Gallery

Anna Cheng: Building Jewellery

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Yung-huei ChaoAlthough Anna Cheng grew up in a family of jewelers, she spent more than 10 years working as an interior architect before founding Ame Gallery. “Working in contemporary jewelry,” Anna says, “is a bridge between my education in architecture and my family heritage.” In a recent exhibition, Building Jewellery, Ame Gallery showcased a cross-pollination of the two fields by displaying architecture-inspired contemporary jewelry and hosting a jewelry workshop for six Hong Kong architects. 

Olivia Shih: This project, Building Jewellery, intended to illustrate the relationship between architecture and contemporary jewelry. Can you discuss what that relationship is? What drew you to this particular topic?

Anna Cheng: Architecture is very close to me because of my previous profession as an interior architect. Since I started working in contemporary jewelry, I have noticed that there are many things in common between the two. To me, architecture is a way to perceive the world, and its concepts are not limited to building environments. I wanted to explore its concepts in contemporary jewelry and see how artists express elements of architecture in their work. 

 

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Amber in Contemporary Jewelry

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Sara GackowskaAmber has a long and storied past as a material used in jewelry. From being called “the Baltic gold” to rarely being used in contemporary jewelry, today amber is experiencing a renaissance. This renewed interest in the material is the subject of an important exhibition at Gallery Putti in Riga, Latvia. Called Amber in Contemporary Jewelry and running from May 22–August 2, 2014, this exhibit demonstrates the possible range of application of amber in contemporary art jewelry as created by 20 artists from Latvia and Italy, as well as from countries along the ancient Amber Road (Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary). It not only links the Amber Road geographically but also historically by connecting ancient times with the present, and by demonstrating the richness of amber jewelry creation today. Here Bonnie Levine speaks with Gallery Putti’s Eva Melnika, who is interning with the gallery this year.

Bonnie Levine: Amber has been around for 40 to 60 million years and there’s a real mystique to it—it’s been traded, worshipped, and used for healing and protective purposes going back in time. Can you elaborate on the history of amber and why it’s important today?

Eva Melnika: Amber has always been known as the Baltic Gold—it can feel warm and fragrant, and the Etruscans valued amber even more than gold for its beauty and the healing properties they believed it held.

 

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Out of the Blue

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Myung UrsoGroup shows are tricky things. Taboo Studio has had a number of them in the past, with titles like Structure and Purpose, Color and Form, and Perspective and Invention, so a show called Out of the Blue isn’t surprising. The hard thing to do with a group show is to make an observation about something, anything really, that the artists or pieces of jewelry have in common, come up with a theme, and then assemble a grouping that makes sense within the theme you have chosen. Taboo has done this numerous times over the years and is practiced at it. For this post, I spoke with Jane Groover, one of the gallery’s owners, as well as with a number of artists who participated in the show.

Susan Cummins: Jane, in the exhibition Out of the Blue, you asked the following artists to interpret the theme as it relates to the sea and sky:

Brooke Battles • Marilyn Brogan • Susan Chin • Petra Class • Jane Groover • Sydney Lynch • Wendy McAllister • Christina Seebold • Cindy Sumner • Myung Urso

Did you imagine this to be mainly about landscape or color?

Jane Groover: I initially thought that the work in Out of the Blue would be about both landscape and color, while acknowledging that blue certainly means different things to different people. It felt like an intriguing title because of its ambiguity. And since it is common knowledge that the majority of people claim blue as their favorite color, I imagined the work for this exhibition would probably focus primarily on color. 

 

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Klimt02

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Klimt02 has both an online platform for the art jewelry community and a gallery located in Barcelona, Spain. It is owned by Amador Bertomeu and Leo Caballero and has become an influential and informative source of information for everyone interested in contemporary jewelry. In this interview, Amador and Leo, speaking as one, provide us with

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Antonella Villanova

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Portrait of Antonella Villanova, photo: Hugh Findletar Kellie Riggs: When did your interest in contemporary jewelry begin, and how did that transform into a desire to open a gallery?  Antonella Villanova: The interest in contemporary jewelry was born about 10 years ago, at first with jewelry made by visuals artists, but I wasn’t satisfied. After,

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Ubi – “Where?”

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In 2012, Dutch cultural entrepreneur[1] Machtelt Schelling opened Ubi, a gallery for contemporary jewelry and ceramics. It is the first gallery of this kind in Beijing and one of the very few in China. The mainland is notoriously difficult to penetrate for Western small-to-midsize entrepreneurs and does not have a contemporary scene to speak of.

