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International

06/16/2025

Have You Heard

Today in Art Jewelry

By Art Jewelry Forum

June 2025, Part 2

Art Jewelry Forum is pleased to share the news that members of our community find noteworthy. Is something missing? The success of this compilation of compelling events, news, and items of interest to the jewelry community depends on YOUR participation. If you’re a member of AJF at the Silver level or above, you can add news and ideas to this bi-monthly report by going here. If you aren’t a member, but would like to become one, join AJF here.

AJF LIVE WITH THE LOEWE FOUNDATION CRAFT PRIZE
June 25, 2025, 11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. Central European time. Join us for a conversation between Loewe Expert Panel member Michelle Millar Fisher and the three 2025 Loewe Craft Prize finalists working in the field of jewelry—Caroline Broadhead, Empar Juanes, and Fumiki Taguchi. Fisher is curator of contemporary decorative arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The artists will talk about their experience with the award and their own work. Register here.

FEAST: CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY FROM THE SUSAN BEECH COLLECTION
Tour the home of the American collector via this book. Since 1991, Beech has transformed her house into an extraordinary environment in which her extensive jewelry collection interacts with craft and fine art, all against a backdrop of Art Deco glamour. Beauty is entwined with darker forces of death and decay, and glimpses of pleasure nod to the surreal and uncanny. Purchase your copy in AJF’s bookstore.

AJF TRAVELS TO DALLAS NOVEMBER 6–8, 2025
Only a few seats remain for this exclusive trip! Get special access to the opening celebration of the important exhibition Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art, and enjoy a private tour with the curator. We’ll also visit the magnificent home of prominent collector Deedie Rose to see the reinstallation of her private collection, and enjoy dinner on the grounds. This trip will also shine a light on the exciting world of contemporary art in Fort Worth. Open to Silver+ members. Email danielle [at] artjewelryforum [dot] org for information.

FEEL LIKE SEEING A JEWELRY SHOW?
Find listings from around the world on our dedicated exhibition page.

EVENTS
We have a dedicated page for them. Go here to see the full list.

FROM OUR MEMBERS

THE POETICS OF PLACE II, AT ATTA GALLERY
The Bangok gallery is currently hosting an exhibition of jewelry and objects by 16 Australian makers across contemporary craft, object-based, and textile practices. The works explore, expand, and trouble the concept of “place” in post-colonial Australia and Aotearoa. They engage with literal and (sub)liminal geographies via the intimate relationality of the body. More.

THE BALTIMORE JEWELRY CENTER IS HIRING AN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The BJC seeks an Executive Director to succeed founding director Shane Prada. The ED will oversee staff, programs, and mission execution, requiring strong leadership, operational management, and communication skills. The ideal candidate will excel in administration, strategic planning, and collaboration. Proven fundraising abilities—including grant writing, donor development, and grant management—are essential. The ED should be a dynamic leader with the vision, energy, and passion to guide the BJC into its second decade, fostering growth and innovation while expanding its network and impact within the arts and education communities. More info.

DEVOUR: JEWELRY BY SOPHIE HANAGARTH OPENS JUNE 29, 2025
Lips that encircle fingers, teeth that bite wrists. Chains that suggest whips and testicles. French kisses made of dark, hard steel. Hanagarth’s jewelry is characterized by ambiguity and a play on associations. With her work, she questions conventions, gives space to the power of irony, and questions decorative norms. Humor, provocation, the sensual, and the relationship between jewelry and the body permeate the work. At the German Goldsmiths’ House in Hanau. More.

MOBILIA GALLERY SPOTLIGHTS CANTASTIC WORKS BY EUNSEOK HAN
Instead of using traditional metalwork techniques and materials, Han is committed to pursuing environmental sustainability by using recycled aluminum soda and beer cans, “a material that is used once and discarded. It is one of the main contributors to environmental pollution—one can takes 500 years to decompose completely,” says Han. After sorting the cans, she hand-cuts shapes which she bends, curves, and joins together with a renewable plastic. More.

BEPPE KESSLER FEATURED IN AN ART AUREA ARTICLE
The artist was one among eight people interviewed about Schmuck 2025 and their views on the future of our field. The magazine provided a PDF of the article, which is in both German and English. Find it here, in AJF’s digital Library.

LOLA BROOKS RECEIVES MASTERS OF THE MEDIUM AWARD
Congratulations! Every two years, the James Renwick Alliance honors American artists and educators who’ve significantly influenced the field of craft and their respective mediums. The JRA posted photos of the award ceremony here. Scroll through and you’ll see AJF’s own Stef Fedor and Danielle deCongé.

