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ANNOUNCEMENT—AUCTION
On June 3, 2018, the Pierre Bergé & Associés will auction 229 pieces from the collection of Graziella Folchini Grassetto. There’s some wonderful work here, including art jewelry by Felieke van der Leest, Helen Britton, Ruudt Peters, Gijs Bakker, Peter Chang, Georg Dobler, Iris Eichenberg, Karl Fritsch, Ted Noten, Beppe Kessler, Barbara Paganin, Katja Prinz, Ramon Puig Cuyas, Peter Skubic, Lucy Sarneel, Graziano Visintin, David Watkins, and Annamaria Zanella, among other notable art jewelers.
ANNOUNCEMENT—NEW MUSEUM
A new museum has opened in Antwerp: the Diva museum, dedicated to diamonds and silverwork and the history of diamonds in the city. Antwerp has been the capital of the diamond trade since 1447, and even though 84 percent of the world’s rough diamonds still passed through that city last year, Antwerp wanted some additional allure to maintain its industry dominance and grow its tourism.
ANNOUNCEMENT
On May 11, 2018, the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design announced the recipients of the 2018 Materials-Based Research Grant. They include:
Laura Devendorf, Assistant Professor, ATLAS Institute & Dept. of Information Science, University of Colorado, Boulder
Steven Frost, Fiber and Performance Artist & Instructor, Department of Media Studies College of Media Communication & Information, University of Colorado, Boulder
Diego de la Cruz Gaitan, MAOF (Materiales y Oficios, or materials and crafts)
Javier Arbona, Assistant Professor, American Studies and Design, University of California, Davis
Kylie Peppler, Associate Professor, Indiana University, School of Education
Jiangmei Wu, Assistant Professor, Indiana University, School of Art, Architecture + Design
The Materials-Based Research Grant is an award of up to $15,000 granted to interdisciplinary teams of researchers for an 18-month grant period. The goal of these collaborations is to encourage mutually beneficial innovation in Craft and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) through focusing on materials and process-based research. Teams include one maker and one professional working in a STEM-based field.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Australian Design Centre (ADC) has been awarded an Australia Council grant to research and develop a new contemporary jewelry survey exhibition for a future national tour. This project will focus on the idea of “place,” both in terms of geography, the land and the built environment, and the more personal “places” of the body and the home. Contemporary jewelry offers a way to negotiate relationships between settler and Indigenous cultures, to find beauty in humble materials, and to appreciate the natural environment. Australian artists are creating something radically distinct from the kind of contemporary jewelry produced elsewhere while at the same time creating work that is close to the heart of the artistic field shared with contemporary jewelry scenes in other countries. This project will aim to give audiences an appreciation of new practice and new materials, and turns the idea of what creates value on its head.
A curatorial advisory group including Dr. Kevin Murray, author of Place and Adornment: A History of Contemporary Jewellery in Australia and New Zealand, Margaret Hancock Davis, senior curator from Adelaide’s JamFactory, Lola Greeno, and academic and contemporary jeweler Melinda Young will work with ADC over the next few months to help define the theme and scope and suggest artists for consideration for the final exhibition proposal.
MUSEUM EXHIBITION
In The Splendour of Power, at Koldinghus, the former royal castle in Denmark, magnificent pieces illustrate the ability of jewelry to capture our fascination and act as statements of shifting power structures. The exhibition is framed by the notion that power structures are reflected historically in jewelry design. Thus jewelry holds the capacity to illustrate and convey the story of varying power relations, body and gender perceptions, and stylistic expressions of power in a fascinating and eye-opening way.
As a result, we can understand the history of power via jewelry and strengthen our democratic dialogue on what power is today, how it expresses itself, and how it can be understood and influenced.
The exhibition shows about 200 pieces of jewelry made between 1268 and 2018, on loan from Danish, Swedish, and British royals; Designmuseum Denmark; Madeleine Albright; Cartier; Tiffany & Co.; and others. On display through September 30, 2018.
MUSEUM EXHIBITION
Matter, Matter, Object, Wall is an exhibition that challenges traditional interpretations of craft, presenting new narratives for audiences to reconsider relationships between objects, wall, viewer, and maker into the white cube gallery. Curated by Aaron Decker, a graduate of The Cranbrook Academy of Art regarded as an emerging voice in the metalsmithing community, the show brings together seven Cranbrook alums from across the US. By highlighting the work of his peers, Decker presents how the craft field has evolved across disciplines. Matter, Matter, Object, Wall will be on view through June 9.
