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Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) Presents Space-Light-Structure The Jewelry of Margaret De Patta

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) presents Space-Light-Structure: The Jewelry of Margaret De Patta open February 4 – May 13, 2012.

In conjunction with the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Oakland Museum of California presents a retrospective exhibition on the work of pioneer jeweler Margaret De Patta. A seminal figure in the American Modernist Jewelry movement, De Patta was born in 1903 and moved to the Bay Area in 1923. Distinguished as one of the few American jewelers whose work was allied to the evolving ideas presented in the modern art movement, De Patta’s work was heavily influenced by the Constructivists and features architectural forms with simple, modern lines. Space-Light-Structure: The Jewelry of Margaret De Patta features 50 jewelry pieces as well as ceramics, flatware, photographs, pictograms, and newly released archival material. OMCA holds the most extensive collection of De Patta’s work, most of which was donated by her husband, Eugene Bielawski, after the artist’s death in 1964.

Space-Light-Structure: The Jewelry of Margaret De Patta is presented by the Oakland Museum of California and the Museum of Craft and Design, New York. The exhibition is curated by OMCA Associate Curator of Craft & Decorative Art Julie Muñiz, and MAD Curator of Jewelry Ursula Isle-Neuman. Accompanying the exhibition is a 248-page catalogue examining De Pattas’s 30-year career, co-published by OMCA and MAD with support of the Rotasa Foundation.

ABOUT THE OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) brings together collections of art, history and natural science under one roof to tell the extraordinary stories of California and its people. OMCA’s groundbreaking exhibits tell the many stories that comprise California with many voices, often drawing on first-person accounts by people who have shaped California’s cultural heritage. Visitors are invited to actively participate in the Museum as they learn about the natural, artistic and social forces that affect the state and investigate their own role in both its history and its future. With more than 1.8 million objects, OMCA is a leading cultural institution of the Bay Area and a resource for the research and understanding of California’s dynamic cultural and environmental heritage.

VISITOR INFORMATION The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is at 1000 Oak Street, at 10th Street, in Oakland. OMCA is situated between downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt. Museum admission is $12 general; $9 seniors and students with valid ID, $6 youth ages 9 to 17, and free for Members and children 8 and under. OMCA offers onsite underground parking and is conveniently located one block from the Lake Merritt BART station, on the corner of 10th Street and Oak Street. The accessibility ramp is located at the new 1000 Oak Street main entrance. For more information, visit www.museumca.org

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