THOMAS GENTILLE RECEIVES SNAG’S LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Congratulations! Over the past six decades, this pioneer has been one of the most influential voices in contemporary art jewelry, extending the boundaries of technique, material innovation, and conceptual exploration. Gentille’s work—at once intellectual, sculptural, and poetic—has redefined the very concept of adornment, challenging conventional ideas of beauty, value, and non-representational form. More.

WAXCAST: CREATIONS BY EARL JONES, AT THE BJC
This powerful retrospective honors the life and work of Baltimore artist, entrepreneur, and inventor Earl Jones (1951–2024). Showcasing jewelry, sculpture, and archival materials, the exhibition traces three major phases of his career—early sculpture, his casting business, and his evolution as a jeweler. Known for culturally specific designs and vibrant heat patinas, Jones’ swork reflects a lifetime of dedication to craft. The show also highlights his lasting impact on Baltimore’s arts scene and his support of Black creative spaces. Waxcast celebrates an extraordinary legacy of artistry, innovation, and community building. More.

ISLAND WELCOME, AT AUSTRALIA’S HAHNDORF ACADEMY
This group exhibition, curated by Belinda Newick, explores contemporary jewelry as a gesture of welcome. It seeks to bring attention to asylum seeker issues and to extend the dialogue beyond art and craft audiences via expressions of Australian values through craft practice. With reference to welcome garlands gifted in many traditional islander cultures, each artist has made a neckpiece, lei, or garland interpreting the theme of welcome whilst considering current Australian immigration policies. It’s a quiet, contemplative experience of adornment as a vehicle for political discourse, empathy, and shared humanity. The exhibition has toured Australia since 2017. This showing, at Hahndorf Academy, in South Australia, through July 20, 2025, is the last. Newick is a contemporary jeweler whose work explores cultural hybridity, place, and social engagement. Newick maintains a diverse practice as a studio-based jeweler and as an independent curator and writer. She has taught in the Jewellery and Object Design program at Melbourne Polytechnic since 2007. More.

OPENING SOON: THE JEWELRY OF DOROTHEA PRÜHL
The exhibition is being curated by Cindi Strauss and Elizabeth Essner. It will run September 6, 2025–January 2027 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

OTHER NEWS

ART JEWELRY & JEWELS AUCTION: JULY 3, 2025
You’ll find work by Manfred Bischoff, Felieke van der Leest, Pol Bury, Johanna Dahm, Andi Gut, Peter Hoogeboom, Mari Ishikawa, Jiro Kamata, Gerd Rothmann, Petra Zimmerman, Annamaria Zanella, Michael Zobel, and many others in this sale from Quittenbaum. Go here.

SEATTLE METALS GUILD’S SPRING EMERGING ARTISTS LECTURE SERIES ENDS
The final event is on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, at 6 p.m. Pacific. It features emerging artists Bryce Wall, Fernanda Gaspar, and Laurie Gyarmathy. Register here.

THE WORST THING TO BE? A PIECE OF JEWELRY, SPENDING LIFE IN A DRAWER
The craft orchestrator Lou Grotta—he doesn’t call himself a collector—said something along those lines in an American Craft interview. But he and his late wife, Sandy, displayed her jewelry acquisitions all around the house because they are “every bit as worthy of showing off as the baskets and bowls and teapots and tapestries,” said Grotta. More.

ARTISTS’ JEWELRY: FROM CUBISM TO POP, THE DIANE VENET COLLECTION
This exhibition features 150+ pieces of jewelry designed by some 140 of the most significant artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. Navigating the challenges of mastering a new medium or scaling down to adorn the body is met with witnessing the joy of creating intensely personal objects, often destined for cherished people within the artist’s inner circle. At the Norton Museum of Art, through October 5, 2025. More.

DANA SCHNEIDER DESIGNS FOR HOLLYWOOD
More than 1,000 of her creations have appeared in about 80 productions, including the movies The Matrix Reloaded and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the TV series Game of Thrones and Californication. With her jewelry designs, she aims “to help actors get into character.” More.

PAGES

THE JEWELRY BOOK
Edited by Melanie Grant, this book dives deep into designers, creative houses, artists, collectors, and style icons from around the world who have produced and inspired the most memorable designs in jewelry. It’s arranged A to Z, placing early stars and iconic brands alongside today’s most innovative designers and creatives. Entries range from Boucheron to Erykah Badu, from Art Smith to The Notorious B.I.G. More.

We welcome your comments on our publishing, and we will publish letters that engage with our articles in a thoughtful and polite manner. Please submit letters to the editor electronically; do so here. The page on which we publish Letters to the Editor is here.