2008 June archive at Art Jewelry Forum

Archive for June, 2008

More from the Class of 2008

Top Jocelyn Kolb, Temple University; Naomi Landig, University of Washington; Masako Onodero, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Barb Smith, Purdue University Row 2 Kristi Rae Wilson, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Sean Scully, Kent State University; Aimee Howard, University of Kansas; Sung Yeoul Lee, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Row 3 Stacey Van Waldrick, Syracuse University; Sun Kyoung Kim University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Bottom Sarah Abramson, University of New York New Paltz; Daniel Warlop, Pittsburg State University; Anne Hiddema, Kendall College of Art and Design; Lisa Johnson, University of Indiana

2008 Grant Proposals Being Accepted

Submission deadline: Sept. 30, 2008.

The Art Jewelry Forum offers grant awards up to $2,000 to museums, universities and other nonprofit exhibition spaces and organizations for projects that heighten awareness and appreciation of art jewelry, such as publications and critical writing, exhibitions and conferences. The program details are posted below.

Masumi Kataoka Winner of Eighth AJF
Emerging Artist Award

The Art Jewelry Forum is pleased to announce this year’s Emerging Artist Award winner, Masumi Kataoka. Ms. Kataoka received a BFA in Metal/Jewelry at Northern Arizona University and completed a MFA in Metal Jewelry at the University of North Texas in 2003. Ms Kataoka was chosen from among seventy-nine entries, a record number, from the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Australia, Italy, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Iran.

Ms. Kataoka’s work emphasizes the intimate nature of jewelry as an object. Historical jewelry, such as Victorian-mourning jewelry, has been of great interest to Ms. Kataoka because it signifies a deep affection and bond with another person and consequently with the object itself. Ms. Kataoka uses materials that may suggest skin and internal organs as if they were an extension of the body, as if one’s inner feelings are outwardly displayed. She finds the use of body elements and materials that relate to the body in jewelry interesting because it blurs the boundary between the person and the object itself and emphasizes the intimacy of objects.

Jurors for the 2008 competition were Cindi Strauss, curator of Modern and Contemporary Decorative Arts and Design at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Ron Porter, long-standing member of AJF and a collector of contemporary jewelry; and Andrea Janosik, jewelry artist and recipient of the AJF’s 2007 Award. Criteria used in the judging were originality, depth of concept and quality of craftsmanship. Jurors felt her work had both a distinctive look and a range of form; they described her work as having an organic feel and commented on her seductive use of the materials.

Ursula Neuman Describes Upcoming Jewelry Exhibitions At Museum of Arts and Design

When the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) opens its doors in its new space on Columbus Circle in New York City this fall, it will inaugurate the Tiffany & Co. Foundation Jewelry Gallery. “The opening jewelry exhibition, Elegant Armor, draws from the museum’s entire jewelry collection, with works from the 1940s to the present,” says Jewelry Curator Ursula Neuman.

“Half of the pieces will be on view in cases,” she describes, “and the rest in drawers allowing viewers to find unexpected treasures in the country’s only gallery dedicated solely to contemporary jewelry.

“The gallery also features a stimulating interactive computer screen with highlights of the collection juxtaposed with works in the collection including other media,” she adds. “We plan to work on this interactive project steadily, increasing the range of thematic propositions.”

Ursula looks forward to “working with well-known exhibition designers, artists, and other innovators to install meaningful exhibitions that will promote this highly innovative art form.”

“We have received many outright gifts as well as promised gifts, including entire collections, which we will present in their entirety with their respective catalogues in due time,” she says.

“We are also looking into the parallels (at least formal ones) of a collection of ethnic silver jewelry from around the world,” she notes, “which is a very exciting prospect. Since we already have a solid foundation in our jewelry collection, these new additions contribute to our goal of collecting the best in contemporary art jewelry from all over the globe.”

Planning exciting future exhibitions

Asked about future exhibitions, Ursula says she’s especially enthusiastic about “a collaborative project with the Oakland Museum to create a Margaret de Patta retrospective, working with the previously unpublished material from the de Patta Estate near San Francisco.”

She’s also “planning an intriguing exhibition on the use of photography in jewelry, within an historical background of l9th century photo-jewelry and even earlier portrait miniatures.”

With ties to Munich and New York City

Born and raised in Southern Germany, in and around Munich, Ursula points out that Munich is a city with a long jewelry tradition including Bavarian folk jewelry, which she finds particularly interesting.

She studied Art History both in Germany and in the United States, with graduate studies at the Institute of Fine Art and at the Cooper-Hewitt/Parson’s program where she earned her MA in Decorative Arts. She has also finished course work for a PhD at the Bard Graduate Center in New York.

