Articles

United States

11/24/2025

AJF’s Trip to the Stars

Our Travelers Attended the Opening of the Constellations Jewelry Exhibition, in Dallas

By Elena Karpilova & Danielle deCongé

AJF travelers went to Dallas November 6–8, 2025, for three days celebrating the opening of Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art. The art jewelry collector Deedie Rose was deeply instrumental in bringing Constellations into existence. The travelers had the opportunity to visit and dine in her home and to learn firsthand stories from her collection. They also explored the dynamic art and architecture of neighboring Forth Worth for a day.

DAY 1, STOP 1: We were privileged to receive an invitation to the private reception and opening of the massive, pivotal exhibition Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art. (Left to right) exhibition curator Sarah Shleuning, exhibition donor and longtime DMA supporter Deedie Potter Rose. She is also a longstanding and cherished member of AJF, photo: Danielle deCongé

AJF staff at the reception for Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art. (Left to right) Membership + Programs Coordinator Danielle deCongé and Executive Director Stefanie Fedor, photo: Danielle deCongé

AJF members at the reception for Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art. (Left to right) Shane Prada and Lydia Martin, photo: Danielle deCongé

AJF members at the reception for Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art! (Left to right) Carol Green and Edie Nader, photo: Danielle deCongé

AJF members enjoying the exhibition Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art. (Left to right) Joan Borinstein, Gary Gartsman, and AJF Board Member Emeritus Linda Peshkin, photo: Danielle deCongé

AJF member Bonnie Levine reading the atlas that is the exhibition guide for Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art! Photo: Stefanie Fedor

DAY 1, STOP 2: AJF members enjoyed a private dinner with a view—the final stop of the day. Photo: Danielle deCongé

DAY 2, STOP 1: AJF’s group was escorted by luxury minibus to Fort Worth for the day. They indulged in a private showing of artist work for sale at Ana Lopez’s home, as well as a studio tour, photo: Danielle deCongé

DAY 2, STOP 2: The travelers enjoyed a docent-led tour of the Kimbell Art Museum. Seen here: Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes. First they toured the Louis I. Khan-designed building. They then toured the Renzo Piano Pavilion, photo: Danielle deCongé

DAY 2, STOP 3: A traveler’s-eye view of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth from a private lunch in the museum’s dining room, photo: Danielle deCongé

AJF members admiring Wangechi Mutu’s The Seated III during a docent-led tour of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, photo: Danielle deCongé

Taking in some of Jenny Saville’s vast exhibition in the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, photo: Danielle deCongé

DAY 2, STOP 4: AJF held a meet-and-greet at Atlas, a cocktail bar in the Bishop Arts district of Dallas. Both members and non-members were welcomed, photo: Danielle deCongé

Bottoms-up! Photo: Danielle deCongé

DAY 3, STOP 1: The day started at the DMA for a private tour of Constellations. At the entrance to the exhibition, visitors are greeted by a large inscription—CONSTELLATIONS—cast in aluminum and seeming to float in midair, photo: Elena Karpilova

Sarah Schleuning, the Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the DMA, curated Constellations and gave the private tour, photo: Elena Karpilova

Schleuning showing David Bielander's Big Apple Neckpiece, 2015, in patinated silver and white gold staples. The title is also a word play on Otto Künzli’s Big American Neckpiece, photo: Elena Karpilova

Rings by Gert Mosettig,1977–1990. He was a self-taught jewelry artist who produced three-dimensional sketches rather than two-dimensional drawings. By creating these small maquettes or studies, Mosettig could play with various materials, such as brass tubing and rubber, and forms including spheres and cones, photo: Elena Karpilova

Several pieces in this case salute all who play ball. Winfried Krüger's set of two-piece brooches (silhouettes with shadows in the center) was inspired by a children's soccer game the artist witnessed one evening near his Berlin apartment. One part of the brooch captures the kid's silhouettes, while the other represents their shadows, lengthening in the setting sun. In Munster Da Vinci (center top) and (to its right) Cellini with Ball, Gijs Bakker examines the idolization of professional athletes. Bakker combined pictures of the professional soccer player Krzysztof Bociek (who pulled his jersey over his head after he scored a goal) with revered Renaissance images. Through this unexpected juxtaposition, Bakker raises questions about sports as a religion, photo: Elena Karpilova

The gallerist Sofia Björkman peruses the exhibition guide for Constellations, photo: Elena Karpilova

(Left to right) Helen Drutt and Sarah Schleuning, photo: Elena Karpilova

(Left to right) Sofia Björkman, Sarah Schleuning, Patti Bleicher, and Noel Guyomarc’h, photo: Elena Karpilova

DAY 3, STOP 2: Lunch at the Nasher Sculpture Center, which is adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art, in the Dallas Arts District. The garden features works by outstanding artists such as Magdalena Abakanowicz, Richard Serra, and others. Here, a piece by Richard Long, photo: Elena Karpilova

DAY 3, STOP 3: (Left to right) Bettina Dittlmann, Sarah Schleuning, and Leslie Shershow during “Creating Constellations,” a panel discussion at the Dallas Museum of Art that was open to the public. The topic was artists’ practice. Works by Dittlmann and Shershow are included in the Constellations show, photo: Elena Karpilova

DAY 3, STOP 4: The trip ended with a wonderful evening at the home of Deedie Rose—what a highlight of the time in Dallas! Deedie graciously allowed the travelers to explore her entire art jewelry collection while walking throughout the contemporary house. Spiral staircases, bedrooms, living rooms—pieces by Warwick Freeman, Lisa Walker, and renowned jewelers from around the world could be spotted in every room, sometimes on a bookshelf, sometimes on a table. It was an interesting way to experience the architectural space—almost like a treasure hunt! (Left to right) Deedie Rose, Susan Lewin Grant, and Lydia Martin, photo: Elena Karpilova

Author

Elena Karpilova & Danielle deCongé

Elena Karpilova was born in Belarus in 1987. Since 2022, she has lived in Lisbon, Portugal. From 2005–2009, she studied art at Glebov Art College (Belarus); from 2010–2016 she studied at the University of Culture and Arts (Belarus) as a comparative art critic. She is an art critic, an artist, and the head of an interdisciplinary project for children and youth, the Architectural Thinking School for Children, which now works in Portugal with families of migrants. “Due to a lack of education in the jewelry field in Belarus," says Karpilova, "I've been studying the subject on my own."

Karpilova was a finalist for the AGC Italy - Association of Contemporary Jewellery's Maria Cristina Bergesio Award 2024. She's a member of AGC (Association of Contemporary Jewellery). Website: elenakarpilova.com. Instagram: @karpilova

Danielle deCongé is AJF's Membership + Programs Coordinator. She's also a guest curator at The Jewelry Library. Originally from Baltimore, deCongé sprouted her burgeoning artistic wings at The Park School, before pursuing a BFA in Jewelry & Fine Metals at Pratt Institute in New York City. Her creative pursuits at deCongé Jewelry & Alchemy flourished before she took an extended holiday in London to study Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE) at the University of London, Goldsmiths just before the coronavirus pandemic. Perhaps most importantly, she is a cat mom to a 12-year-old diabetic tuxedo.

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