Andrea Janosik 2007 AJF Emerging Artist Winner

The Art Jewelry Forum (AJF) is delighted to announce this year’s Emerging Artist Award winner is Andrea Janosik. She will receive $2000 from AJF in recognition of this achievement. There were 21 entries from all over the United States and Canada.

Artist and educator Nancy Worden led the effort, joined in jurying by studio artist Harriete Estel Berman and Jean Mandeberg, artist and now metals professor at The Evergreen State College. “This year’s jury was unique,” notes Worden, “in that all three of us are practicing jewelry artists and know intimately how difficult that transition from school to independent artist can be. This artist proved to us that she has the professionalism and work ethic to become a peer.”

Bringing their insight to the decision, the judges’ criteria were originality, quality craftsmanship and continuity of design. Another major consideration was whether the work submitted had been created in a supervised or academic situation. By defining an Emerging Artist as an artist who has been out of school for at least a year and created all eight entries unsupervised, the judges were able to narrow the selection down to the winner.

“Andrea Janosik was our choice for the Emerging Artist Award this year because her work is well-crafted, well-designed, and very creative in her use of materials,” Worden contends. “She finished her formal education in 2001 and has been producing on a consistent basis ever since, which was an indication to us that she is in this career for the long haul.”

Andrea earned a BFA in product design/metals and a BA in creative writing from Parsons School of Design, New York. Born in Slovakia, Andrea lived in Zambia, Africa, and Germany before coming to the United States to complete her studies. Her work has been featured in the Schmuck 2006 exhibit in Munich, Germany, and at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York.

Formal announcement of this award, with images of the work, will be at SOFA Chicago on Friday, November 2 at 11 a.m. in conjunction with an AJF-sponsored lecture by artist Gerd Rothman. At SOFA, Andrea’s work will be shown by Charon Kransen Arts.

2007 marks the eighth year that AJF, an organization that promotes education, appreciation and advocacy for contemporary art jewelry, has given an award to an emerging artist whose work shows exceptional promise.