Lynchburg, VA, USA—Art Jewelry Forum (AJF) is pleased to announce this award, open to artists of any age and nationality. The $20,000 grant has as its objective to support the creation of a solo exhibition to advance an artist working in the field of art jewelry. It was established in 2025 by the contemporary jewelry collector Linda Peshkin, who lives in Scottsdale, AZ, US.
The proposed project should be about jewelry, loosely defined. Applications will be accepted starting Tuesday, September 1, 2026. The deadline to apply is 11:59 PM, MST, on Sunday, November 15, 2026. More information and complete guidelines can be found here.
The jury of distinguished professionals for this—the second—grant cycle will be: Geraldine Fenn (South Africa), Jorge Manilla (Mexico/Belgium/Norway), and Bella Neyman (US).
- Geraldine Fenn is a contemporary jeweler based in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she shares a studio and the exhibition space Tinsel Gallery with her husband, fellow art jeweler Eric Loubser. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in archaeology and classical civilization at Wits University, in Johannesburg; went to Durban to study jewelry design; then returned to Wits for an MFA in 2005. This background has a big influence on her work—ancient and historic jewelry forms and motifs continually inspire Fenn. Her work is almost always figurative and narrative in nature. She has recently been exploring colonial encounters in Africa as a theme, working with vintage painted miniature portraits and adding layers of meaning to them by creating new jewelry environments for them to exist in. Fenn has organized and participated in many group and solo shows both in South Africa and abroad, and has twice had work selected for the art jewelry competition Schmuck (in 2023 and 2025). She won the inaugural AJF Solo Exhibition Award. The resulting show, Dispatch from the Colonies, was on view at Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h, in Montreal, Canada, in June and July 2026.
- Jorge Manilla is a Mexico City-born artist who lives and works between Oslo, Norway, and Ghent, Belgium. His practice centers on the creation of monochrome, organic compositions and sculptural jewelry using materials such as wood, leather, paper, seaweed, and polymer gypsum. Through a dialogue between geometry and organic form, his work evokes abstract, often unsettling narratives that explore the physical, emotional, and mystical dimensions of human experience. Manilla’s objects suggest fragments of lost histories or speculative futures, reflecting tensions between rationality and emotion. Alongside his artistic practice, he is deeply engaged in education and research. Since 2017, he has been head professor of metal and art jewelry at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. He is also active internationally as a visiting professor, tutor, and critic, contributing to academic and independent art programs across Europe and Latin America. His work is held in museum collections, private foundations, and collections worldwide.
- Bella Neyman is the founder of NYC Jewelry Week, an annual festival celebrating jewelry, held every November since 2018. She is also an independent curator and journalist specializing in contemporary jewelry. She served on the Curatorial Advisory Committee for Rings that Rock!, at the DIVA Museum, in Antwerp, Belgium, which opened in April 2026. Since earning her master’s degree in decorative arts and design history from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum & Parsons, The New School for Design in 2008, Neyman has worked for some of New York City’s leading design galleries. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, American Craft, The Magazine Antiques, and Metalsmith magazine. Neyman lectures on jewelry history both online and in-person at various institutions. She is a longtime member of AJF’s Board. Neyman resides in Brooklyn, NY, US, with her family.
The AJF Solo Exhibition Award is open to all jewelry makers. The grant recipient will receive an award in the amount of $20,000, to be paid over the two years in which the project is implemented.
On September 9, 2026, join us for “AJF Live with Geraldine Fenn.”
The inaugural recipient of AJF’s 2025 Solo Exhibition Award will take us inside the development of her exhibition, which explored the power dynamics of European colonization in Africa through historical portrait jewelry, trade beads, micromosaic, and an expanded collaboration with Zimbabwean beading collective Marigold.
We’ll see highlights from the completed show and hear how the award created opportunities to research, to learn and experiment with new techniques, and to make work on a scale that might otherwise not have been possible. Artists considering applying are especially encouraged to join us to hear firsthand what the award can make possible—and begin imagining what they might do with the opportunity. Register here to attend.
Contact: Marta Costa Reis
Email: ajfartistaward@artjewelryforum.org
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.
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