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For jewelry artist Courtney Starrett, her work blurs the boundaries between art, craft, fashion, fibers, metalsmithing and jewelry design. Her creative approach also includes a special interest in alternative materials, computer aided design and rapid prototyping technologies.

Starrett’s works will be featured in Pikeville College’s Weber Art Gallery beginning Monday, Feb. 2, with an opening reception at 10 a.m. and an artist lecture and demonstration at 11 a.m. The show, titled RubberMade, will be on display through March 5. The campus and community are cordially invited to attend.

RubberMade is a collection of wearable objects created by exploring materials and forms from the kitchen and the laboratory. The 1950s were a time defined by new and exciting products for the home thanks to government-funded wartime projects and research scientists, Starrett explained, adding that Tupperware, Technicolor and the ranch-style house with the private yard were “must haves” in order to keep up with the Joneses.

“In the last 60 years, these tokens of the ideal lifestyle have become ubiquitous elements of the American Dream,” Starrett said. “It is impossible to live life in America free of pop culture influence and stereotype stigmas. A young girl is either influenced to be like her mother or rebel against the model she witnessed growing up. I spent my younger years as a tomboy, certain that I would never be a wife who enjoyed baking, keeping house and reading Martha Stewart.”

“Years later, when I married and moved into my own 1950s suburban home, I found that I had an inexplicable desire to collect kitchen tools, wear a bright colored apron and bake sweet treats for my new husband,” said Starrett. “Fascinated by my desire to do all the things that I had always rejected, I started to contemplate the internal conflicts that arise when social pressures and personal preference differ. I realized that I now have choices; the apron no longer represents the woman’s expected place in the kitchen, but the freedom to be there if I so desire. The objects I create are meant to provoke questions about the social standards and how they came to be.”

Starrett currently serves as assistant professor of metals/jewelry at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She earned a bachelor of fine arts in design, with emphasis in jewelry and metals, from the University of Kansas. The artist continued her education in Philadelphia where she earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Tyler School of Art. Starrett has participated in exhibitions across the United States and in Germany and her work is included in the permanent interactive collection at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Ore. Her art and research have been published in Art Jewelry magazine, Lark Books “500 Necklaces,” and was most recently featured on the cover of the August 2008 Metalsmith Magazine Exhibition in Print.

For more information on the featured artist or for Weber Art Gallery hours, please contact Rae Goodwin at 606.218.5759 or e-mail rgoodwin@pc.edu, or contact Pat Kowalok at 606.218.5758 or e-mail pkowalok@pc.edu.

If it were not for the steady drumbeat of dour economic news, a jewelry store giving away Valentine’s Day necklaces could be dismissed as a publicity stunt.

But Collierville store owner Cathy Robins said Thursday that the idea of offering 100 free sterling silver necklaces to people who have lost their jobs or their homes to foreclosure just seemed like a nice thing to do.

“I think a lot of people are really hurting right now and it’s just something to kind of cheer them up,” Robins said.

Robins Jewelry, which she and her husband, Dennis, have owned for 22 years, is one of four dozen outlets nationwide making the offer.

They are all members of the Independent Jewelers Organization, an 800-member buying group based in Norwalk, Conn.

In Olive Branch, Master Jewelers joined in the giving and had laid-off workers waiting Wednesday morning in the parking lot on Crumpler Boulevard.

The idea began with one store, Fox Fine Jewelry, in Ventura, Calif., said Jeff Roberts, president of the jewelers organization.

“I think everybody is looking for a little positive, upbeat news,” Roberts said.

The necklaces would sell for up to $99, but may cost store owners roughly $35 to $40, plus packaging, he said.

For those seeking necklaces, identification and proof of job loss or home foreclosure are requested.

Robins said the Collierville store began the offer this week and spread the word by asking customers to do so. The store still had dozens to give away.

“It’s not a bailout,” she said, laughing. “We just thought it was kind of a nice thing to do.”

‘A NICE THING TO DO’

–What: Valentine’s Day giveaway of 100 necklaces to people who have lost their jobs or their homes to foreclosure

–Where: Robins Jewelry, 610 West Poplar, Collierville, in the City Center shopping center facing the Wal-Mart Supercenter parking lot.

–When: Today and Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

State police are investigating the theft of about $5,000 in jewelry and antique movie posters from the home of a Fayette County woman when she was a patient in a hospital.

The theft occurred between Dec. 1 and Dec. 16 at the Fourth Street home of Ruth A. DeMichelis, 75, of Dunbar, said state police Trooper Douglas Rush.

Items stolen included a diamond bracelet, a pair of diamond earrings, a gold antique watch with a gold chain, a $20 gold coin, a gold bracelet, an gold chain necklace, an 18-carat gold necklace, a pair of ruby earrings, a pair of heart-shaped pearl earrings, various leather purses and the posters, Rush said.

A 51-year-old Connellsville resident has been identified as a suspect, Rush said.

Anyone with information is asked to call state police at 724-439-7111.