Interviews

Wear It Loud: Curated by Platforma (Bella Neyman and Ruta Reifen)

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Ruta Reifen and Bella NeymanManhattan finally has a gallery space for contemporary jewelry. It is called R|R Gallery and is housed in a storefront space at the intersection of New York City’s fashionable Meatpacking District and the West Village. The space is connected to, but separate from, the Gansevoort Street store and workshop of Reinstein/Ross, Goldsmiths. This new space is dedicated to exhibiting progressive work in studio art jewelry, as well as fine arts related to jewelry, precious stones, and precious metals. The owners—Andrew Schloss and Nancy Bloom—asked Bella Neyman and Ruta Reifen of Platforma to curate their first show. Platforma chose to relate the show to Fashion Week in New York, and they hoped that the work in Wear It Loud would speak to the fashionistas in town.

Susan Cummins: Tell us something about this new gallery space called R|R Gallery in New York. Do we finally have a contemporary jewelry gallery in the big city?

Bella Neyman: Yes! This is very exciting news. R|R Gallery, also known as the Gallery at Reinstein/Ross, is located at 30 Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District. The name Reinstein/Ross may be familiar to many AJF readers because it is a New York institution. Susan Reinstein and Brian Ross opened the store in 1985. Susan designed the jewelry and Brian sourced the stones. Every piece was made in their Madison Avenue shop. Nancy Bloom and Andrew Schloss have since taken over the store, but have stayed true to Susan’s designs and also to the original owners’ core value: All of the jewelry is still made in New York City. The store has two locations, one at 29 East 73rd Street and the other one now on Gansevoort Street (until recently their downtown location was on Prince Street). Next year marks the company’s thirtieth anniversary and as they look to the future, the owners have chosen to open an art jewelry gallery. This stems from having employed many talented goldsmiths, who are alumni from some of the top metalsmithing programs in the country, so they are very familiar with the field and believe in it. The field is expanding and gaining worldwide recognition, and they want to be a part of this. 

 

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40 Years of New Zealand Jewelry

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FingersFingers Gallery in New Zealand is celebrating its 40th anniversary with an exhibition at Objectspace, an exhibition space in Auckland both publicly and privately funded. Over the years, Fingers Gallery has witnessed and participated in the development of New Zealand jewelry. Finn McCahon-Jones, the curator of the exhibition, gives us its history.

Susan Cummins: Finn, please tell us who you are and why Objectspace is having a show about the gallery Fingers.

Finn McCahon-Jones: I come from a family of makers and observers, and for the past decade have worked at Auckland Museum, primarily with the decorative art and design collection. I am currently employed as a curator working on renewals of the permanent galleries. During this time I have also been involved with not-for-profit arts organizations and artist-run spaces.

In November this year, Fingers turns 40, making it one of the oldest still-running jewelry galleries in the world. It is also the oldest still-running craft gallery in Aotearoa New Zealand. The show at Objectspace will be an important one for jewelry audiences, as it will bring together largely unseen works from private collections, and provide an overview of jewelry history in this country, centered around Fingers.

 

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Digital Artisans: The Future of Design and Creation

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Alba Cappellieri Laura Rysman: Do you make a distinction between designers who consider themselves artists and those who work in a commercial setting? What is the difference for you between jewelry designers/artists who fabricate their work—studio jewelers—and those who have work produced, or even mass-produced? Alba Cappellieri: Like Bruno Munari said, artists work for themselves

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Bettina Speckner: Foto-jóias

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Bettina SpecknerBettina Speckner is a German jewelry artist who studied under Otto Künzli and Hermann Jünger at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. She has exhibited her work in major galleries, and now hers is the first jewelry show at the Galeria Thomas Cohn in Brazil. This gallery, up until now, has been exclusively an art gallery, but has made the bold move to become devoted to a new art form (for him)—contemporary jewelry. Bettina is known for creating fresh yet nostalgic narratives by altering ferrotypes, some dating back to the Industrial Revolution, with a surgeon’s touch and jeweler’s eye.

Olivia Shih: This is the first jewelry show by the Thomás Cohn Gallery in São Paulo, Brazil. How did you connect with him in the first place?

Bettina Speckner: Thomas contacted me via email. When he told me that he had the idea to start a gallery of contemporary jewelry in Sao Paulo, I was of course interested and also fascinated by his brave idea. I was in Brazil 25 years ago for six months, and I had my very first solo exhibition there.
You were studying painting before you transferred to the jewelry department and studied under Otto Künzli and Hermann Jünger. How has this background influenced your work?

Bettina Speckner: I think it still does. My way of seeing is maybe with a painter’s eye—my jewelry pieces rarely are three-dimensional, and everything happens on a two-dimensional surface. Maybe even my use of imagery comes from there. It gives me the possibility to play.

 

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Svenja John: Assembly

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Svenja JohnSvenja John’s exhibition Assembly is on display at Gallery Funaki this month. In this interview, Svenja provides us with insight about the complexity of her process and describes her philosophy on the use of modern technology by makers.

Missy Graff: How did you become a jeweler? Please tell me about your background.

Svenja John: I met a young goldsmith when I was on vacation on the Adriatic coast at the age of 14. I was fascinated by her natural glow and happiness. Her words were so passionate when she talked about her job that I decided, “This is exactly what I want to do!” It was neither a specific piece of jewelry, nor the concept of jewelry, that sparked my interest. It all started because of one person’s passion for making.

When I turned 16, I tried very hard to find an apprenticeship—against the will of my parents. At that time, it was an almost impossible desire. Without connections, none of my generation could reach this goal, simply due to the fact that there were too many people trying to enter the field.

