. Our ideas—our conceptual backbones—should not alienate or intimidate the audience. This is jewelry! Let’s make it lovable.


- Read the complete Master Thesis by Hannah Oatman

- Read an interview with Hannah Oatman by Klimt02