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Jewelers’Werk Galerie

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Exhibition photograph, Jewelers’Werk Galerie, Dittlmann-Jank (with reflection of Bettina Dittlmann in mirror!), 2010, photo: Michael Jank Missy Graff: Can you please explain how your gallery came to be located in Washington, DC, and how you chose your particular location in that city? Ellen Reiben: Jewelers’Werk Galerie started out as V.O. Galerie in 1984. It was

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Hardware Artware

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ATTA Gallery in Bangkok, Thailand, is run by Atty Tantivit and shows an international selection of jewelers with local ones. It makes for an interesting mix worth looking in on from time to time. The exhibition Hardware Artware highlights five jewelers who have been showing together for a few years and who are experimenting with presentations. They have an interesting history.

Susan Cummins: Why did you choose these particular five artists–Francisca Bauzá (Germany), Lisa Björke (Sweden), Märta Mattsson (Sweden), Deborah Rudolph (Germany), and Nina Sajet (The Netherlands)—to be in this show?

Atty Tantivit: Though I have seen some of their works before separately, I first saw them working as a group at the exhibition Pin Up during Schmuck 2012. Their pieces are different in many ways but are of equal strength in terms of concept, technical quality, and their communicative languages. There was a synergy among them. I think the way they present their works together is fresh and exciting—a group of young female artists in a field that was dominated by men a decade or so ago. Also, all five of them are from northern European countries that are key players in terms of contemporary art jewelry. It was interesting for me to see similarities and differences in their works.

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Vander A, Brussels, Belgium

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Vander A is a young gallery located in the university area of Brussels, Belgium. Françoise Vanderauwera prefers to showcase artists who have an appealing visual language, who utilize state-of-the-art jewelry techniques, and employ diverse experimental materials that format their own vision to express key issues. Vander A is also one of the few galleries welcoming student work and young talent alongside more established artists.

Kellie Riggs: Can you talk a bit about the opening of your gallery and how it came to be? Where and when did your interest in contemporary jewelry begin?

Françoise Vanderauwera: After political sciences studies, I managed the European information center of a big international law firm where I further developed my critical mind and learned how to monitor and to pass on legal and strategic information. Meanwhile, there was a design shop in Brussels that I used to love to visit. When this shop closed, the empty space provoked me to start looking at designers myself. (My father, an architect, transferred his interest and curiosity for design to me.) Then, through surfing the Internet, travelling, and searching, I discovered jewelry designers and was amazed to see how some of them were so clever. They could see and express what really happens in this world much better than me despite the best intelligence techniques I was using.

How long have you had your gallery? And how old were you when you opened?

Françoise Vanderauwera: I opened the gallery in November 2011, after five years of investigations and preparations in a totally new business domain for me, with exception of design. I was 47.

As a newer gallery, would you say you are doing things a little differently than the other galleries?

Françoise Vanderauwera: Yes, I am still not influenced by any obligation. I represent artists of my own choice. Compared to what already exists, I pay attention to representing a significant proportion of Belgian artists or artists living and working in Belgium and not just international “stars.” I am also in favor of showing something different, the new generation.

Do you get a lot of street traffic, or are you more of a destination gallery where people come knowing what to expect?

Françoise Vanderauwera: The gallery is not visible from the street. I am more of a destination gallery but with a larger dedicated space. It’s on the first floor, at the back of a modern building with a courtyard. Visitors come by invitation only.

Tell me a bit about how you began to collect your represented artists. What do you look for, and has it changed over time?

Françoise Vanderauwera: I first asked Patrick Marchal and Hilde De Decker. Great Belgian artists. Both “free minded” and so contemporary! Patrick is a committed artist. The role of the artist is sometimes to participate in social and/or political critique. This is very important to me. I like showing artists who aren’t concerned about smoothing out their artistic style.

As a gallerist, I pay attention to keeping the visitors informed about what is coming up with fairs, collectives, new group of artists, contemporary forms, and practices of writing (such as biomorphism), and the history of knowledge transfer in Belgian contemporary art jewelry. These kinds of exhibitions are clearly addressed to a public not used to contemporary art jewelry. This is probably because, I think as a gallery, I have a role to play.

