Lynchburg, VA, US—We are pleased to announce the transitions of some of our existing board members into positions of leadership: Marta Costa Reis as chair of the board, Bill Baker as treasurer, and Barbara Paris Gifford as board secretary.
Bonnie Levine’s tenure as board chair for the last two years has ended. It is hard to express the amount of gratitude Levine deserves for the passion and dedication with which she led Art Jewelry Forum. “With her infectious love for art jewelry,” states Stef Fedor, AJF’s executive director, “she worked tirelessly to ensure AJF is better positioned to advance the field and grow opportunities for this dynamic community. She has seen the organization through some very important moments and we are honored that she will continue to be a part of AJF’s leadership.” Levine will continue to serve on AJF’s board in an advisory capacity and will continue as the chair of AJF’s Trips Committee.
AJF founder Susan Cummins will also stay on AJF’s Executive Committee in an advisory role. AJF’s board of directors is composed of an international group of thinkers, creators, and appreciators of the field of art jewelry. They guide our organizational activities and keep our mission to advocate for art jewelry at the center of all that we do. To see the full roster of AJF’s board of directors and their roles in the organization, please go to this link.
Marta Costa Reis Transitions from Board Secretary to Board Chair
Marta Costa Reis originally trained as a lawyer and worked in the media and in nonprofit and publishing sectors. In 2004 she began her study of jewelry as a hobby, while pursuing other professional activities. Ten years later she made the decision to dedicate herself fully to jewelry-making. She attended courses at Lisbon’s Ar.Co and the Lisbon School of Design, as well as a number of workshops with established artists such as Ruudt Peters, Iris Eichenberg, Ramon Puig Cuyàs, Lauren Kalman, and Eija Mustonen. Currently a teacher of jewelry history at Ar.Co, Costa Reis has helped curate and organize multiple exhibitions, including the 20th-anniversary program for Galeria Reverso in Lisbon during 2018, and the Lisbon Contemporary Jewellery Biennial. She was one of the artistic directors of the 1st Lisbon Contemporary Jewellery Biennial, and general curator of the second edition in 2024. She has been the president of PIN – the Portuguese Association of Contemporary Jewellery since 2023. She also serves as the chair of AJF’s Award and Grant Committee.
“AJF has a central role in my jewelry life. I have used its resources on [countless] occasions, learned from the content it offers, recommended it to my students, and also participated in meetups, conferences, visits, and other events. I have benefited so much from AJF that I am happy to be able to give some of my time back to help it continue its role of promoting, studying, and supporting art jewelry and its community.” —Marta Costa Reis
Bill Baker Transitions from Board Member to Treasurer of the Board
“I have been a California attorney since 1973 and retired in 2013. I was a sole practitioner with a focus on real estate and contract transactions and litigation. My wife, Francine, and I live in Claremont, the home of seven colleges, and located in eastern Los Angeles County.
“I served on city commissions, both the Planning Commission and Architectural Commission, and volunteer in Claremont’s after-school tutoring program.
Francine and I enjoy active traveling while also visiting interesting sites, museums, art fairs, art jewelry galleries, and good restaurants. Over the years we have collected glass, ceramics, and art jewelry. We have attended many art fairs and conferences including SOFA, SNAG, ACC, Smithsonian, and AJF trips.”
“We have been members of Art Jewelry Forum for over 10 years and have appreciated meeting other collectors and learning from artists about the materials and technique of making art jewelry.” —Bill Baker
Barbara Paris Gifford Transitions from Board Member to Secretary of the Board
Barbara Paris Gifford is senior curator of contemporary art, craft, and design at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York City. She oversees MAD’s renowned jewelry collection and has helped organize over 20 exhibitions, including Counter Couture: Handmade Fashion in an American Counterculture, The World of Anna Sui, and Jewelry Stories: Highlights from the Collection 1947–Now, for which she edited a comprehensive catalog. Most recently she presented Out of the Jewelry Box, an exhibition and catalog exploring the intersection of queerness and contemporary jewelry. She is an expert in jewelry and fashion and has written on these subjects for numerous publications. Gifford holds an MA in decorative arts, design history, and material culture from the Bard Graduate Center, NY.
“AJF is an invaluable resource for learning about the artists and other important figures in the contemporary art jewelry field. It helped me get up to speed when I began as a curator and, 12 years later, it continues to be a go-to source. It’s so gratifying to give back with my time to support the organization.” —Barbara Paris Gifford
About AJF
Art Jewelry Forum is a nonprofit organization spreading awareness and increasing appreciation of art jewelry worldwide since 1997. AJF advocates for art jewelry through an ambitious agenda of education, conversation, and financial support. It commissions critical writing that sets the standard for excellence in the field and publishes artjewelryforum.org, an online resource for original content on art jewelry.
