Every year, the SNAG conference opens with a meet and greet of sorts, an icebreaker—the annual Pin Swap. This year was no different. About half an hour before the doors opened for the Swap, participants began lining up outside of the room. Pins go fast here; they’re often first come, first serve. Artists have been […]
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Rebekah Frank is beginning research to write an article for AJF, and we’d love your help! Interior, Ombre Gallery, photo: courtesy Jenna Shaifer In this article, Rebekah will introduce readers to some of the different systems collectors use to organize and archive their jewelry collections. She’ll examine (1) why archiving and tracking a collection
Calling All Jewelry Enthusiasts! Read More »
Last month AJF went to Munich for the annual Schmuck exhibition known as Munich Jewellery Week. This is the time when international jewelry artists, collectors, galleries, and everyone interested in art jewelry gathers in one place. We presented AJF in Conversation—Curators & Collectors: How They Choose, with moderator Susan Cummins and panelists Deedie Rose, Toni
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From the start, AJF has always encouraged the appreciation of art jewelry by supporting artists, galleries, and curators through education, critical conversations, grants, and sponsorships. And since the beginning there’s been a special focus on the collector. AJF’s trips, lectures, and talks are designed to give collectors education and exposure to galleries, personal collections,
Jorunn Veiteberg To call Jorunn Veiteberg a collector seems to dismiss the enormous influence she has in the art jewelry world. With a PhD in art history from the University of Bergen, Norway, she has been head of exhibitions at Hordaland Kunstsenter in Bergen, Galleri F 15 in Moss, Norway, and head of arts at
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If you’re a regular reader of AJF’s website, or a member of AJF, Susan Cummins probably doesn’t need much introduction. You might have met her on an AJF trip, heard her talk on a panel, or read one of the many interviews she has done with jewelers on the AJF website. Susan is a collector
Collector Susan Cummins in Conversation Read More »
Mia McEldowney was an influential gallerist, curator, and champion of Northwest arts who ran Mia Gallery, in Seattle, WA, from 1984 to 1997.She collected and wore art jewelry; after her death, in 2013, 35 pieces from her collection were bequeathed to Tacoma Art Museum (TAM). This jewelry was featured in the exhibit Well-Worn Narratives: The
In Conversation with Meg Shiffler and Nancy Worden Read More »
The exhibition Jewelry of Ideas: Gifts from the Susan Grant Lewin Collection—on view until May 28, 2018, at the Cooper Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, in New York—comprises 150 exquisitely made and conceptually compelling jewelry objects from the 20th and 21st centuries. The accompanying catalog contextualizes the breadth and depth of the collection in an
In Conversation with Susan Grant Lewin and Ursula Ilse-Neuman Read More »
Contemporary jewelry makers sometimes use experimental, nontraditional materials for their jewelry. The use of these kinds of materials often contributes to or sometimes even determines the meaning of the jewelry. The problem with these kinds of materials is that they are often not sustainable and hard to preserve. That is why these materials cause specific
The Concerns of Conservation Read More »
These essays were originally published in Damian Skinner’s book Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective.▲ The Body as a Living Display In terms of contemporary jewelry, the space of the body is not so much a physical destination as it is a reference point and a vehicle. The body functions simultaneously as a platform or a vacancy
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Index image: Work by (left to right, top to bottom) Roberta and David Williamson, Judith Hoyt, Brooke Marks-Swanson, Lisa & Scott Cylinder, and Wendy McAllister, from a private collection, photo: Rebekah Frank There are as many definitions of a collection as there are for collectors. When noted art collector and philanthropist Eugene Thaw was asked
The Art of Collecting Read More »
Exhibition view, COLLECT, 2015, the Saatchi Gallery, London, photo: Juno Snowdon The last of 17 filled-out questionnaires has just landed in my inbox, and once again, I marvel at the availability and professionalism of the organizers of jewelry events (which will be abbreviated as “JEs” in the rest of this article) around the world: All
Surging and Hopeful: Jewelry Weeks around the Globe Read More »
