Originally researched and compiled by AJF member Sharon Campbell, the institutions listed below all collect jewelry and show exhibitions of jewelry. Some have documented shows with a catalog and some have provided funding for a show to travel. Each has their own mission statement, artistic vision, jewelry statement, collection policy and goals. Some of this is shared below.
Anchorage Museum of History and Art
121 W. Seventh Avenue
Anchorage, AK 99501
www.anchoragemuseum.org
Arkansas Center for the Arts:
9th & Commerce / MacArthur Park
Little Rock, Arkansas 72203-2137
501.372.4000
www.arkarts.com
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu
www.tcmhi.org
Cooper-Hewitt
Smithsonian Design Museum
Fifth Avenue at 91st
New York, NY
212.849.8155
www.ndm.si.edu
The Mint Museum
220 N. Tyson St.
Charlotte, NC 28202
704.337.2000
www.mintmuseum.org
The Mint Museum of Craft + Design is dedicated to building a 21st century jewelry collection, an artistic culmination of excellence, innovation, originality, and distinction in jewelry design. This collection will be international in scope. The Mint seeks not to duplicate existing museum collections but rather to assemble a collection that will chronicle innovative conceptual and technical developments. The museum aspires to combine important achievements by senior artists with those of mid-career practitioners working in all sectors of the medium. The Mint plans to be aggressive in acquiring multiple pieces by individual artists to illustrate creative growth across specific artistic careers. The museum intends to seek the widest audience possible for this collection through exhibition, permanent display, electronic and printed media.
Museum of Art and Design
40 W 53rd Avenue
New York, NY 10019
212.956.3535
www.americancraftmuseum.org
The Museum of Art and Design has long been committed to the display and interpretation of contemporary jewelry. When they acquired the Zero Carat Collection, it affirmed the Museum’s commitment to collect contemporary jewelry and chronicle the history of this vital art form as it unfolds. The museum is determined to be a center for the study of twentieth- and twenty-first-century jewelry.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:
www.mfa.org
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston:
1001 Bissonnet Street
Houston, Texas
713.639.7300
www.mfah.org
Museum of Fine Arts, Philadelphia
www.philamuseum.org
Jewelry from the permanent collection is included on an ongoing rotation in the Craft Corridor of the Museum. The entire collection is listed in the publication: Crafting a Legacy: Contemporary American Crafts in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Pieces by Albert Paley, Jan Yaeger, Bruce Metcalf and Gijs Bakker have been exhibited.
Oakland Museum of California:
1000 Oak Street
Oakland, California 94607
510.238.2200
www.museumca.org
The museum is continually seeking new pieces. They have received donations from private collectors in recent years and have purchased items. They have a strong representation of contemporary jewelry, assembled primarily by Kenneth Trapp for his popular 1995 exhibition, Permanent Collection: Gems: Collecting California’s Jewelry. They are continually working to fill the gaps in their collection. New talent continues to emerge that they want represented. They seek more pieces by the mature artists, whose work are already part of our collection; works that will mark different phases of their careers. Additionally, there are artists like Ken Cory, who worked in California at a critical time in the development of contemporary jewelry and in his own development, whom they want represented.
Palo Alto Cultural Center – Palo Alto, CA
www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/artcenter/
Curator Signe Mayfield has placed jewelry in juxtaposition with mainstream media, as a way to inform the viewer that concepts and formal beauty in jewelry may have equal value.
Racine Museum of Art
441 Main Street
Racine, WI 53401-0187
262.638.8300
www.ramart.org
Jewelry is displayed in the lobby cases of the museum. The Racine Art Museum houses one of the most significant collections of contemporary crafts in North America. It has one of the largest collections of artist-made jewelry of any museum. They will continue collecting artists in depth and accept gifts from collectors and artists. They are working on group and individual artist shows of jewelry.
Renwick Gallery
Smithsonian American Art Museum
1661 Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C.
202.633.2850
www.americanart.si.edu/renwick/index.cfm
Tacoma Art Museum
1701 Pacific Avenue
Tacoma, WA 98402
253.272.4258
www.TacomaArtMuseum.org
The Tacoma Art Museum connects people through art by serving the diverse communities of the Northwest through its collection, exhibitions, and learning programs, emphasizing art and artists of the Northwest. Studio Art Jewelry: This collection emphasizes the contemporary period and includes a major repository of works by Ken Cory. While the collection concentrates on Northwest jewelry artists, important representative works by national artists deemed important to establishing the milieu in which regional artists work will be encouraged.
Toledo Museum of Art:
www.toledomuseum.org/
Sharon Campbell was a founding member of the Art Jewelry Forum. She presently sits on the Jewelry Acquisition Committee and the Collection Committee at the Tacoma Art Museum, and is a trustee on the board of Pratt Fine Arts Center. She lives in Seattle, WA.