When asked about her special interests, Ursula replies, “Contemporary art and craft – and, of course, contemporary art jewelry – in Germany we call it Autorenschmuck.”

After almost 17 years as a curator in all media, Ursula was named the Jewelry Curator at MAD just over a year ago. She works a three-day work week in the office, “but a curator’s work is never done!” Ursula laughs.

More than 10 years ago, Ursula began working with the museum’s jewelry collection under the directorship of Janet Kardon.

“I fell in love with this jewelry,” she admits, “and I included it in many non-jewelry exhibitions, including the Garry Knox Bennett retrospective, highlighting his work as a metal sculptor.”

“I also featured cutting-edge jewelry in Corporal Identity: Body Language: 9th Triennial Exhibition, which we presented jointly with the Museum of Applied Arts in Frankfurt, Germany.”

Radiant Geometries, Zero Karats, Treasures from the Vault

The jewelry exhibitions Ursula has curated include Radiant Geometries, where she featured 16 international jewelry artists, including Eva Eisler, Thomas Gentille, Helfried Kodre, and Peter Skubic, in an exhibition that explored the geometric/minimalist approach employed by these and other prominent artists.

She also curated the exhibition celebrating Donna Schneier’s gift of jewelry in non-precious materials, Zero Karat: Jewelry from the Donna Schneier Collection as well as Treasures from the Vault, with pieces from the permanent collection.

GlassWear will come to MAD in 2009

Her most recent jewelry exhibition, GlassWear, was created in collaboration with the Pforzheim Jewelry Museum in Germany.

“The exhibition opened in the Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art, traveled to Germany and Belgium, and will be shown at MAD in summer 2009,” Ursula comments. “Both the catalogue and show have been extremely well received.”

When asked about her personal preferences in jewelry, Ursula replies, “It depends on my daily mood, but aside from a few family pieces dating back to my great-great grandmother’s time, I prefer contemporary works where I connect with the artistic statement. I also appreciate excellent workmanship, which allows the artistic ideas to ‘shine through’.”

EVENTS

Eat lunch with Robert Ebendorf at Quirk Gallery

Friday, November 7. 2008
12:30 pm at Quirk
lunch will be provided free; limit 10
rsvp by October 17;
804.644.5450 or katie@quirkgallery.com

The Victoria & Albert open William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery

The Victoria & Albert Museum inLondon opened the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery, which displays 3,500 jewels from the V&A’s jewellery collection. The new gallery will center principally on the story of European jewellery during the last 800 years, including jewels that reflect the splendour of courtly life, some of the finest designs from the great jewellery houses of the 20th century, and jewels designed by important contemporary makers.

Ahead of Its Time: Artistic Jewelry in the Milieu of 1900
The Association for the Study of Jewelry & Related Arts’ most important activities are the publishing of “Adornment, The Magazine of Jewelry and Related Arts” and its Annual Conference on Jewelry and Related Arts on October 11- 13, 2008. Registrations are due now.

“Ahead of Its Time: Artistic Jewelry in the Milieu of 1900″, this year’s conference to be held at the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, will examine personal ornament as a decorative art against the background of the turn of the 19th into the 20th century. It will explore a number of emergent jewelry movements, including Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, and Jugendstil. All
stood in stark contrast to mainstream jewelry and represent an exciting phase in jewelry history.

Speakers will examine the philosophical and inspirational sources for these changes; the political, and social climate of the time; and the popular motifs and technological innovations that characterize the various movements. Several young scholars will have the opportunity to present their original research at the conference. It is being held in conjunction with the exhibition “Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry” which will be at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston through November 9 (opens July 23).

Speakers and Topics:

Yvonne Markowitz
(Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, co-author of “Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry”)
“Art Nouveau Jewelry: A Collector’s Vision”

Elyse Zorn Karlin
(Publisher of “Adornment”; author of “Jewelry and Metalwork in the Arts & Crafts Tradition” and co-author of “Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry”)
“Arts & Crafts vs. Art Nouveau Jewelry, the Similarities and Differences”

Kaitlin Shinnick
(Windgate Fellow, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
“The Other Woman: Josephine Hartwell Shaw and the Boston Arts & Crafts Movement”

Meghan Melvin
(Curatorial project assistant, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
“Universal Designers: Artists at the Darmstadt Colony (1899-1914)”

Susan Ward
(Curatorial research fellow, Department of Textile and Fashion Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
“Ex Unique: The Singular Career of Philippe Wolfers”

Jeannine Falino
(Independent museum curator)
“Louis Comfort Tiffany: His Life and Jewelry”

Barry Shifman
(Curator of Decorative Arts, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)
“The Art Nouveau and Art Deco Jewelry Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts”

For further information go to:
www.jewelryconference.com
www.jewelryandrelatedarts.com
www.asjra.net

You can reach ASJRA at (914) 286-7685 or ekarlin@usa.net.