I had to wait until 1985 to start my training as a jeweler and to become a student at the Staatliche Zeichenakademie in Hanau, Germany.

 

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Craig McIntosh: Machined

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Craig McIntoshNew Zealand jeweler Craig McIntosh is breaking all the stone-carving rules by turning the method around from a reductive process to an additive one. He works in a land where stone carving is a strong tradition, so this could be upsetting. His new show at The National in Christchurch gives us an idea of what this means.

Susan Cummins: You are a carver of stone and a maker of small objects and jewelry, similar to the Japanese craftsman who makes netsuke. What is your connection to that, and how did you get here?

Craig McIntosh: I was introduced to netsuke in the late 90s. I produced and exhibited a small amount of netsuke alongside making jewelry ’til about 2004. If you’re interested in carving, there is so much that can be learned from looking into netsuke—in fact, I don’t think I would make the jewelry I make now, or understand as much about working on a small scale, if I hadn’t explored netsuke.

But it became problematic. The more I became involved with making jewelry, and considering jewelry and its relationship to identity—particularly here in Aotearoa, New Zealand—the less appropriate it felt to be making something from somebody else’s culture. So I stopped, and have been focusing on making jewelry since. I think it has been one of the most rewarding decisions I have ever made.

 

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Frieda Doerfer: Lines

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Frieda DoerferFrieda Doerfer’s exhibition Lines was recently on display at Galerie Ra. In this interview, Frieda provides us with insight about her use of line and shares the concepts behind her pieces. 

Missy Graff: Please tell me about your background. How did you become interested in making jewelry? 

Frieda Doerfer: After I finished school, I thought that goldsmithing might be an interesting craft to learn. I managed to get an internship and I knew right away that I had found the right job. So I moved to Pforzheim, in the south of Germany, to pursue my apprenticeship as a goldsmith at the Goldschmiedeschule. After that, I studied jewelry design at Pforzheim University. I graduated in 2013 and since then I have been a self-employed jewelry maker and artist. 

During your many years of training you discovered guilloché, an engraving technique. Can you please describe what inspired you to use this technique in your work?

Frieda Doerfer: Indeed. It has already been a few years since I started to explore the old engraving technique guilloché, also known as “engine turning.” I am still fascinated by the huge variety of possibilities that are created with basic forms like zigzags or wavy lines.

 

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Ann Culy: plain gold ring has a story to tell

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Ann CulyAnn Culy has a thing for rings. Using ancient techniques for making them, she is showing a variety of rings at the Avid Gallery in New Zealand. Avid has recently joined the galleries who support Art Jewelry Forum. We  welcome their addition, which adds to the texture and variety of the artists we interview.

Susan Cummins: Were you born and raised in New Zealand?

Ann Culy: Yes, in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.

Can you tell the story of how you became a jeweler?

Ann Culy: I discovered working with metal at art school, in the printmaking studio and in the sculpture department, where I worked on a small scale using lost-wax casting in bronze. The combination of melting, pouring, and manipulation of metal has been a constant joy and led me directly to jewelry making, where I can fuse all those skills together.

 

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Patrycja Zwierzynska: Ephemeras

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Patrycja ZwierzynskaToronto-based artist Patrycja Zwierzynska transforms metal into delicate, abstract sculptures that are inspired by natural forms. Her work is driven by exploring materials and processes in unique ways to capture form and volume, often leading to surprising results. The result of her most recent exploration is Ephemeras, an exhibition at L. A. Pai Gallery that centers on themes of ephemerality and impermanence and explores ideas about process. We had a chance to catch up with Patrycja to learn more about her work and how the idea of “ephemeras” is captured in her jewelry. 

Bonnie Levine: Tell us about your background and how you found your way to being a jewelry maker. 

Patrycja Zwierzynska: I went to art school without the specific intention of becoming a jeweler. Art was always something I was involved in, and I wanted to pursue my passion for it. In my second year at school, I took an introductory jewelry course and got hooked on working with metal and the finesse it required. I became obsessive about polishing and fitting pieces together perfectly. Working with the material really spoke to me, and pretty soon, the jewelry projects I was working on were all I was thinking about. 

 

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Carin Reinders

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Portrait of Carin Reinders, photo: Medea Huisman Susan Cummins: Could you describe CODA and its mission in the Netherlands for me? Carin Reinders: CODA Museum is an amalgamation of the Historisch Museum Apeldoorn and the Van Reekum Museum. It comprises a library, an archive, and a museum. CODA’s contemporary art collection is based on the

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on the horizon: Curated by {x} collaborations

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Alexandra Hopp{x} collaborations’ exhibition on the horizon includes work from 11 emerging contemporary art jewelers. The show is on display at Brooklyn Metal Works through October 25th, 2014. In this interview, Mariah Tuttle discusses the development of {x} collaborations and the concept behind on the horizon. 

Missy Graff: Please describe your background. How did you become interested in jewelry? 

Mariah Tuttle: How is someone not interested in jewelry? If they aren’t, maybe they’re not paying attention! 

I actually began college with a dual focus in literature and furniture design. To complete my degree in applied design at San Diego State University, I needed to take introductory coursework in a variety of craft subjects including textiles, ceramics, and jewelry. When I took my first jewelry class, I realized I was ultimately interested in intimate spaces. Since then, I have earned my MFA in Jewelry + Metalsmithing from Rhode Island School of Design, reestablished my core relationship to writing and dialogue through my role as a contributing writer for Current Obsession magazine, continued to have an active studio, and pursued a relationship to the subject of jewelry that encompasses more of my broad interests and strengths.

 

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