Since 2005, AJF has been funding catalogs and exhibitions as part of its aim to advocate for contemporary art jewelry through education, appreciation, and support for the field. AJF believes that exhibitions and catalogs are an essential part of the contemporary art jewelry infrastructure, by documenting history, fostering curatorial skills, providing opportunities for writing about contemporary art jewelry, and educating the wider public as well as those already engaged with the practice.
In 2012, Art Jewelry Forum granted Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, its AJF Jewelry Exhibition Award of $7,500. Randy J. Long, Professor of Art and head of Metalsmithing & Jewelry Design, and Nicole Jacquard, Associate Professor, Jewelry and Metalsmithing, Sculpture, submitted the winning proposal and used the money toward curating the exhibit Shift: Contemporary Makers That Define, Expand and Contradict the Field of Art Jewelry. This ambitious project opened in October of 2013 at Indiana University’s Grunwald Gallery as part of Zoom, a rich two-day event that combined eight jewelry exhibitions, conferences, workshops, and local tours.
The purpose of Shift was described as “revealing the changes or Shift of methodologies, materials, and techniques taking place today and will highlight the work of artists who are redefining the field.” Its resolutely forward-looking perspective and willingness to discuss variety in terms of expansion and contradictions, matched by a solid organizational infrastructure, set this proposal apart from its competitors. (Members of the jury were: Perry Price, curator at the Fuller Craft Museum, who received the grant in 2010; Toni Greenbaum, independent curator and author of Messengers of Modernism: American Studio Jewelry 1940–1960; and Susan Cummins, Chair of Art Jewelry Forum.)
You can find in our pages a review of Shift, written by Jessica Tolbert, an MFA graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she now teaches, and an overview of Zoom by Lindsey Snell, an MFA student from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
We are now very pleased to complement this material with a swath of excellent videos:
Lectures by Jillian Moore, Arthur Hash, Catarina Mota, and Stephen Saracino
Workshops presentation of Voodoo dolls and Indigo, conducted by Dr. Will Byrd and Rowland Ricketts, respectively
Introduction to the work of Shift Exhibition participating artists Gary Schott, Melanie Bilenker, and Arthur Hash
Enjoy!
