Interviews

AJF commissions various kinds of critically engaged writing about the field, including interviews with jewelers, curators, writers, collectors and other individuals who have an impact on contemporary art jewelry, or something important to say about it.

01 March 2013

The Editor will take your questions

I don’t believe there is one “art jewelry.” One of the issues plaguing this field is that we continue to treat it as one fragile thing that needs our anxious care and support. Meanwhile, the beauty of jewelry resides in large part in the insoluble conflicts and complexities within it. My commitment is to this constantly evolving hot potato of a creative practice. I have no doubt that it will be transformed beyond recognition in the next 20 years, and I intend to critically report on those transformations. more...
15 April 2012

European Jewelry, Nostalgia and Trans-Atlantic Exchange: Iris Eichenberg in Conversation

At the Reitveld there was an interesting thing when I studied there. Fifty percent of the people went to Schoonhoven – which is a really solid technical education. And the other fifty percent had never experienced a technical education. It took them an equal amount of time – two to three years – to untrain, to decondition. All of these people with a technical background, who were making a piece about a relationship let’s say, thought immediately of hinges and they had ten different ways of illustrating that relationship. People who didn’t have the technical background had clear ideas, but struggled with the realization of their ideas. So they were both handicapped, but in different ways. Learning is dealing with the handicap. more...
01 April 2012

Packing My Library: Marthe Le Van in Conversation

I feel that contemporary jewelry is a massive field that has little trouble connecting to a large market. Just think of the number of jewelers showing and selling handmade work at any given craft gallery or street fair or on Etsy. Just think of the customer’s thought process in approaching the work – recognizable forms with obvious functions that are attractive. With these advantages, what artist seeking to connect with an audience would choose any form other than jewelry? more...
29 February 2012

EAA Winner 2010: Agnes Larsson in Conversation

I will be happy if I can work in my studio most of the time and explore new ideas and materials. I would like to work cooperatively with other jewelers and work for the art jewelry field in Sweden and in other countries. more...
12 February 2012

Putty In Your Hands: Elise Winters In Conversation

There are so many reasons why polymer was overlooked initially. A friend recently commented to me that 'polymer is really easy to use, but really hard to master.' So, early on, it was considered a kid’s plaything and anyone with time on their hands could crank out ‘bubble gum’ beads by the millions. Since there was no tradition, there were also no standards. And initially, the market place was flooded with polymer products lacking in both skill and design. more...
21 May 2011

Namita Gupta Wiggers in Conversation

I think being trained as a jeweler has a huge impact on my curatorial practice. When I look at objects I think about the fabrication, I think about the making. I'm very tuned in to materials, form, weight and tactility in a way that did not come from my art-history training at all. In art history we're taught to look, in anthropology you're taught to think about use and cultural place, but it really is through the years of making that I became tuned into the physical and bodily experience of objects. more...
05 March 2011

What's Modernism Got to Do With It? Mark McDonald in Conversation

I see the auction as a close of a phase in my career. I'd like to get away from the physical challenges of dealing in furniture for example. Also, I'd like to focus on helping to develop significant collections of modernist art jewelry or at least to add pieces from the period to serious collections of art jewelry. I would like to continue to educate people and maybe they will 'back track' to appreciate and add examples of modernist jewelry into their collections. more...
03 October 2010

A Rose By Any Other Name: The 2Roses in Conversation

We both come from an old-world traditional approach to the arts, having been apprenticed at a very young age into the arts and working professionally since our early teen years. We literally grew up within the studio system. Working communally and collaborating comes very naturally to us. We like to say '2Roses are better than one!' The impact of our life-long collaboration is that the skills each of us bring to the relationship allow us to express ourselves with a much richer creative vocabulary than either of us could individually. more...