I also understand that you like to represent student work or highlight certain academic programs. For example, right now you have an exhibition including work from the Institut d’enseignement des Arts, Techniques, Sciences et Artisanats (IATA, Naamur, Belgium), The Ecole nationale supérieure des arts visuels of La Cambre (Brussels, Belgium), and St. Lucas University College of Art & Design (Antwerp, Belgium). How did this relationship begin?

Françoise Vanderauwera: Yes. In addition to confirmed artists (with masters degrees) it is extremely interesting to show research, development, and experiences done by students during the academic year. They are the foundations of the future. It helps to project what could be next. It is also a place to find unformatted artists, the premier cru (first growth) of artwork under the precious flow of knowledge transfer.

This relation with students and schools began with my own curiosity, but I mainly show confirmed young artists, artists already away from school who have developed their own artistic writing. It is important to support artists who are not already supported everywhere else. It is much more risky, but they need that. They work without nets, and so do I.

 

So you create the student shows mainly for your own interest. Do you happen to have a collector base interested in buying their works?

Françoise Vanderauwera: I do it to encourage great artists. It’s also partially within my current educational program addressed to novice amateurs and potential collectors.

Your past exhibitions have varied quite a bit from one another. For example, you’ve had solo shows, small group shows, this current academic show, and shows where you’ve invited outside collectives to exhibit work. Last year the 1×1 Collective from Florence, Italy, organized something with you. Do you have a particular strategy in trying out these different formats?

Françoise Vanderauwera: All of these formats reflect what is going on in contemporary art jewelry. Jewelers are looking for different ways to promote their work: as a collective, as a group, and as a project. I think, as a contemporary art gallery, I have to show this reality. There are other formats I could also support.

At this point, do you have a preference as to the types of shows you like to assemble? 

Françoise Vanderauwera: No, certainly not. I am very open to any type of show. The combination of jewelry and dance in and outside the gallery with the famous choreographer Lise Vachon nearly one year ago was a wonderful experience. (See the Oracular video.) The gallery is big and may welcome any type of show.

 

What have you learned about the field that, perhaps, came as a surprise after opening the gallery; any particular lessons?

Françoise Vanderauwera: Very few know about this young art. We are in a period where we still have to explain what contemporary art jewelry is. I didn’t know it was so obscure to many people. Let’s imagine a gallery for paintings who mainly explains what is painting and less the painter. It is a big interesting challenge, but I would love go into high gear.

Thank you.

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Sienna Gallery, Lenox, Massachusetts, USA

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Sienna Patti Lauren Fensterstock, Installation at John Michael Kohler Art Center (detail), 2013, sculpture/installation, paper; 4.27 x 6.1 x 4.27 m, photo: John Michael Kohler Art Center Sondra Sherman, Installation of Anthrophobia, SOFA Chicago, 2008, photo: Sienna Gallery Lauren Kalman, Spectacular, 2012, video/photograph, C-print on aluminum, 38.1 x 25.4 cm, photo by artist Work with

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Maurer-Zilioli

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Quattro Padovani e un Torinese, Annamaria Zanella, sculpture, and Giampaolo Babetto, drawings, June 2012, photo: Ellen Maurer-Zilioli Kellie Riggs: Please explain how your gallery functions as a cultural association. Ellen Maurer-Zilioli: We are living between north and south, between Germany and Italy. From the beginning, I was interested in some sort of cultural exchange. I

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Galerie Rob Koudijs, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

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Galerie Rob Koudijs plays a critical role in the Dutch jewelry community. Rob Koudijs responds to some questions posed by Kamal Nassif.

Kamal Nassif: What do you hope to achieve with your gallery? How do you measure success?

Rob Koudijs: We think contemporary jewelry is a great medium. For more then 30 years, jewelry artists have managed to surprise us and tempt us to buy and wear their work. With Galerie Rob Koudijs, we have the opportunity to support the careers of artists who have excited us for many years and to introduce new, fresh, and promising talents. We enjoy contributing to the development of this field immensely!

We are very proud of finding a new and younger audience for this art form in spite of the commonly uttered fears that galleries have had their heyday and that collectors are “on the verge of extinction.” We feel this is not true. We are playing an important and an essential role as a promoter of contemporary jewelry. It is crucial that this kind of promotion continues. Hopefully, the future will see the start of many new galleries with young owners to continue the good work.

Kamal Nassif: In your latest publication of the GRK Magazine, Ward Schrijver’s essay discusses the pending “unequivocal acceptance” of jewelry into the greater scope of fine art.  Describe the steps you are taking to achieve this acceptance. What can the community of gallerists and artists do to help?

