Conference & Fair Reviews

AJF commissions various kinds of critically engaged writing about the field, including reviews of events such as conference and fairs where people gather to talk about and view contemporary art jewelry and related practices in the crafts and visual arts.

29 December 2012

KORU4 Symposium 2012: Kindred Spirits

Rachel Carren

Finland has been quietly influencing the conversation in contemporary jewelry for many years by hosting events that incorporate workshops, exhibitions, and symposiums to showcase international and Finnish artists. These events started in 1997 and have occurred every three years, aiming to “bring together contemporary jewelers, curators, collectors, students, professors, and people interest in contemporary jewelry.” more...
05 November 2012

Where Makers Fear to Tread: Is the Future of Science in the Hands of Creatives?

Sarah O'Hana

In these defining moments in human history it is imperative that the arts work alongside the sciences and technologists, not least because the material arts’s methodology of lateral thought, creativity and personal investment has always led to alternative ways of resolving problems. Our main hurdle, however, is to secure the interest of science and engineering for these collaborations in the first place. Why are science and research engineers not asking the arts to work with them? And why are we not inviting scientists or engineers to do residences in art and design? more...
30 July 2012

Zimmerhof 2012

Susan Cummins

The conference overlooked the opportunity for a very important inquiry in the public realm. No one from the marketplace participated: no dealer gallery and no representative of Internet marketing or sales were presenters. The field seems to be baffled by the lack of marketplace success and this would have been an opportunity to discuss it in the context of the other ways we bump into jewelry in public. more...
27 June 2012

‘The Heat is On’ and the Air Conditioning is Blasting: Lectures at the SNAG Conference 2012

Sharon Massey

Garth Clark’s emphasis on the design field (and the opportunities for jewelers and metalsmiths within it) was by far the most notable aspect of his lecture and the most talked about at the conference. He described design as craft’s one-time twin, with the same mission to change the objects of everyday use and improve upon industrially-made items. Clark warned that material specialization in craft is a bad economic model and that craftspeople are limited to whatever they can produce with their two hands, in a time when commercial galleries are demanding more and more production. more...
14 May 2012

Jemposium: Jewellery or What? International Contemporary Jewellery Symposium

Andrea Daly

A related but tangential discussion that took place in question times and also during socializing was concerned with the dominance of ‘material expressionism.’ By this, I mean jewelry that explores materials in unusual combinations and uses and favors a more organic and grungy look. Was an international style developing rather than work that rigorously engaged with makers’ own cultural and personal landscapes? And if you are engaging with your own country’s cultural mire, what relevance does it have for the international community and will they even understand what you are saying? more...
29 February 2012

SIERAAD Art Fair & B-Side DownTown Jewelry Festival 2011

Chloë Powell

I personally have no issue with people selling their work to be worn; in my opinion jewelry is at home on the body, integrated in people’s lives, not sitting in gallery vitrines and drawers for the rest of its days. But a fair seems an uncomfortable format in which to sell art jewelry. I have never understood the concept of paying to shop – buying a ticket to enter a space to have the privilege of spending more money – and selling art jewelry in this context in the end serves to limit the people who will see it to those who are more often than not looking for something else, something more traditional. more...
26 February 2012

Empire Of Design: The London Design Festival 2011

Stephen Knott

This exuberance for design was manifest in the throngs of people that clogged Brick Lane in London’s East End during the weekend, with its galleries, fairs, bars and independent stores. Design, art and fashion all mixed together with the intensity of any of the street’s hot curries. Areas in London often frequented by a trendy clientele are supercharged during the LDF and each design devotee creates their own route through the plethora of places to be. more...
27 August 2011

Show Time: Contemporary Jewelry and the Design Fair

Susan Cummins

High-end craft fairs have developed an audience for craft that seems to have peaked. The galleries that take part believe that a small number of serious clients come to these fairs and that the list has evolved very little or not at all in the past decade. That audience is aging and various attempts to draw in other interested and younger clients from the world of design and art has not succeeded on any notable scale. Audience development strategies that have been implemented by the craft fairs have not resulted in sustained, successful growth. So the craft galleries have been left to find their own solutions. more...