The body provides a site where various approaches to, and forms of, embellishment intersect in numerous interesting ways. The 21st century has now seen the perfect fusion of disposable jewelry and temporary tattoo. Steampunk science teachers are utilizing the Tesla coil to brand the skin. The Mint Museum’s Body Embellishment show is the first museum…
Anew Negotiation: Thai Contemporary Wearable Art March 27–April 25, 2015 Bilk Gallery, Canberra, Australia Exhibition set-up, Anew Negotiation: Thai Contemporary Wearable Art, 2015, Helen Aitken-Kuhnen (gallery director) in discussion with Taweesak Molsawat and Bow Wasinondh, Bilk Gallery, Canberra, Australia, photo: Mio Kuhnen Curated by Bow Wasinondh, it is the first outing by Thai contemporary jewelers in Australia….
Jonathan Wahl showed his large charcoal drawings at the Pulse fair last month with Lenox, Massachusetts-based Sienna Gallery. Jonathan was trained as a jeweler but explains how he became interested in drawing instead, and the conflicts he encountered along the way. His work is beautiful and the story is a tale filled with intriguing twists…
A large part of the extended AJF team (Rebekah Frank and Ben Lignel) and board (Susan Cummins, Liesbeth den Besten, Bella Neyman, and Tanel Veerne) has just dispersed back home from Munich Jewelry Week 2015. This year’s crop of exhibitions did not disappoint, and delivered to the crowd of aficionados the usual mix of sensory…
The winner of the 2014 Artists Award is Seulgi Kwon. AJF asked the four young Artist Award finalists, as well as Seulgi, to give us their thoughts on the future of the field. Their work represents a group of outstanding pieces of contemporary jewelry. This interview with Seulgi is the fifth and last one in…
The gallery Four in Gothenburg, Sweden, has just joined the AJF community of supporters. Its owners—Karin Roy Andersson, Malin Lövgren, Linnéa Eriksson, and Hanna Liljenberg—hosted the AJF trip to Gothenburg last year. We thank them for that, and for joining us in presenting original material on our website. Jorge Manilla, Extreme Seductiveness, 2014, necklace, leather,…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AJF 2015 limited edition pin by emiko oye, photo: artist Mill Valley, California, USA—Art Jewelry Forum (AJF), a global nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the creation, study, and appreciation of art jewelry, is pleased to announce that it has commissioned American jeweler emiko oye to create a limited-edition pin for the organization….
Damian Skinner and Kevin Murray, Place and Adornment: A History of Contemporary Jewellery in Australia and New Zealand. Auckland: David Bateman Ltd, 2014. ISBN: 0824846877 After seven years of collaborative research, Place and Adornment: A History of Contemporary Jewellery in Australia and New Zealand is now published, written by Damian Skinner from Aotearoa New…
Over the month of August (as part of our lighter summer reads!) we published a five-part series on criticality, as part of a partnership with Klimt02, under the label “the AJF feed.” The five essays, although diverse, all embraced the idea that criticality is a good thing, and that criticism is a necessary compost for…
It is difficult to overstate the influence of Dorothea Prühl on the field of contemporary jewelry or simply to trace its bounds. She taught many, inspired more, and enthuses seemingly everyone. It helps that her colliers straddle the fence between the figurative and the abstract. She is that bit of unmarked territory on your jewelry…