MUSEUM EXHIBITION
Jewellery by Gio’ Pomodoro: The Sign and the Ornament, is on exhibit at the Museo del Gioiello in Vicenza, Italy, through September 2.
From his first jewelry items in the 1950s, with which he took part at the Venice Bienniele in 1956, Gio’ Pomodoro developed his gold art production autonomously and constantly over the decades, often in preparation of the results of his sculptures, for which he is universally famous.
MUSEUM EXHIBITION
Early depictions of the gorgon Medusa show an ugly, winged woman with serpents entwined in her hair, bulging eyes, a wide grin, a protruding tongue, and boar tusks, among other frightening features. Beginning in the fifth century BC, images of Medusa underwent a gradual transformation, changing from grotesque to beautiful. Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in NYC, explores the changing ways in which Medusa was imagined and depicted from antiquity to the present day. It features 60 works in all media, including ancient Greek gold jewelry as well as Roman and Neoclassical cameos.
MUSEUM EXHIBITION
Jablonec ’68, at Die Neue Sammlung, is on the verge of closing.
Thanks to the Prague Spring in 1968, at the invitation of the Czechoslovak Artists’ Association, for the first time European jewelry artists from East and West converged on Jablonec nad Nisou in northern Bohemia for a European summit of jewelry artists. Now, half a century later, for the very first time the 70 jewelry items are presented again, having been preserved to this day in the Muzeum skla a bižuterie (Museum of Glass and Jewelry) in Jablonec nad Nisou. On view until June 3. See it while you still can.
EXHIBITION
After showing at Munich Jewelry Week and being on exhibit for nearly a month at Platina gallery, in Stockholm, Sweden, the work of the four 2018 AJF Artist Award finalists—Karin Roy Andersson, Corrina Goutos, Aurélie Guillaume, and Jelizaveta Suska—and the winner, Bifei Cao, travels to the third host of the exhibition, Craftgallery, a contemporary art jewelry gallery based in southern China.
EXHIBITION
The nonprofit organization Alliages, organized by Juan Riusech, presents Nod: On Full Volume, by the collective Not Only Decoration (NOD). The exhibition will be on view at Alliages Gallery in Lille, France, from June 16 to September 15, 2018. The opening of the exhibition will be held on Friday, June 15, 2018, at 6 p.m.
NOD is a platform for art and design projects which focus on social and environmental issues. It is a collective, a nonprofit organization of individuals who utilize their skills as jewelers, artists, and makers to create meaningful art and design projects.
EXHIBITION
7 artists for 7 days 2018 takes place in Rome June 5–16 at myday-byday gallery. This third edition presents seven international artists backed by seven international curators/organizations: Andy Lowrie, with Elisabeth Shaw (QCA Griffith Univ.); Beru Inou, with Astrid Berens (Sieraad); Isabelle Carpentier, with Gaelle Cornut (WCC-BF); Chiara Lucato, with Maria Rosa Franzin (Agc); Jussi Järvinen, with Jenni Sokura (Korutaideyhdistys); Hanna Kim, with Jounghye Park (Nomad Group); and Vania Ruiz, with Rita Soto Ventura (Joya Brava Org).
Creative Director Laura Helena Aureli explains, “Jewelry is about details and perceptions which the viewer’s eye translates, discovers and unveils, but it is also about diversity of traditions and cultures that speak for themselves in each jewelry piece. Individual and unexpected personal experiences that each artist expresses with his/her own energy and unique vision.” The opening takes place on June 7 at 5 p.m. myday-byday gallery is at Via Luca della Robbia 76, Testaccio, Rome, Italy.
SYMPOSIUM/CONFERENCE
Kim Paton published this article about the value of the handmade, referencing New Zealand jewelers at Munich Jewellery Week.
CALL FOR ENTRY—GRANT
The Halstead Grant is calling for entries to its 13th annual competition for emerging jewelry artists. The grand prize winner receives a $7,500 cash award, as well as $1,000 in jewelry tools and supplies, a feedback report from the judges, a trip to Halstead headquarters in Northern Arizona, and recognition in the field. The top 10 finalists are all honored with smaller cash prizes and individual feedback reports. The deadline is August 1.
