In May of 2015, AJF Executive Director Rebekah Frank went out to Minneapolis to attend the very exciting Superscript seminar organized by Mn Artists and hosted by the Walker Art Center (the rest of us attended the seminar through its live feed). The seminar was of interest to AJF for several reasons. Not only was […]
Have Pen, Will Report? Read More »
Mill Valley, California, USA–Art Jewelry Forum (AJF) is now accepting submissions for its 15th annual Artist Award. Ambitious contemporary jewelry artists age 35 and under have until November 15, 2015, to apply for this international prize in contemporary art jewelry, which includes $7500 USD for the winner and an exhibition during Schmuck in February 2016
College professors worldwide tear out a thousand metric tons of their own hair each year whenever they see Wikipedia cited as a reference in student term papers. However, Wikipedia still holds the power in today’s society to confer existence itself to all manner of people, places, thoughts, ideas, and things. Wikipedia is the alchemical force
Art Jewelry Forum Is Officially Wikipedia-Real! Read More »
The explosion will not happen today. It is too soon … or too late.[1] Frantz Fanon (1925–1961) was a Martinique-born psychiatrist, writer, and revolutionary. Like other middle-class Martinicans, he received a French education. He fled the island at age 18 and enlisted in the Free French Forces, continuing his service to the end of the
This Summer, I Am Re-reading… Read More »
For me, the summer seems infinite at the start, and inevitably screeches to an end after our annual family camping trip in the first week of August. For the past 15 years, this week tolls the last gasp of the season, making us scramble for a bit more sun, to cram in one more book,
This Summer I Am Going to Read… Read More »
My studio is a very important part of my process of working. I work mainly with stone. In the picture you can see the basic tools for stone, like sawing and grinding machines and other jeweler’s tools. The possibility of working with materials such as stone gives me incredible pleasure. The feeling the material produces
Sara Gackowska, Słupsk, Poland Read More »
“The criminalization of debt, then, was the criminalization of the very basis of human society.” I learned to be a cultural consumer as a teenager by following pop music. Each year, one of my favorite singers or bands would produce a new album. I would pore over the cover and dissect each track. I remember
This Winter I Am Re-reading… Read More »
Social activism and activist art are generally not known for having a “gentle touch”—unless one has a social media presence equal to the Dalai Lama’s, a quiet voice is rarely heard. At the same time, overt, heavy-handed messages addressing the failures of society are rarely experienced as “enjoyable.” Nick Cave’s Soundsuits operate on numerous levels.
Exhibition view, Bianca Lopez and the Jewelry Art and Design of Manhattan, 2015, Oratorio di San Rocco, Padua, photo: Alessandra Zabbeo Bianca Lopez and the Jewelry Art and Design of Manhattan March 26–April 26, 2015 Oratorio di San Rocco, Padua, Italy Who says that tradition and novelty can’t stay together? This exhibit could somehow be
Merchants in the Temple Read More »
Joe Sheehan is a carver from New Zealand. He carves basalt into the shape of TV remotes and other non-stone-age gadgets. They are simply beautiful. What more can I say? In his show at Velvet da Vinci, he displayed a wide array of these in conjunction with the work of another New Zealander, Craig McIntosh.
Joe Sheehan: The Quick and the Dead Read More »
Born June 10, 1918, Denver, Colorado Died August 2, 2015, Sausalito, California June Schwarcz, Vessel 593, 1971, electroformed copper foil with plique-à-jour enamel, height 127 x 236 mm, photo M. Lee Fatherree June Schwarcz, one of the masters of contemporary craft, has passed away at the age of 97. June’s enamel work and sculptural copper
In Memory of June Schwarcz Read More »
“The real is produced from miniaturized units, from matrices, memory banks and command models—and with these it can be reproduced an indefinite number of times.” —Jean Baudrillard I assume most AJF readers are familiar with the film trilogy The Matrix, in which protagonist Neo (played by Keanu Reeves) leaves “reality” behind and leaps into the
This Summer I Am Re-reading… Read More »
