Lola Brooks, charted territories (installation view), photo: Lola Brooks Susan Cummins: Where did you study? Did you have a mentor there? Lola Brooks: I studied with Myra MImlitsch-Gray and James Bennett at SUNY New Paltz, where I got my BFA. It was inspiring to work with two professors who were as engaged in their […]
Lola Brooks: charted territories Read More »
Susan Beech from Tiburon, California, wears jewelry with elegance and finesse. She is a passionate collector of art jewelry and a good friend. Early on in her quest for pieces to add to her collection she stopped into my gallery in Mill Valley, California and started buying things. Since then she has explored many parts of the world looking for things that make her heart go pitter pat. For a complete interview with her see the Collecting section of our site. In the meantime you can read about her Collector’s Choice.
Over the years I have collected paintings, art deco everything, photographs, sculpture and ceramics. I didn’t intend to collect jewelry until I saw some original studio jewelry, pieces very different than what my friends were wearing. As I became more educated about the field, I gravitated toward more challenging work, unconventional jewelry materials and subject matter. Soon I realized I was a collector of contemporary jewelry. It is not possible to wear a painting or sculpture, but I do wear jewelry from my collection every day, even some of the more demanding pieces. Some might say I wear too many pieces at the same time but it speaks to my passion.
I have a great respect for the jewelry artists and it has been honor to meet and talk to so many of them about their ideas. When I wear a piece from my collection, I feel I am promoting their work in particular and contemporary jewelry in general by taking it our in the world, sharing my passion and encouraging people to ask questions.
Yasuki Hiramatsu (1926-2012), photo Miriam Künzli ‘My aim is to create forms with force and grace, which are built to bring the potential innate in materials into full play.’ Yasuki Hiramatsu, as we now know, passed away on April 11, 2012, in Tokyo. The Dutch jewelry designer Onno Boekhoud, one of the earliest protagonists of
Yasuki Hiramatsu (1926 – 2012) Read More »
Group photo: [left to right] Francois Macerola, director SODEC; Jean-Pierre Dion, Quebec Trade Office; Annegret Morf; Pierre-Yves Paquette; Jean-Pierre Gauvreau; Elise Bergeron; Gustavo Estrada; Barbara Stutman; Matthieu Cheminee; Patricia Kiley Faber; Roland DuBuc; Lynn Legare; Antonio Serafino; Laurie Dansereau; Janis Kerman;Claudio Pino; Edward S. Faber; Jean-Francois Hould, Quebec Trade Office Susan Cummins: Can you give
Innovation and Craftsmanship: The Jewelers of Quebec Read More »
In 2011 AJF hired two Contributing Writers to produce texts on a regular basis for the AJF website and blog. Jillian Moore and Gabriel Craig wrote eight texts each on a variety of subjects, including exhibition and event reviews and thematic articles about the state of contemporary jewelry. The Contributing Writers program is intended to
2011 Contributing Writers Read More »
Portrait of Atty Tantivit Susan Cummins: What is your background? Where are you from? Where did you attend school? Where do you live now? Bernhard Stimpfl-Abele: I am a goldsmith and jewelry artist with a master’s degree from the Konstfack University in Stockholm, Sweden. I live between Italy and Sweden and I was born in
Bernhard Stimpfl-Abele: Organic Metal – The Old, the New and the Ambivalence in Between Read More »
Françoise Vanderauwera opened Vander A Contemporary Art Jewellery in November 2011 in Brussels, Belgium. She is young and energetic and comes at jewelry from a design perspective and it will be interesting to watch the course she charts in the coming years. Her current show is Jewels Stories by Delphine Joly. It is a very curious and unique collection of jewelry – qualities that also apply to Delphine herself.
Susan Cummins: You are really new on the scene. Can you give me some background what lead you to decide to open a jewelry gallery?
Françoise Vanderauwera: Yes, I am very new on the scene. I knew four years ago that I wanted to open a gallery to show much more of these wonderful artworks to a wider public. The starting point for me was design. I grew up using cutlery by the architect-designer Arne Jacobsen, which my father, who was also an architect, received personally from him. A few years ago, when a Brussels design shop I used to visit closed I began looking for contemporary creators and was amazed by how many high profile gold- and silversmiths, object designers and new jewelers I could recognize. I learned and traveled a lot and now the gallery is up and running.
Delphine Joly: Jewels Stories Read More »
Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was established in 1978 by Libby and Joanne Cooper, a sister team. Since then, this dynamic duo has been featuring high quality decorative arts, sculpture, paintings and studio jewelry. Rachelle Thiewes has been showing with Mobilia since 1994 and this is her second solo show. Rachelle is a professor at UTEP and an articulate and unique maker. I was delighted by her responses to my questions. If you are interested in seeing more of her work you can purchase a recent publication about a collaborative project she recently completed.
Susan Cummins: What is your background and how did you come to be interested in art jewelry?
Rachelle Thiewes: I grew up in a family that made things. My parents built our first house, kitchen cupboards and all, my mother designed and made most of my clothing (and hers) she made white feather Christmas trees in the 1950s (pre Target) and sold them in Dayton’s department stores, we invented, crafted and made most everything it seems. My mother felt quite strongly that everyday us kids needed to spend significant time playing and creating. The one TV was pretty much off limits except for Disney on Sunday night. It was a rich childhood.
In many ways I was destined to become a jeweler. My father was a hand engraver, freelancing for many jewelry stores, including Tiffany. I spent countless hours in the studio watching him engrave and often accompanied him to our local jewelry stores when delivering work. I have two older brothers that are artists so it seemed natural that I too would study art. I had no idea that ‘metals’ was an art subject until I saw the first student show at Western Illinois University. I was fascinated by the possibilities of the medium and quickly changed over my major from sculpture to metals.
Donna Schneier It is difficult to choose a favorite from among favorites. If pressed I would say that the Mary Lee Hu Choker # 70 from 1985 – which is now on view at the Metropolitan Museum as part of the collection highlights show – stands out for many reasons. I first encountered the work
This month Jewelers’Werk Galerie in Washington DC is showing the work of Iris Boedmer, the German jeweler from Pforzheim. Ellen Reiben has been in the jewelry business a long time. She has had the gallery since 1988 when she took it over from the founder, Dutch jeweler Joke van Ommen. I asked both Ellen and
Thursday March 15, 2012 Munich is known as die stadt der lebensfreude, the city filled with the joy of life – and with the bonus of welcome, sunny weather it was a pleasure to be in the Bavarian capital while Schmuck was on. Olga Zobel-Biró showing work by Lisa Walker Gallery Biró, our first stop,
AJF In Munich 2012 Read More »
Ulrich Reithofer, Holy Wish Bone Susan Cummins: Please tell me where you went to school and where you are now. Ulrich Reithofer: I was in a technical college for civil engineering in Austria during the 1990s and in 1998 I entered Fachhochschule Trier, Fachbereich Idar- Oberstein in Germany where I learned gemstone cutting and jewelry
Curse of Symmetry: Ulrich Reithofer Read More »
