2007 is a banner year for contemporary art jewelry. Two collections of large and significant holdings have been given to two major museums. Art Jewelry Forum is planning a trip to Boston in May and another trip to Houston in September to mark these extremely important moments in the history of this form we love so well.
In order to participate in the opening ceremonies of the “Jewelry by Artists: The Daphne Farago Collection” at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, AJF is planning a trip there from May 19th through the 21st. The acquisition of this collection of contemporary jewelry by a fine arts museum is something worth celebrating and witnessing in person. It is an extremely special occasion.
Home base while in Boston is the lovely and well-located Nine Zero Hotel (www.ninezero.com) The trip will start with a welcoming dinner on Saturday night followed the next morning by a discussion of the retrospective “Edge of the Sublime” planned for jeweler Jamie Bennett by the independent curator, Jeanine Falino, which will open later this year at the Fuller Museum. Jamie himself will also be there. Then it’s off to lunch at the Institute of Contemporary Art/ Boston (www.icaboston.org) which is in a spectacular new building along Boston’s waterfront designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. After lunch we will attend a lecture at MASSART (www.massart.edu) by one of the truly inspirational Dutch jewelers, Ruudt Peters and see an installation of his work. The MASSART faculty (Heather White, Joe Wood and Barbara Seidenath) has also arranged an exhibition for us of jewelry by their alums and students. We will be given a special tour of the metal arts program there and meet with students and see their work. We will wind up the day with a cocktail party with artists and then a dinner on our own.
On Monday we will visit the artist Dan Jocz’s studio and then spend time with Libby and Joanne Cooper and have lunch at Mobilia, the well-established gallery (www.mobilia-gallery.com) in Cambridge. After lunch we will have a very special series of talks by curators at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (www.mfa.org) . Kelly L’Ecuyer, who is working on a definitive book about the Farago collection due out in 2010, will take us through that collection. Yvonne Markowitz, who has just been named the Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan Curator of Jewelry, will show us some of the earlier collections of jewelry in the holdings of the museum and finally Lauren Whitley, Assistant Curator of Textiles and Fashion Arts, will talk with us about the Ed Rossbach textile collection which is also opening this evening. We will stay at the museum for the opening event and then go to dinner nearby for our final gathering.
It’s been a long dreary winter. Do something nice for yourself and sign up now to secure a place on this trip. Trip registration was mailed to all paid members on March 14.
If you are not a member and would like to participate, the first step is to click on Become a Member. Once we receive your request, a trip packet will be mailed to you.
Questions? You may always contact us at info@artjewelryforum.org. You may also call: 415-522-2924 and leave a message.