Rob Koudijs: Unfortunately, there is no general institution that decides these matters, so all you can do is be as visible as possible.

Galerie Rob Koudijs is in a high profile area of Amsterdam from the perspective of general shoppers and art gallery visitors. We attend important art fairs; always maintain a good, up-to-date website; write introductions and publish our magazines; very actively work with museums; and we act on any serious invitation to participate in projects or requests for information. (We receive these from all types of design- and art-related websites.)

Getting jewelry in public museums and mentioned in articles and reviews in newspapers, magazines, and websites is probably the most essential way of promotion. The whole jewelry community should put their efforts to this goal! (AJF is already very important in this respect.)

Kamal Nassif: What voice do you feel your publications have in the larger discussion of contemporary jewelry? Who is your ideal audience?

Rob Koudijs: In general, the publications contribute to the feeling that this is an art form and a gallery to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet seen angry or overly excited people at the door or people who wanted to donate money for the good cause.

Of course, we intend the magazines for our customers and visitors to the gallery, but the best result would be if they would draw the interest of the famous “general public.” So, we hand them out to everyone who is tempted or who is a potential decision maker.

Kamal Nassif: All too often, discussions about contemporary jewelry stay within the community of people who have a prior awareness of the field. I am curious, what do you sell to somebody who has no notion of contemporary jewelry or even of fine art?

Rob Koudijs: We sell them what appeals to them. If you don’t fall in love with a piece—whether it’s small and cheap or spectacular and pricy—it has no use. If someone is new to the field and they are open to it, we show them the width and depth of the medium and the excitement it can bring. If they just want to drop in, buy, and leave quickly, it’s OK as well. We’re sure that one day they will return.

Kamal Nassif: And in that same vein of thought, how important do you think it is for a buyer to understand the conceptual content of a work?

Rob Koudijs: Everybody makes up their own story with a piece; everybody has their own personal associations. So, even if they don’t understand anything of the intellectual content of a work, they can still be utterly happy with it. (This is the case in all fields of the arts). The artist, the gallery, and the customer can all be content. But of course, the more the conceptual idea is understood, the better (naturally, that’s our aim)—and the more profound the satisfaction is for everybody.

Kamal Nassif: Do you feel there is a dialogue between your gallery and the other jewelry galleries in Amsterdam? If so, how would you describe your role?

Rob Koudijs: Well, now there is just Galerie Ra. We’ve known each other for more than 30 years, and we have a good professional relationship. We both have our own profile, and whenever it’s necessary, we have contact or work together. The same goes for Galerie Marzee.

Kamal Nassif: Amsterdam is something of a hub for contemporary jewelry. Do you feel any special obligation to represent the diverse body of work from your own backyard?

Rob Koudijs: We do the best we can for all the artists we represent in the gallery. If something exciting turns up in the Netherlands, we’re always keen to be “on the ball.”

Kamal Nassif: The interior of your gallery has an organic color scheme with wood accents. It is markedly different from the other Amsterdam galleries. What led you to make these design decisions?

Rob Koudijs: We never thought of it as organic. We just wanted to create an inviting, pleasant atmosphere in which the interior design would not distract our visitors. Everything is aimed at presenting jewelry to its best advantage.

This might come as a surprise to you, but Ward Schrijver, who designed our interior, was also responsible for the design of Galerie Sofie Lachaert in Gent, Belgium in 1990, the Gallery Ra interior in use from 1992 to 2010, and the redesign of Gallery Louise Smit in 2002. He designed many art fair booths for Marzee, Lachaert, and later for Smit as well as numerous jewelry exhibitions in museums. As always, every era has its style and every principal his or her own wishes.                                                                 

Kamal Nassif: And now something I have always wondered: why the green accent wall? Is there any particular significance of this color?

Rob Koudijs: The decision to use a color came from the rather haphazard articulation of the existing wall. Coloring one element gave it structure and rest. The color came from the ink color chosen by our graphic designer for our house style. She picked it as an approximation of the color of gold. There is nothing more to it.

Kamal Nassif: If you had to describe your collection in one sentence, what would you say?

Rob Koudijs: Innovative, sculptural works of art enhanced by the presence of craft and technique that can almost always be worn as jewelry.

Kamal Nassif: What have been your biggest challenges since opening in 2007?

Rob Koudijs: To improve on all the fields mentioned above.

Thank you.

 

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