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AJF NEWSLETTER
AUGUST

2011

A LETTER FROM THE AJF BOARD CHAIR

Greetings!

 

We are experimenting with the format and content of the AJF newsletter, in order to bring you the very best information and views of what's happening in the contemporary jewelry world. This time round we've decided to feature a listing of exhibitions at AJF member galleries - which, we're proud to note, is a bit of a geography lesson as well as an introduction to some great contemporary jewelry. Keep reading for Part I, and you'll find Part II in next month's newsletter. As always, we would love to hear your reaction, so please email us with your thoughts. Thanks.  

 

We have added a number of new galleries to the AJF community in the past six months. I would like to welcome:

 

Snyderman Works from the United States

Society for Contemporary Craft from the United States

ATTA Gallery from Thailand
Gallery S O from England and Switzerland
Fingers from New Zealand
Platina from Sweden
Silver Blue and Gold from the United States

These galleries have been invited to add new jewelry to the Geography show when it appears at SOFA Chicago in November 2011.

And after the welcoming comes the thanking! I would like to thank Dana Singer from SNAG for her organization's welcome donation to help offset the expenses of the Geography show, as well as Deedie Rose from Dallas, United States, and Alida Latham from Seattle, United States, for joining AJF at the Benefactor level. We greatly appreciate your generosity.

Thanks also to Joyeros Argentinos for publishing Spanish translations of a number of texts from the AJF blog on their website. You can find them by clicking here. It is wonderful to find a new audience for the articles we produce.

Congratulations to jewelers Jamie Bennett, Barbara Smith, Jennifer Trask, and Shari Mendelson for receiving the 2011 New York state Artist's Fellowships. AJF member Talya Baharal was one of the jurors and clearly steered the process in the right direction. For more information, click here.  

 

 

Susan Cummins

AJF Chair
MunichAJF ON TOUR!

Just when you thought it was safe to unpack your suitcases, we're already planning the AJF trip for 2012: Germany! We're working on a trip to Munich around Schmuck, the world's leading fair for contemporary art jewelry, March 14-20, 2012. We hope to vary the trip (as always) and offer activities that will allow participation across all our donor categories. More information to come, but for now we'd love to know if you're interested. Send us a quick email with "Munich" in the subject line.

GEOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO AJF GALLERIES: PART 1

AJF is proud to announce that we now have 38 gallery members, and we'd like to make sure that the rest of our membership knows what they are up to. Without any further ado, here is the inaugural Geographical Guide to AJF Galleries: Part I. With more countries than you can shake a stick at (alright, a heavy log then, since you could actually shake a stick at more countries than we have here), and contemporary jewelry galore, we invite you on an international tour of the contemporary jewelry scene. Part I features galleries located in Asia/Pacific and Europe, and Part II, coming in September's newsletter, features the galleries of North America.  

 

Thailand:

ATTA Gallery Meiri Ishida

Meiri Ishida

 

ATTA Gallery, Bangkok

Current - Nine jewelers from four countries who all attended Alchimia School of Contemporary Jewellery in Florence, Italy

August 23 - September 25, 2011

http://www.attagallery.com/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Zealand:

The National Brooch Show

 

The National, Christchurch

With the gallery closed by the February earthquake, The National is running a series of pop-up and temporary exhibitions in Christchurch. Their next project is Host A Brooch: An Urban Jewellery Project by Jacqui Chan

August 26 - October 1, 2011

http://thenationalnz.blogspot.com/ 

 

 

Julia Middleton Fingers Gallery  

Fingers Gallery, Auckland

Julia Middleton - (de) Compositions

August 22 - September 2, 2011

http://www.fingers.co.nz/ 

 

 

 

United Kingdom:

Galerie S O

 

Galerie S O, London

Silver-Where? - A group show of recent graduates from the Royal College of Art, London

September 9 - October 2, 2011

http://www.galleryso.com/ 

 

 

 

 

 

Belgium:

Galerie Pont en Plas Mieke Everaet

 

Galerie Pont & Plas, Gent

Mieke Everaet: Porcelain bowls

June 6 - October 10, 2011

http://www.pontenplas.be/ 

 

 

 

 

Caroline Van Hoek 

Caroline Van Hoek Contemporary Art Jewellery, Brussels

Woods - A group show of jewelry made of wood that will be on show in Brussels Sept 10 - 11, 2011 and London as part of London Design Week

September 19 - 25, 2011

http://www.carolinevanhoek.be/ 

 

 

 

 

 

Netherlands:

 Louise Smit 25th

Galerie Louise Smit, Amsterdam

17 Curators, 17 Nominees - A group show celebrating the 25th anniversary of the gallery

September 4 - October 6, 2011

http://www.louisesmit.nl/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Galerie Marzee Benedikt

Benedikt Fischer

 

Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen

Annual Marzee Selection of Graduate Work Jewellery 2011 and the presentation of the winners of the Marzee Prize 2010

Opens August 7, 2011

http://www.marzee.nl/galerie/ 

 

 

 

 

 

Galerie Ra Hosking

Marian Hosking

 

Galerie Ra, Amsterdam

Marian Hosking- Vessels / Laura Deakin - Jewellery

July 9 - August 31, 2011

http://www.galerie-ra.nl/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ruudt Peters

Ruudt Peters

 

Galerie Rob Koudijs, Amsterdam

Ruudt Peters - Corpus / Mia Maljojoki - Explosive: Frozen Fireworks

September 10 - October 15, 2011

http://www.galerierobkoudijs.nl/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Germany:

Iris Bodemer

Iris Bodemer

 

Galerie Rosemarie Jäger, Hochheim/Frankfurt

Iris Bodemer /Bettina Speckner - ...and this is how we have seen the world today... 

