Food and Jewelry: the two most delectable things in life!

Come taste one of Eve’s favorite foods and take away a booklet of her special food recipes while she suggests transformations to make your old

jewels take a new place in your life. Eve’s creative insights will surprise you and allow you to recreate the old to make jewelry you can wear for breakfast with the family AND for dinner at Alinea!

“A recipe holds tradition and stories of years past. As time goes on, we sprinkle our own flavors and passions into the dough we knead.”

Schedule your personal, one-on-one time with Eve now.

3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Soft Rose Andean Opals

Join us for the next meeting of The Pearl Society, and become an expert not only on pearls, but on boulder opals.

Robert Shapiro, a long time collector and specialist in opals more recently added Tahitian pearls to his interests and  inventory.  Each of these gems derives its sensuous appeal from refracted light: opals through their unique structure    retain water through which light circulates.

You will learn to distinguish the merely good from the exquisite, viewing actual opal samples and comparing their appeal to that of Robert’s lush Tahiti pearls, also on view that day.

If you are in the Chicago area, or can make arrangements to be here for the meeting, you are welcome to attend.

Beautiful gems, glittering gold…shop online at www.evejewerly.com or come into our store! 623 Grove Street in Evanston. We’ll personally help you to shop for the right present. Open until 6:00 p.m. tonight and tomorrow until 4:00!

Thursday  11:00 a.m. 8:00 p.m.

Try these Holiday Glitters!

Watch Eve as she shows us how to use great removable drops with her earrings.

It’ll only take 2 minutes. Watch it now.  Then visit the website for holiday shopping.

by Eve J. Alfille

Lyonel Feininger's Carnival

This is one of my dream world series: unlike Winter, or the earlier Lunar Garden, in which I recollected and translated images from nature, here the direct experience is mediated through an encounter I had with a  striking painting, Carnival, by Lionel Feininger, and later, by two other artistic discoveries that deeply  affected me, and which I will relate.

Remember that when Carnival was created, 1908, artists in every medium were entering a fascination with the dream world and its interpretation, which I have always shared.

Have you ever come across a combination of objects, or shapes, or colors, and immediately felt: ” This speaks to me like nothing else”, or “ I have seen this before, but in another dimension, in another world”..?

It comes at you from the side, like a collision,  imprints in your mind,  and becomes part of a secret tune that plays forever there.. (Surrealist artists like Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali  too, delight us with their incongruous objects : they give us the delicious permission to recognize  the alternate realities of our  nightly dreams).

Ever since I first saw Carnival years ago, I have felt inside the scene, one of the magic creatures ambling the slanted streets. Or maybe the scene is in me.  These are exactly the colors, the shapes I take in my dreams, and the traceries on the pavement and the walls still resound inside me. I actually don’t need much sleep, but when I do, I can’t wait to enter the paradise of my dream world.

The creatures in the painting are strong but delicate, the colors astounding but beautiful; seen through the lens of  magic realism, they are entirely possible, yet can surely not be grasped, they have no bones..  This is who I wish to be, there but not there, to be seen  and followed as I dance under the stars and give joy, but please do not pull me away, do not  yank me back to a mean reality.

Over the years, the actual Carnival and the painting coalesced, and I tried to understand the reason for my obsession. Why had I never spoken of it to anyone?

But I knew.  I could never speak of it because my joy in the colors, the shapes, complex patterns, even the dance gave me guilt. Such simple delight could not be permitted, I grew up thinking- one would have to pay for it.

Diamonds.

Sparkles that are unique.

In the dark and in the light.

Diamond and Platinum RingBlack and White Diamond NecklaceWhite Wavy Diamond Earrings

Diamonds and Platinum Pendant

Diamond Ring set in 14k Green Gold

Diamond Ring Set in Palladium

Diamonds and DrusyAgate Necklace

Black Diamonds and Drusy Agate Earrings

Eve J. Alfille Gallery and Studio and The Pearl Society announced today that the company’s founder, Eve J. Alfille, will be a featured speaker at the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers on

Tahitian Pearl and Diamond Necklace on 14k white gold

Saturday, August 13, 2011.