To be eligible, applicants must be US citizens who started their businesses within the last three years. Candidates should have a jewelry collection with significant use of silver ready to present to the market. The grant experience is a business development exercise to help jewelry start-ups establish clear goals for the early years of their studios. Applicants must submit a portfolio and answers to a series of essay questions that outline a business plan. Questions cover all aspects of operating a small business including: What is your competition? What are your sales goals in dollars and volume? When will you break even as a business?
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ALL FOR ENTRY—COMPETITION
DANGERR: A Design Competition (Designs Aiming for a New #GunSense Emphasis on Regulations & Reform) seeks bold, affordable works of wearable, useable, or decorative art to further an awareness of the gun violence epidemic faced by the US. It hopes to promote conversations that spark debate while providing needed resources to support real action, including a planned gun amnesty/buy-back organized by artist Scott Lapham. The competition will also support the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence (RICAGV) continued advocacy for responsible gun laws.
Designers, artists, and metalsmiths are intrigued by material, technique, and the challenges presented by engineering obstacles. Not only do they shape objects for wear, use, and decoration, but also for political commentary. The goal of this competition is to showcase, promote, and sell the best designs which may employ an arsenal of wit and skill to transform weapon imagery beyond its deadly intent. The winning entries will ultimately support the entrants as well as the efforts of the RICAGV. A group of nationally recognized jurors—Emily Zilber, Dominic Molon, Linda Finn, Peter Diepenbrock, and Boris Bally—will select the final pieces to be placed into production. Deadline: June 2.
CALL FOR ENTRY—COMPETITION
The Jewellery Council of South Africa holds regular competitions. The Jewellery Manufacturers Association, a division of the Council, invites designers, manufacturing jewelers, and students to enter the 2018 Jewellery Council Collection Awards Jewellery Design Competition. The theme, retro jewellery, will focus on earrings of the ’40s and ’50s. Deadline: September 17, 2018, with more information here.
JEWELRY IN THE NEWS
Hyperallergic reports that Beyoncé has donated her Papillon ring, by Glenn Spiro, to the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London. “Beyoncé is a figure whose personal style the V&A is proud to represent, and a gift from whose personal collection we are honored to receive,” Clare Phillips, the V&A’s jewelry curator, said in a statement. “The papillon ring she has gifted is an exquisite example of contemporary jewelry design by one of Britain’s master jewelers.”
JEWELRY IN THE NEWS
The Guardian reports that there’s one section not to be missed in Cartier: The Exhibition, at the National Gallery of Australia: a small room off to one side, with vitrines that hold the hammers, saws, loupes, chisels, and other tools used to create the jewelry. While the actual jewels glimmer in other rooms in the exhibit, “it’s the journey they took from fanciful idea to glittering bauble that’s just as interesting.” The article unfortunately shows only images of the bling, but the text is informative. Cartier: The Exhibition is on view until July 22.
JEWELRY IN THE NEWS
The Financial Times reports on “The Art of Fashion Jewelry.” This page contains links to seven articles. The one on accessories designer and stylist Judy Blame, who died in February, is a particularly fun read.
JEWELRY IN THE NEWS
The V&A blogs about a pair of earrings made from the heads of two birds, on view until January 27, 2019, in its current show, Fashioned from Nature.
JEWELRY IN THE NEWS
New Atlas reports on a smart bracelet prototype that could call for help if the wearer is attacked—even if he or she can’t push a button on it to sound the alert.
JEWELRY IN THE NEWS
Refinery29 covered the work of jewelry artists Imme van der Haak and Burcu Büyükünal. The writer doesn’t get what the work’s about, but, hey, as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad publicity!
JEWELRY IN THE NEWS
Just last month, the New York Post reported on Margaux Lange’s Barbie jewelry, and Reuters posted a video about her work. Lange has been making jewelry from the iconic doll for 20 years, and the reason for the spate of coverage isn’t clear—but we’re glad of it!
JEWELRY IN THE NEWS
National Geographic recently reported on millions of dollars worth of counterfeit Native American jewelry made in the Philippines.
JEWELRY IN THE NEWS
Re:publica uploaded a presentation by Nadja Buttendorf, from its POP Media Convention Berlin in May. In German.
