July 16th, 2010 01:07
Susan Cummins, Chair of the Art Jewelry Forum (AJF), and Susan Kempin, Award Program Chair, are pleased to announce this year’s Emerging Artist Award winner, Agnes Larsson. Larsson was chosen from among 117 entries, from 38 countries.
The goal of the Emerging Artist Award is to acknowledge promise, innovation and individuality in the work of emerging jewelers. The competition is open to makers of art jewelry who have recently completed their professional training and have not been a featured artist in a commercial gallery or museum. Larsson will receive a $5,000 cash award. In addition, her work will be featured by an AJF member gallery at the Sculptural Object and Functional Art (SOFA) Expo in Chicago and in AJF ads, and she will serve as a juror for next year’s competition.
Jurors for the 2010 competition were Namita Wiggers, Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, Oregon; Susan Beech, long-standing member of AJF and collector of contemporary jewelry; and Sharon Massey, jeweler and recipient of the AJF’s 2009 Emerging Artist Award.
Criteria used in the judging were originality, depth of concept and quality of craftsmanship. Larsson used carbon and horse hair in this series of work she submitted. She allows the material to lead the way through the working process, drawing inspiration from thoughts about gravity, lightness and heaviness, death, life, transparency and darkness, growth, decomposition and transformation to show contrasts like fragility and strength, depth and surface, darkness and light.
Juror Susan Beech commented, ‘This body of work most exemplified the guidelines for judging: originality, depth of concept and quality of craftsmanship. The use of carbon and horsehair, original materials, work well together. The first thought that came to mind when I looked at this body of work was elegant.’ Sharon Massey added, ‘Agnes Larsson presents a cohesive body of work that I found quite unusual and poetic. Her forms are simple, emphasizing the texture and blackness of the carbon as well as the fragility of the horsehair. Her artistic voice seemed the most authentic and unique.’
Larsson received a BFA, in 2004, and an MFA, in 2007, in Silversmithing and Jewellery from Konstfack University College of Arts, Craft and Design, Stockholm, Sweden.
June 12th, 2010 09:06
Last call, everyone. The Emerging Artist Award, one of AJF’s grant schemes to support contemporary jewelers at the very beginning of their careers, is closing on Sunday 13th June 2010. You’ve heard us say it all before, so we aren’t going to offer anything other than this link and this link and this link to our previous posts, and a gallery of images by another of our lovely previous winners of the EAA, Masumi Kataoka, who was top dog in 2008. To those of you who have entered in 2010, we here at AJF salute you and hope you too will experience – to quote that great American Robin Leach – champagne wishes and caviar dreams.
June 3rd, 2010 10:06
Well, it isn’t quite as dramatic as the title of this post might suggest, but there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth to match any Renaissance vision of hell from those who do not get their applications submitted for the Emerging Artist Award. Each year AJF gives $5000 to a young jeweler at the beginning of their career as a small but significant gesture of support and encouragement. The award is open to jewelers from around the world who have graduated from formal study and not yet had a solo exhibition in a gallery or museum. The winner will be decided by blind jury. (And no, for all you wits out there who might be preparing a snappy barb for the comments function on this post, we aren’t referring to the jurors and their optical capabilities, but the process.) Entries must be received by the 13th June 2010, and you can apply at www.callforentry.org/
And now, because a picture is worth a thousand posts, and because AJF is like an elephant when it comes to never forgetting those we have already celebrated, here are some images of work by Sergey Jiventin, who won the EAA in 2005. Sergey, we salute you and all the past winners of the award. And for the lucky individual who will claim the EAA crown in 2010, may the price of gold (or whatever material you favour) plummet just as the cheque arrives in the mail!
May 18th, 2010 02:05
Here at AJF we have a saying: the kumara never boasts of its own sweetness. For those of you who don’t know, the kumara is a root vegetable, like a sweet potato, and it is delicious. However, the kumara doesn’t tell the other veges how good it is to eat, it just spends its time being as yummy as it possibly can be. Every now and then, however, someone decides the kumara is just so tasty that it deserves a little award, and so AJF finds itself the recipient of SOFA’s new research grant. This is the first award that AJF has received, and while we are more used to giving out grants than getting them, we have to say it is kind of nice. Here’s a statement from AJF’s very own Susan Cummins, which will give you some more details.
And on that note the kumara goes back into the vegetable bin. (Thank you!)
April 11th, 2010 03:04
Every year the Schmuck exhibition is an opportunity to see what is happening in contemporary jewelry around the world. As the official publicity suggests:
In 2010 there were three winners of the Herbert Hoffmann Prize, and to celebrate this important event, we bring you a photo gallery of jewelry by the recipients of one of the jewelry world’s most prestigious awards: David Bielander, Mia Maljojoki and John Iversen.
If you want to know more about the Herbert Hofmann award, you can buy the catalogue called, imaginatively, Herbert Hofmann Award 1973-2008, which documents all the winners over the last twenty five years. (To read more about this publication, click here.)
March 7th, 2010 04:03
The AJF Emerging Jewelry Artist award is now open for business, bigger and better than ever in its eleventh year. If you are a contemporary jeweler who has completed your academic or professional training, have been out of school for more than one year, and have not yet had a solo exhibition in a commercial gallery or museum, then we are looking for you.
Just like reality television – although without the television and, hopefully, the histrionics – the AJF Emerging Jewelry Artist award can be your path to fame and fortune. All you have to do is dazzle our panel of judges – Namita Wiggers, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Susan Beech, long-standing AJF member and jewelry collector, and Sharon Massey, recipient of the 2009 award – with your talent, ambition and, of course, your jewelry. The award is open to any emerging jeweler from anywhere around the world, and the deadline for submissions is 13 June 2010. (To read more about the award, click here.) The winner will be showered with praise and glory, and the not-too-shabby sum of $5000.
Finally, if you are not an emerging jeweler but believe that programs such as these are a valuable addition to the contemporary jewelry scene, then please consider becoming a member of AJF. Not only are AJF members scientifically proven to be more popular and better looking than the rest of the jewelry-loving population, but they glow with the special joy that comes from making a difference through AJF’s various programs. To find out more about why you should become a member of AJF and what your membership donation will be used for, click here.
October 4th, 2009 02:10
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.
September 5th, 2009 01:09
Helen W. Drutt English is the recipient of the American Craft Council Aileen Osborn Webb Award of Distinction for Contributions to the Field of Craft. She will be featured in the October/November issue of American Craft. 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.
September 4th, 2009 01:09
Charon Kransen Arts/Books has been selected for the 2009 New York Award in the Books category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).
The USCA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2009 USCA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.