Masumi Kataoka, Untitled, 2007, rawhide, plastic, sterling silver, stainless steel

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.

Masumi Kataoka, Untitled, 2007, rawhide, plastic, sterling silver, nickel

Masumi Kataoka, Eternity, 2008, rawhide, plastic, sterling silver, nickel

Sergey Jivetin, Battle formation brooch, 2003, watch hands, silver, 2 x 2 x 0.5 inches

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/

Sergey Jivetin, China accumulus necklace, 2009, porcelain handles, silicone tile sealer, 22 x 12 x 2 inches

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!

Sergey Jivetin, Whorls and Eddies bracelet, 2007, jeweler’s saw-blades, stainless steel, 6 inches diameter, 1 inch high

Sergey Jivetin, Poultry accumulus necklace, 2009, eggs, carbon fiber, gold, steel, 22 x 12 x 4 inches

Andrea Janosik, Orange bracelet, 2007, oxidized sterling silver, rolled suede leather, 1.75 x 4 x 4.5 inches

Just a reminder to all you young, talented and yet uncomfortably poor contemporary jewelers out there that it is time for you to be applying for AJF’s EAA. FYI for those of you saying WTF at all the acronyms, the Emerging Artist Award is a $5000 US prize given out by Art Jewelry Forum each year to a contemporary jeweler at the beginning of their career. You must have competed your academic or professional training, have been out of school for at least a year, and not yet achieved the distinction of a solo exhibition in a commercial gallery or museum. If you fit this description, and your jewelry is brilliant but still awaiting its audience, then the EAA is definitely for you. The deadline for submissions is the 13th June 2010. You can find out more about the award by clicking here. To submit your entry, go to www.callforentry.org/

Andrea Janosik, Red spike bracelet, 2008, stacked leather and oxidized sterling silver, tied with leather cord, 3 x 4 x 4 inches

The winning entry will be selected by our jury of esteemed jewelry experts: Namita Wiggers, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland; Susan Beech, collector and long-standing AJF member; and Sharon Massey, jeweler and winner of the EAA in 2009. You can find out more about past winners of the EAA – such as Andrea Janosik – by clicking here, but all you really need to know is that they were showered with praise and glory and cash, and their lives have become like a craftsperson’s dream, filled with enormous studios, wine and cheese, happy dealers, enthusiastic collectors and sympathetic critics.

Andrea Janosik, Yellow cone necklace, 2009, rolled leather, leather cord, and oxidized sterling silver, 9 x 9 x 1.75 inches

Finally, if you aren’t a contemporary jeweler at the beginning of your career, but you like what AJF is doing by way of the EAA and our other grant schemes, then why not consider becoming a member? Your membership donation supports jewelers (and those who support them), and gives you access to a group of people from around the world who are passionate about contemporary jewelry, so much so that they are prepared to put their money where, to paraphrase an old saying, their necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings and brooches are. (To find out more about joining AJF, click here.)

Andrea Janosik, Green rolled necklace, 2009, rolled leather, leather cord, and oxidized sterling silver, 9 x 10 x 2.75 inches

In January 2010 AJF member Lena Vigna’s exhibition Adornment and Excess: Jewelry in the 21st Century opened at the Miami University Art Museum. (The catalogue was in part funded by a grant from AJF through our Grant Award Program that supports museums to promote contemporary jewelry. To learn more about AJF grants, click here.) In her introduction, Vigna writes:

Not just aesthetic, sentimental or related to social status, jewelry can be understood as a material reflection of a society – what it values at a certain time, how and why. Current global issues of sustainability, personal responsibility and questions of wealth and power are fueling investigations of jewelry as a commodity, symbol and carrier of meaning. Contemporary art jewelers, such as the 19 whose works are included in Adornment and Excess: Jewelry in the 21st Century, draw attention to how we consume materials and objects historically, visually and metaphorically. Whether made of plastic or paper, cardboard or metal, reclaimed resources and otherwise, the contemporary jewelry featured in this exhibition both challenges and delights – it offers a dynamic framework for considering questions of sustainability, responsibility, material recycling, ethical consumption, prosperity, decadence and jewelry itself.

