Greetings! 

This month Mike Holmes and I are curating an exhibition to take place at the SNAG conference in Seattle from 26 - 29 May 2011. We have invited all of the current AJF member galleries to submit images of work that fits into the theme of the show, which is Geography. We have gotten a great response and the show is shaping up to be really beautiful and provocative. I should also mention that AJF will design a trip schedule around the SNAG conference and that you will hear about that in the new year. You will also have the opportunity to meet the internationally respected writers for our book who will take part in the conference and our trip.

We have just added a new member to our board. I would like to welcome Linda Peshkin from Scottsdale, Arizona. Her first engagement with AJF was on the trip to London. She then joined the Membership committee and has proven to be a talented and enthusiastic member of our group. We welcome her, along with her marketing skills and the new energy and insight that she will bring to us.

The board decided that we have become such an active organization that we needed to hire an assistant to help handle all the work and so we recently hired Nancy Yoneyama. Nancy is from San Francisco and has experience with non-profits and as a personal assistant. She will begin part time work at the beginning of November and will help out with bookkeeping, membership, and communications and generally lend a hand wherever we need it. Welcome to this wild and wacky world, Nancy.

The AJF Grant to intuitions for exhibitions and/or catalogs of contemporary jewelry is on track and will be announced soon. All the applications are in.

We will begin our 2011 membership drive at SOFA Chicago and this year we have commissioned American jeweler Arthur Hash to make a pin for us as a membership benefit. If you renew your membership for next year at the show you will be among the first to receive it. AJF plans to make this the first of many pins that signify membership and will therefore become collectible items. We also only have 150 of these so join early. We expect our membership levels to increase above that number next year.

Enjoy the fall colors. Think about finding your way to the closest gallery and purchasing something to celebrate the changing of the seasons. It will help keep art jewelry alive.

Susan Cummins

AJF Chair

Join AJF