The catalogue for “Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry” has just been
published by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and is available through the
museum, Barnes and Noble, Amazon and other online booksellers.

EXHIBITIONS

Memphis National Ornamental Metals Museum
“Edge Of The Sublime: Enamels By Jamie Bennett” Until August 15, 2008
http://metalmuseum.americommerce.com/on_exhibit.html

Heard Museum
Young Jewelers
Dec. 13 — Sep. 7 2008, Phoenix, Arizona http://www.heard.org

Neue Galerie
Wiener Werkstatte Jewelry
Mar. 27 — Sep. 1 2008, New York, New York http://www.neuegalerie.org

Racine Art Museum
Earl Pardon: Palette Maestro
Apr. 3 — Aug. 10 2008, Racine, Wisconsin http://www.ramart.org

Fort Wayne Museum of Art
American Modernist Jewelry, 1940-1970
May. 3 — Aug. 24 2008, Fort Wayne, Indiana http://www.fwmoa.org

Imus Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
The Pioneers of Art Jewellery from America
Aug. 27 — Sep. 15 2008
Twelve dynamic American artists were selected by the Japan Jewellery Designers Association to present contemporary wearables in a special display at the association’s 25th art competition. http://www.jjda.or.jp/en/

Fuller Craft Museum
Sculpture Transformed: The Work of Marjorie Schick
May 17 — Sep. 14 2008, Brockton, Massachusetts http://www.fullercraft.org

Figge Art Museum
When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewelry from the Susan L. Beningson Collection
May 31 — Aug. 24 2008, Davenport, Iowa http://www.figgeartmuseum.org

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art- at the University of Oregon Eugene, OR
“Thinking Body”
Now through September 7, 2008 http://jsma.uoregon.edu/exhibitions/

Mary Schiller Myers School of Art, Akron, OH
“Out Of The Shell, Recontextualizing the Pearl in Contemporary Jewelry”
July 14/2008 through Octover 4 http://art.uakron.edu/exhibitions/out-of-the-shell/

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe
Jul. 1 — Sep. 21 2008 New York, New York http://http://www.metmuseum.org

Museum of Fine Arts
When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewelry from the Susan L. Beningson Collection
Sep. 13 — Dec. 28 2008 St. Petersburg, Florida http://www.fine-arts.org/

Mint Museum of Craft + Design
Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection
Aug. 16 — Jan. 4 2009 Charlotte, North Carolina http://www.mintmuseum.org/

San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design
The Thinking Body: A Contemporary Metalworks Exhibition
Oct. 17 — Jan. 4 2009 San Francisco, California http://http://www.sfmcd.com/

Walters Art Museum
Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry
Oct. 19 — Jan. 4 2009 Baltimore, Maryland http://www.thewalters.org/

Cleveland Museum of Art
Artistic Luxury: Faberge, Tiffany, Lalique
Oct. 19 — Jan. 19 2009 Cleveland, Ohio http://www.clevelandart.org/

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Calder Jewelry
Dec. 9 — Mar. 1 2009 New York, New York http://www.metmuseum.org/

Fowler Museum at UCLA
Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda
Aug. 10 — Mar. 15 2009 Los Angeles, California http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/incEngine/

Brooklyn Museum
From the Village to Vogue: The Modernist Jewelry of Art Smith
May. 14 — May. 17 2009 Brooklyn, New York http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/

McColl Center for Visual Art
“True Grit: Frames, Fixations and Flirtations”
September 5 through November 1, 2008
http://www.mccollcenter.org/site/nav.cfm?cat=16&subcat=75&subsub=289

Philadelphia Museum of Art
Calder Jewelry
Jul. 12 — Nov. 2 2008, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania http://www.philamuseum.org

Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston Imperishable Beauty: Art Nouveau Jewelry Jul. 23 — Nov. 9 2008, Boston, Massachusetts http://www.mfa.org

Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art
Edge Of The Sublime: Enamels By Jamie Bennett
September 27- November 16, 2008 http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/exhibitions/

AWARDS

Peabody Award
“CRAFT IN AMERICA” won the 2007 Peabody Award, television’s highest honor. The award citation for the series noted, “This three-hour chronicle of America’s rich, ongoing traditions of weaving, quilting, woodworking and other craft art was as carefully wrought and as beautifully shot as its subject matter…visually elegant, the programs also allow the creators to explain the deeply personal perspectives that define their work.” Carol Sauvion and Kyra Thompson, co-executive producers, are working on new programs in the series which will air in primetime, nationwide on PBS in 2009. For more information on the book and traveling exhibition, go to http://www.craftinamerica.org/?