August 28 - September 18, 2011

http://www.rosemarie-jaeger.de/ 

 

 

 

 

 

Spain:

 Klimt Benjamin Lignel

Klimt02, Barcelona

Benjamin Lignel - La Disparition

http://www.klimt02.net/gallery/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweden:

Platina Iris Eichenberg

Iris Eichenberg

 

Galerie Platina, Stockholm

Talks around the collection Natural Born Jewellery

September 1 - 29, 2011 

http://www.platina.se/  

AJF RECOMMENDS. . .

 

Craft makes it out of the ghetto with the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Click here.

 

Jewelry makes it big in the world of museums. Click here to read more.

Ever wondered what a jewelry version of Project Runway might look like? Well, now you can stop speculating and start spectating at JCK TV. In JCK Rock Star, sponsored by Swarovski Gems, five jewelry designers get to show how big their stones are in the cut-throat competition to be America's next top jeweler. To watch episode two, click here.

Jewels (and other movie memorabilia) from the classic film The Ten Commandments go on display shortly in El Paso. To read more, click here. And to visit the El Paso Museum of Art website, click here.

Jewelry exhibitions at the Bruce Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, get some attention in the New York Times. Click here. You can read another article about the Bruce Museum exhibition by clicking here. And here's another article about the new jewelry galleries at the MFA, Boston. Click here.

Do you sometimes think jewelry looks good enough to eat? You are not alone, as a new book of jewels and recipes by Tamasin Day-Lewis makes strangely clear. To learn more, click here.

British jeweler Kerry Howell, a recent graduate of Middlesex University, gets attention for her use of hair. Click here.

DIY craft goes on show at the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco. To read Stephanie Echeveste's review, click here.

Jewelry is one of four crafts on display in the first Jerwood Makers Open Exhibition in London. To read a review, click here. And to visit the Jerwood Visual Arts website, click here.

Dallas Art News pays attention to the jewels (and other things) worn by the subject in the famous Titian painting Woman in a Blue Dress, which is on display at the Kimbell Art Museum this summer. Click here.

AJF gets some welcome publicity (and praise) on the Antigoni & Friends website. To see for yourself, click here.

Isabelle Busnel takes a tour of the most interesting work on display in the graduate exhibition of the Royal College of Art, London. Click here.

Ethical Metalsmiths have compiled a directory of studio jewelers who are committed to social and environmental sustainability. To read more, click here.
WHAT'S NEW ON THE BLOG
Susan Beech at SNAGSNAPPED AT SNAG 
by Jennifer Cross Gans

Here's just some of the people and some of the jewels that our intrepid reporter Jennifer Cross Gans crossed paths with at the recent SNAG conference in Seattle. Click to read more.

Audience at the Exhibition in MotionSIMILES AND METAPHORS
by Jillian Moore
I have a habit of making calendars, almost obsessively - in my sketchbook, by the computer, and pinned up in my studio. So I know that it's only been a month since I returned from Seattle and the SNAG conference, but it feels like a full season has passed. Somehow I'm still scrambling to avoid scorching everything I put on the back burner in May. Click to read more.
Maise Broadhead presentationRHETORICS OF CRAFT
by Gabriel Craig
'Affective objects: Art, design and the image of craft' was a lecture by Glenn Adamson in which an unfailing theorist animated his well-published philosophies in a new and entertaining way. Adamson's keynote presentation, on 27 May 2011, kicked off three days of lectures at the Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference (SNAG). Click to read more.
Exhibition in MotionPERFORMANCE ANXIETY
by Gabriel Craig
Exhibition in Motion: Objects Performed took place at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, Washington, on the evening of 28 May 2011 in conjunction with the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) conference. Objects Performed, was a marked shift in the format of SNAG's annual Exhibition in Motion from a runway fashion show to an extemporaneous dance performance. Click to read more.
Heidi Lowe Earring ShowSNAG ON SHOW
by Doug Bucci
It is entirely true that the 2011 SNAG exhibitions ran the gamut from best to 'fillers', and yet overall the shows accompanying the annual meeting of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) were successful. It is paramount that the bridging of thematics occur in any exhibition, and in some cases this was done overtly, in others it was more subtle. This year four exhibitions were particularly successful in addressing the theme of the conference, which was flux. Click to read more.

SEattle AJF GOES TO SEATTLE  

by Susan Cummins

What is it about the Westin Hotel in Seattle that I find so offensive? Is it the tasteless and blandness of the décor, or the airlessness of the space that bugs me? During Flux, the 2011 Society of American Goldsmiths (SNAG) conference, the place was crawling with metalsmiths of all stripes but they were placed against a backdrop of spring green and pastel accents that diminished their flamboyant displays of pink and purple hair and oversized ornamentation.  Click to read more.

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