September 2016

Beyond Unwearable

“Is there a place for installation-based works in the field of contemporary jewelry?” Is there? In 20 very brief minutes, Portland, Oregon-based artist and AJF contributor Courtney Kemp delivers a densely researched exposé in front of a humming audience. She picks at the scab of “jewelers that make no jewelry, but on a large scale”

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Katie Scott

Henriette Schuster, Conglomerates, 2016, rings, silver, blackened silver, gold, largest 35 x 25 x 20 mm, photo: artist Now in its second iteration, the Mari Funaki Award for Contemporary Jewellery is an international biennial award founded in memory of the life and legacy of its namesake, Australian artist Mari Funaki. In this interview, Katie Scott,

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AJF Hangouts-South Africa

AJF Hangouts takes the pulse of the rapidly expanding world of global art jewelry. We hear from voices in emerging jewelry scenes, featuring those with the responsibility of representing their country as AJF Ambassadors. Despite the varying quality of video feeds, it’s quite amazing that we can now use this platform to connect people together

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Sophie Hanagarth, Bijoux de Famille (Family Jewels)

Jewelry as a Way to Transfer Wealth

Namita Gupta Wiggers published this short essay in the book Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective, by Damian Skinner.▲ Jewelry has long served as primary evidence of wealth and status throughout global cultures. From a dowry delivered by a father to secure his daughter’s future to polite Victorian-era references to male genitalia as the “family jewels,” connections

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It’s Complicated

  Shultz Gallery, photo: Cheri Falkenstien-Doyle That the art of Southwestern jewelry connects intricately to Native peoples’ contacts with 19th-century visitors to their homelands is a key takeaway of the Jim and Lauris Phillips Center for the Study of Southwestern Jewelry at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Staggering

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Sharon Church: Queen Bee

Sharon Church, Watching Juniper, 2016, pendant neckpiece, Styrofoam, paper clay, acrylic paint, mica, polyurethane coating, oxidized sterling, diamond rondel, handmade chain, detachable pendant: two balls: white = 54 mm diameter, dark = 67 mm diameter, diamond rondel = 9 mm diameter, chain and clasp, exclusive of pendant = 708 mm, photo: Ken Yanoviak My first

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Anna Cheng

Ame Gallery, photo: Andy Kwan Former interior architect Anna Cheng was all set to enter the family business selling traditional fine jewelry in the competitive Hong Kong market. But fate intervened. While traveling through Europe and the US, Cheng was exposed to contemporary art jewelry, fell in love with it, and the rest, as they

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