Vigna’s show suggests that most contemporary jewelers have a critical purpose behind their dalliance with luxury, and the seduction of excess is undercut through the use of commonplace materials. (You can find out more about the show by clicking here.) But why is it that adornment and excess are being yoked together in such a positive way in the present? And why has decadence become a virtue rather than a vice?

The fact that it is in some sense acceptable is nicely demonstrated by Metalsmith‘s 2010 exhibition in print. Curated by Garth Clark, it is called Neo-Palatial: Objects of Virtue and Vice, and the call for submissions notes:

Throughout history, metalsmiths have sought commissions from the palace to create objet de virtue, extravagant works that challenge the limitation of technique, scale, and sometimes even good taste. Such objects are designed to take center stage, serving as the focal point of parlors, entrance halls, courtyards, or, later in the 19th-century, as “exposition vases” at World Fairs.  They were a little brash, deliberately exaggerated, and virtuosic or at least rapturous in their use of metals, lest they disappoint their patrons and noble guests. Over time, these patrons have changed from princes and warlords, to collectors and museums. For the 2010 “Exhibition in Print,” published by Metalsmith magazine, guest curator Garth Clark is seeking examples of giant “exposition vases,” canonical candlesticks, and jewelry on steroids, in an exploration of the brilliance and decadence of this metalsmithing genre.

There’s no denying that Garth Clark is a provocateur, and no doubt his decision to celebrate extravagance is a way to prod contemporary jewelry, to make it feel uncomfortable and thus to open up space for interesting things to happen. (To learn more about the call for submissions, click here.) Whatever Clark’s motivations, this recuperation of decadence feels more substantial, as though it is speaking to something profound and important.

There’s no doubt many ways to explain and understand this, but one might be in terms of the problems of contemporary jewelry’s audience. For anyone who pays attention to the buyers and collectors of contemporary jewelry, it is obvious that jewelry is in trouble, with an aging and relatively small population of supporters. The decision that contemporary jewelry made in the past half-century to align itself with fine art practice has not paid off in terms of access to a fine arts audience. Could the turn towards excess and luxury be some kind of new gambit on the part of contemporary jewelry to reposition itself in the wider cultural marketplace? There’s no doubt that contemporary jewelry has historically shunned the luxury market while secretly envying its success. Is this new mood a shrugging off of closet envy in favor of a more productive emulation? Might this embrace of decadence at the end of an era actually be a sign of a new, hopeful phase in contemporary jewelry?

Sharon Massey, Untitled, 2008, iron wire, cotton muslin, wax, gold, 3 x 12 x 12 inches

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.

Bruce Metcalf, Band Aid, 1993, painted wood, sterling silver, 18 carat gold, 4 x 2 7/8 inches, Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Gift of Dr. Marty and Judy Bloomfield

Neither jewelry or rock and roll are going to save the world, but it doesn’t stop us trying. One of the more interesting initiatives to exploit jewelry’s social conscience and political potential is the ‘Middle East Portable Discussion’ put together by I Care A Lot, a non-profit, non-governmental group founded in Stockholm, Sweden, by Dana Hakim (jeweller) and Yosef Bercovich (graphic designer). Their proposal is an international exhibition of contemporary jewelry which tackles the thorny issue of the Middle East. (To visit their website, click here.) As the organizers suggest:

Jewelry is an intimate art medium within the private and the public space which offers a personal relationship and an encounter between the wearer, the viewer audience and the actual jewelry. It is an invitation to start a conversation and it can make a meeting possible. The body is a portable showcase and the wearer chooses what and how to exhibit on him/her. Jewelry express the wearer character and sense of humor, it acts as an extension to the wearer personality, indicating his/her group of belonging, it is asking questions or claiming its opinion about the reality in which we live in, about our society, our surrounding and ourselves. By wearing jewelries we attain communication.

Exploiting this potential of adornment, I Care A Lot is looking for jewelry that provocatively and intelligently mines the ability of jewelry to cast new light on old problems, and to put into question our relationship to, understanding of, and sense of commitment towards, the Middle East. Submissions are due on 15 March 2010, for an exhibition online, at Platina Gallery in Stockholm, and through the medium of a catalogue.