The whole conference seems to have gone extremely well. Richard Sennett as wonderful and very much connected with the audience even though he spent a lot of time talking about computer programers- but people seemed to get the connection. The Elissa Authur gave a great history of Livelihood and Lifestyle- just what we hoped the conference would articulate about community and individuals etc. The panel of the 3 makers was ok and did bring out similarities and differences in the ages. Then in the afternoon Adam Lerner put together 2 people – one talked about architecture and the other about the art of butchery.yes you read that right. But it turned out to be fascinating especially because the Slow Food idea was brought into the mix this way – not to mention that the young artist on the panel owns a bakery and makes things out of sugar..those were the highlights for me. It seemed to be a delicate balance of lecturing and talking in Open Sessions and in Q & A which is allowing some of the smart people in the audience to add in their thoughts.
On the second day Rob Walker from the NYT talked about the Consumer and how craft relates to the market from a very anti-trend point of view- ie he was very anti-trend and loved looking at the tensions in the marketplace where consumers contradict themselves…He was good and so was Julie Lasky from the design world in a little history of mid century Industrial Design starting with images from "North by Northwest" where Hichcock paired Moderism and Death… remember the house? the crop duster? the granite faces of past presidents? The new owers of Heath Ceramics talked about how they pumped life back into a good old product and then Lydia Matthews- always smart and with it – gave a very good overview of craft based projects that designers and makers have been doing that involved community and collaboration- and that was followed by Garth Clark doing his stand up version of beating on the ACC called "Palace and Cottage". He lamented that the ACC was such an elitist organization and that what we really should be doing is lobbying for the little guy… poor Janet Koplos tried to point out that he was King of the Palace and the only reason he could retire and move to Sante Fe was because he made so much money being the king and Keelin Burrows also got up and straightened out his facts about the council… a spectacular ending to the whole thing.

As far as I can tell everyone is jazzed and being stimulated by the presentations and the conversations. There are a lot more young people here than there were last time and the quality of the audience is evident by the quality of the questions asked. It is very different than the last conference. The field has really moved- surprisingly!!

Bruce Pepich, AJF curator member and Executive Director and Curator of Collections at Racine Art Museum wants all AJF members to know that RAM now has Donna Schneier’s gift of 49 pieces displayed alongside works by the same artists that are already in the collection or are additional new gifts from other donors. RAM has the jewelry paired with other examples of jewelry, jewelry and hollowware together and, in the case of Beatrice Wood and Garry Knox Bennett, jewelry with ceramics and furniture. There are about 120 works on display in the main gallery.

This is the fifth year that AJF gallery member Karen Lorene has published Signs of Life, a literary journal that uses jewelry art to inspire writers. Karen and her team – Nancy Megan Corwin, Trudee Hill, Dana Shaw, Lorraine Vagner and Susan Welch – staged a wonderful event last week. To a packed house of over 150 people the artists provided insights into their work and writers read the pieces they had written. Following the presentations and readings an opening reception was held in the gallery. The jewelry artists and writer pairings featured in this year’s publication include: Diane Falkenhagen and Stephanie Kallos, Trudee Hill and Sam Green, Aliyah Gold and Waverly Fitzgerald, Laurie Hall and Sarah Fenske, Thomas Hill and John Olsen, Julia Harrison and Erica Baurmeister, Sarah Willbanks and Paul Dorpat, Gail Rappa and Jean Sherrard, and Rika Mouw and Janet Yoder. Take a look at the photos and you can see just how joyous the event was and how Seattle jewelry art lovers flocked to this year’s Signs of Life. One of the nicest surprises of the evening was seeing that AJF founding member Mia McEldowney made the journey from her home on Vashon Island for the event, Mia is pictured below (orange jacket and great neckpiece). See if you can find Ron Ho, Laurie Hall and Karen Lorene in the photo above!

GALERIE ROB KOUDIJS curated an exhibition at the CODA Museum in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. The CODA Museum (formally known as the Van Reekum Museum) is a museum with a long history in displaying and collecting contemporary jewellery dating back to the sixties. In the show we have put together and designed, all 17 participating artists used, in some way or other, ‘animals’ in their jewellery. SIEREN MET DIEREN (ADORN WITH ANIMALS) opened on the third of October 2009. Further information you can find on our web-site: www.galerierobkoudijs.nl, look under ‘news’ for the introduction text; under ‘links’ for CODA (there you go to ‘tentoonstellingen’ > ‘Sieren met Dieren’).

The AJF Board thanks Rob for putting a link to the AJF website on his gallery site.

Paul Smith is the recipient of the American Craft Council Aileen Osborn Webb Award of Philanthropy. The American Craft Council is a national, not-for-profit educational organization founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb. The mission of the Council is to promote understanding and appreciation of contemporary American craft. Programs include the bimonthly magazine AMERICAN CRAFT, nine annual juried craft shows (three wholesale and six retail) presenting artists and their work, a specialized library and archive and the annual Aileen Osborn Webb Awards honoring excellence in craft.

Signs of Life is a contemporary jewelry art show and companion jewelry art catalog/literary journal. The show features work by nine artists. The catalog/literary journal pairs these jewelry artists with nine writers in a unique publication that celebrates both literature and jewelry art. Show opening and catalog publication date: October 7, 2009. This is the fifth year of publication of Signs of Life, a literary magazine. This project combines my love of literature with my passion for jewelry art. Only 1000 copies are printed. Order from Facere Jewelry Art Gallery by e-mail or phone, $12. October 7, 2009 – October 28, 2009

We thank Karen for linking from the Facere site to the AJF site! The AJF board.