(contributed by Jo Lauria) An enthusiastic
group of AJF members participated in our trip to
Southern California this past October. Like all of our
tours, these four days were filled with visits to
artists’ studios, museums, galleries and even a
private collection. And, as past trips have set the
bar high for offering excellent cuisine and ambiance,
San Diego and Los Angeles restaurants rose to the
challenge and provided our members with a delightful
and delectable array of fine dining experiences.
In San Diego, Helen Shirk and
Sondra
Sherman, both
metalsmiths and professors at San Diego State
University, invited us to hear several of their
students speak about the work they had on display
in the art gallery. We were all delighted by the
freshness, daring, and significance of these pieces,
and felt that these young artists would assure a
bright future for the field of art jewelry. Graduate
student David Clemons walked us through
his
thesis
show, explaining the compelling concepts at the core
of his complex, beautifully crafted metal objects and
jewelry.
It seemed we went from one high point to the next:
a private reception at Taboo Studio wetted
our
appetites for a visit to the home and studio of
Arline
Fisch. We were all in awe and left speechless
by
Arline’s presentation. Her “show and tell” included
works spanning four decades, and it was a great
learning experience to hear Arline’s overview of her
career as a jeweler and educator, and to be
presented with the opportunity not only to see, but
also to handle her intricately fabricated jewelry
pieces.
The San Diego tour ended with a flourish as we
enjoyed a private tour of the exhibit “Jewelry of Five
Continents” at the Mingei Museum, led by
the
museum’s director Rob Sidner. It was obvious from
the magnificently scaled neck torques, belts, anklets,
bracelets and headdresses from China, Afghanistan
and Morocco that Americans are far less adorned
than people of Asian and African cultures.
Further north, Long Beach and Los Angeles,
another fabulous museum experience awaited us at
the
Long Beach Museum of Art. After a private
lunch in
the museum’s “ocean gallery” overlooking the Pacific,
museum director Hal Nelson showed us several
important modernist jewelry pieces by sculptor
Claire
Falkenstein. And to commemorate the event,
each
participant received a museum catalog of
Falkenstein’s jewelry.
Moving from the historical to the contemporary, we
visited the studios of Kristin Beeler
(Associate
Professor of Jewelry & Metalwork, Long Beach City
College) and Marianne Hunter, a self-taught
enamellist and metalsmith extraordinaire. Each artist
had a rich collection of work to show us, and it was
very enlightening to hear the artists’ inspirations and
motivations for creating the pieces, and to learn
some of their fabrication techniques.
Ditto for the artists who presented the following day:
After we enjoyed a lovely brunch hosted by
FreeHand Gallery owner Carol Sauvion, four
of the
jewelers FreeHand represents--Christina Smith,
Karen
McCreary, Sue Anne Dorman, and Rachel
Gehlhar--
discussed their work on view at the gallery. Pulling
out all the stops, we ogled and fondled more jewelry
later that afternoon at the downtown studio of
metalsmith Valerie Mitchell, at the home of a
private
collector who passed around pieces from her
collection of tribal African, Native American, and
contemporary jewelry, and at the “hands on” visit to
Lisa Berman’s Sculpture to Wear Gallery
which
capped off the day.
And, befitting for a group awash in jewelry, our guest
speaker and trip participant Nancy Worden
gave a
rousing and informative presentation on the “cleaning
and maintenance of art jewelry” and provided starter
cleaning kits for each member. We all promised Nancy
that we would rid ourselves of tarnish when we
returned home.
As the Bard would say, “All’s well that ends well”, an
apt statement for our group who ended their SoCal
trip with a tour of the newly reopened Getty
Villa in
Malibu. The Getty’s antiquities and the ocean villa
setting offered an unparalleled experience and a
glorious finale for our AJF trip participants.
Collector Lynn Altman with
AJF members Rika Mouw
and Don Newman.
Artist Kristen Beeler
discusses one of her
necklaces at her Long Beach Studio
Artist Marianne Hunter
explains the drawing process
she uses for her jewelry pieces during a studio visit.
Professor Sondra Sherman
and several of her
students at San Diego State University chatting with
artist Nancy Worden during the fall show of student
and alumni work at the university's art gallery.
Hall Nelson, former director
of the Long Beach
Museum of Art, hosts a private lunch for
members
Arlene Fisch discusses one
of her early
necklaces at her Sand Diego studio.