The hands-on workshop provides valuable information to appraisers who are called upon to handle estate matters and identify pearls. “Since founding the Pearl Society, I’ve had the opportunity to learn and recognize a wide variety of pearls including the most difficult subjects, natural pearls,” said Eve J. Alfille owner of Eve J. Alfille Gallery and Studio, and founder of the Pearl Society. “It is critical for appraisers to know the characteristics of identifying pearls from the 18th century to current in order to properly provide an appraisal.”

Eve J. Alfille will be focusing on a wide variety of pearls including natural pearls, cultured pearls, faux pearls and simulated pearls to name a few. The workshop will also discuss pearl origins, colors and pearl innovations from new areas such as China and Viet Nam.

In April of this year, Eve J. Alfille Gallery and Studio unveiled their new gold alloy, Blush Gold.  Adding to her other gold alloy creation, Blonde Gold, Blush Gold was developed for her new Series, ‘First Light’.  “When I developed my first alloy 10 years ago, 14k Blonde Gold, it was perfect with more of the ‘off’ colors  or faint shades of gray and yellow. Diamonds, sapphires and other gems take on a very different appearance when set in either the shiny or brushed blonde gold.”

View the collection of pearls and new gold alloys at www.evejewerly.com or visit her Evanston based gallery at 623 Grove St in Evanston, Illinois.

Blush Gold, the New Alloy

jewelry designs.

and Internet retailer Eve J. Alfille Gallery and Studio unveiled today their new gold alloy, Blush Gold.  Adding to her other alloy gold creation, Blonde Gold, Blush Gold was developed for her new jewelry Series to be released April 30th, ‘First Light’.

Alfille, known for her worldwide expertise in pearls, began working with noble metals as a way to tell her story. Many years ago when Eve Alfille came to live and work in the United States, she found that Americans used only 14k yellow gold. Some foreign designers such as Eve, were already working in 18k gold which has a deeper yellow tone. “I then became interested in the properties of green gold which is almost a lime green and yellow color,” said the French born artist. “Manufacturers in America were using 18k green gold, but didn’t state its true color.” Later, white gold and platinum became more widely used.

However, for Alfille, the white, yellow and platinum noble metals were too harsh for her jewelry Series. “I am interested in the subtleties of color,” said Eve J Alfille. “When I developed my first alloy 10 years ago, 14k Blonde Gold, it was perfect with more of the ‘off’ colors  or faint shades of gray and yellow and the chocolate tones of Champagne diamonds. Diamonds, sapphires and other gems take on a very different appearance when set in either the shiny or brushed blonde gold.”

Although there are various alloys created in the marketplace, such as blue gold, and purple gold, these alloys have proven to be unstable and can only be used where stress is at a minimum. Alfille’s blonde gold and now the blush gold can be used in various jewelry settings such as rings, necklaces and bracelets where stress on the metal can be much greater.

Prior to creating fine jewelry, Eve J. Alfille was a metal sculptor and archeologist where she honed her artistry and knowledge of history. “When  I worked in large sculpture, I was interested in the types of metal that would change color over time,” said Eve Alfille. “I worked with steel that would naturally show decay and change the appearance and bring new life to the art.”  Alfille’s new creation, blush gold, not only does not alter with time, but complements nearly every skin tone.

About Eve J. Alfille Gallery & Studio

French-born, artist, archeologist and gem expert, Eve J. Alfille opened her Evanston, IL-based gallery and studio in 1987. The Eve J. Alfille Gallery & Studio and Internet retailer creates one-of-a-kind, art-inspired jewelry hand-crafted at the Gallery. Eve is also the founder of The Pearl Society and an officer of the International Pearl Association. Visit our website at www.evejewelry.com or Eve’s blog at www.pearlsociety.typepad.com.