In the late 1950s, Dr Ümit Bir set out with his stethoscope in his bag, traveling around the world and including frequent visits to Turkey, his home country. In 1960, he met an architect, Dr Rudolph Steinbach, who gave the order to ‘start collecting!’ Trained in ‘the strenuous and exacting practice of medicine,’ Bir turned […]
Jewellery from the Orient: Treasures from the Bir Collection Read More »
In the early 1990s word traveled quickly through collectors of contemporary jewelry, museum curators, and the craft world at large that a major collection of modernist jewelry had “escaped” the United States. Collective gnashing of teeth decried “the one that got away.” The collection had been assembled by Mark McDonald, Mark Isaacson, and Ralph Cutler, partners in
What’s Modernism Got to Do With It? Read More »
Conferences stimulate the development of critical discourse in the craft world. In the United States, the American Craft Council, the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, the Society of North American Goldsmiths all organize craft-specific gatherings that fuel ideas and provide face-to-face networking. Craft is a small fish in a big pond at
Craft’s Emerging Identity: The CAA Conference 2011 Read More »
A comprehensive catalog of the contemporary jewelry collection of the Schmuckmuseum in Pforzheim, this book, by Fritz Falk and Cornelie Holzach (who have both worked at the museum) is also a substantial introduction to the development of contemporary jewellery in Europe and, less comprehensively, the rest of the world. Falk and Holzach offer pithy surveys
Schmuck der Moderne/Modern Jewellery 1960-1998 Read More »
Celebrating 70: 70 Years by 70 Artists, published by Lorene Publications and Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery, is like a charming little book of hours, only six-and-a-half inches square. Its purpose is to celebrate as AJF member Karen Lorene, head of Facèré gallery in Seattle, turns 70 on August 19, 2010 and looks back to enjoy the past. The artists
Celebrating 70: 70 Years by 70 Artists Read More »
‘You are only what you surround yourself with? No. You surround yourself only with who you are.’ (Rob Walker, Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are. Random House, 2008.)
Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box Read More »
In May 2007, Sally von Bargen interviewed Jo Lauria, a long time AJF member and previous board member. She is the chief curator for the touring exhibition Craft in America: Expanding Traditions and co-author of the companion book Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects. Cover, Jo Lauria and Steve Fenton (ed),
Jo Lauria in Conversation Read More »
This essay was first delivered as a talk at the Society of North American Goldsmiths conference in Savannah, Georgia, in March 2008. About eighteen months ago, I attended the American Craft Council’s big conference in Houston. The agenda was heavily skewed towards a view that the future of craft lies in installation art that employs
DIY, Websites and Energy: The New Alternative Crafts Read More »