Library Society Honors Cindi Strauss and Helen Drutt
Museum of Fine Art Houston´s Ornament as Art Exhibition Catalogue Receives Prestigious George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award from the Art Libraries Society of North America. http://www.mfah.org/info.asp? Learn more.

Mary Lee Hu Wins the Twining Humber Award
The Twining Humber Award is an unrestricted award of $10,000 given annually to a Washington state female artist, age 60 or over, who has dedicated a significant portion of her life to her art practice. The award recognizes creative excellence, professional accomplishment and dedication to the visual arts. See more.

Mary’s work is also present in a show at the Cooper Hewitt called “Rococo: The Continuing Curve, 1730- 2008.” Have a look.

NYC Trip

The response to our New York trip announcement was overwhelming. As we said in the email announcing the trip, we are limited to 25 members; currently there are 30 members who have expressed a desire to make the trip. Trip payment and confirmation packets were sent to the first twenty five members who contacted us; the remaining five members have been placed on a “wait list’.

There will be members with reservations who will not be able to join us. If you are interested in the New York trip please let us know and we’ll add your name to the wait list. If space becomes available you will be contacted to complete your registration. It is easy, simply click here to send us an email.

The trip dates are Friday Oct. 3rd, Saturday Oct. 4th and Sunday Oct. 5th. The price is $950 and includes: all museum and guided tour fees, all local transportation, two gourmet meals per day on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, a private dinner on Saturday, and as always a $25 donation to the Art Jewelry Forum.

MAD Jewelry curator Ursula Neuman is thrilled that we will be in town for the new museum’s first weeks of public viewing and has helped us plan our trip. The itinerary is almost final. Here are the many activities we are scheduling:

Special events at the Museum of Arts and Design, including a private guided tour of the whole new museum building as well as an in depth look at the jewelry displays. There will an opportunity to personally meet and question Ursula Neuman and former American Craft Museum (the previous name for MAD) curator Paul Smith about their thoughts on both the history and the future of MAD.
A behind-the-scenes look at the addition of the Donna Schneier contemporary jewelry collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with curator Jane Adlin.
Visits to artist’s studios in town as well as presentations from artists represented by Charon Kranson Arts, Gallery Loupe and the David Collection among others, including the opportunity to plan social and educational events with them.
Patricia Faber treats us to cocktails and the Michael Zobel retrospective at Aaron Faber Gallery.
A tour through the International Arts and Design Fair with noted historian Toni Greenbaum and author of “Messengers of Modernism”.
A timely visit to the Brooklyn Museum to see the show “From the Village to Vogue: The Modernist Jewelry of Art Smith”.
Visits to both Pratt and the 92nd Street Y jewelry programs with presentations from students and instructors.
Viewings of the private collections of Barbara Tober and Susan Grant Lewin (author of “One of a Kind: American Art Jewelry Today”).

As is our tradition we will dine at highly rated restaurants, and for our second night in New York we have planned a special private dinner party.

It is going to be a wonderful trip!

Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection

Through July 6, The Renwick Gallery, 17 Street NW, Washington, DC. The exhibit includes some 300 objects, including 275 pieces of jewelry. Cindi Strauss, curator of modern and contemporary decorative arts and design at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, organized the exhibition; Robyn Kennedy, chief of the Renwick Gallery, is coordinating the exhibition in Washington.

Earl Pardon: Palette Maestro

Through Aug. 10, Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI. For more information, see www.ramart.org.

The exhibit was organized by Roseanne Raab, and it provides a career survey of Pardon’s work from the 1950s to the 1990s, when he was a major contributor to American studio jewelry.

On the museum’s website, it states: “Trained formally as a painter, Pardon is best known for jewelry that incorporates rich colors in both enameled metal surfaces and colored gemstones. He is often credited to playing a significant role in the revival of the art of enameling, as well as introducing enamel as a design element in industry.”

SOFA New York

May 28-June 1, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY.

SOFA lectures will be held Thursday, May 29, in the Tiffany Room. There will be three lectures featuring jewelry.

10 to 11 a.m. Jewelry by Artists: The Daphne Farago Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by Kelly L’Ecuyer, AJF member and curator of decorative arts and sculpture, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Presented by the Art Jewelry Forum.

1:45 to 2:45 p.m. Adam Paxon, winner of several prizes whose work has been collected by the Contemporary Art Society, London, as well as the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts.

4:15 to 5:15 p.m. Karen Pontoppidan: Why I Do What I Do. Karen currently assists Ruudt Peters in Stockholm. Presented by the Society for North American Goldsmiths.

See www.sofaexpo.com.