Beginning in 1906, he used to gather copper wires from the streets and began adorning his sister’s dolls with them. His use of ordinary and perceived cheap material led him into the creation of a jewelry technique that was inventive and saw him make over 1500 art forms of jewelry. His work was desirable to Surrealist coterie and it is still being sought after to the present date by many collectors and more so the museums (McCarthy, 2010).

The Whitney Museum is a showcase of Calder’s art displaying his wire art forms and sculptures. These however are not among the more than 1800 pieces that he has made over time. They are only playful wire sculptures that make up the ‘Calder’s Circus’. About 90 of the pieces that he made are exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum which was among the first museum to showcase original jewelry from Calder. Calder’s Jewelry is made of steel and brass wires with small traces of ceramic, glass, and even wood (McCarthy, 2010).

His works are also found at the Norton Museum of Art in New York. it was put in the exhibition by Jane Aldin, Mark Rosenthal, and Alexander Rower who is Calder’s grandson. They created a boutique environment by placing brooches and hair combs in vertical cases so as to display even the smallest of the pieces. This is to ensure that the smaller art forms do not get lost in the galleries with very high ceilings.

In two of the cases, it is shown that Calder made jewelry for his wife, Louisa. Their engagement ring, for example, was a simple spiral piece of gold wire. It is said that he always used this as gifts for his anniversary and birthdays. Mr. Rower, Calder’s grandson says that his grandmothers’ dressing table was a ‘mysterious altar’ because of the works of his grandfather. He also made some of his pieces by engraving monograms or initials e.g. the pieces with a Surrealist bent portrayed in the pair of earrings.