Jan Yager

Jan Yager
Yager in 2001
Born(1951-10-09)October 9, 1951[1]
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedAugust 14, 2024(2024-08-14) (aged 72)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Alma materWestern Michigan University, Rhode Island School of Design
OccupationArtist
SpouseRick Shnitzler
AwardsPew Fellowship in the Arts, Anonymous Was A Woman Award, National Endowment for the Arts

Jan Yager (October 9, 1951 – August 14, 2024) was an American artist who made mixed media jewelry. She drew inspiration from both the natural world and the lived-in human environment of her neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, emphasizing that art is a reflection of both time and place. She incorporated rocks, bullet casings, and crack cocaine vials into her works, and found beauty in the resilience of urban plants that some would consider weeds.

Yager's design vocabulary is unusual in invoking "vast and collective networks of reference" that include the historic, the artistic, and the political.[2] Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art,[3][4] the Smithsonian American Art Museum,[5] the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,[6][7] the National Museum of Scotland,[8] and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London, United Kingdom,[9] which featured fifty of Yager's pieces in a solo show in 2001 entitled "Jan Yager: City Flora/City Flotsam".[10][11][12] In 2002, her Invasive Species American Mourning Tiara was chosen for "Tiaras", an exhibition of 200 tiaras at the V&A, and was featured on the back cover of the accompanying book.[13] In 2007, Yager was featured in the PBS documentary series "Craft in America: Memory, Landscape, Community".[14][15]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Portfolio was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rosolowski was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ruff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "American Breastplate Jan Yager, American, born 1951". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  5. ^ "Rock Necklace with Ridge". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  6. ^ Zilber, Emily (September 15, 2016). "American Collar II". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  7. ^ L'Ecuyer, Kelly Hays (October 14, 2011). "The Daphne Farago Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston". Art Jewelry Forum. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  8. ^ Watban, Rose. "Collector's Choice". Art Jewelry Forum. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  9. ^ Inglesby, Roisin (April 29, 2019). "Magpies, rejoice – the V&A has revamped its jewellery gallery". Apollo Magazine. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Findings was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Wilson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Heller, Karen (May 30, 2007). "Craft is where she finds it". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Munn was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Haithman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lauria was invoked but never defined (see the help page).