We have reached capacity for the March 16 dinner at Cohen's and we're glad so many of you will be in Munich. Thank you to everyone who RSVP'd. As a reminder, cost is US $80 inclusive and we'd like to receive payment by March 11. Please mail your check to AJF (address below) or send us an email indicating your preference to pay via credit card. We'll contact you to collect the information.

We look forward to seeing you in Munich.

AJF is inviting applications for the 2012 Exhibition grant. We have a total of $7500 to give to any museum, university and other non-profit exhibition spaces or organization that is tax-exempt in the United States under Section 501(c)3 of the IRS Code. Your exhibition needs to be opening within the next two years and the grant may cover exhibition or catalog expenses. The deadline for submission is March 15, 2012. You can find out more about the program and the requirements on the AJF website.

The 2010 award was given to the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts, to supportpublication of a catalog for Atelier Janiye and the Legacy of Miya Matsukata. In 2011, the exhibition award helped fund the catalog for Geography, an exhibition organized by AJF of work from AJF member galleries, which was shown in May 2011 at the Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference in Seattle and in November 2011 at SOFA Chicago.

A day of art jewelry, featuring work from the last seven decades, drew devotees to the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday February 8, 2012. The day began at the home of Susan Cummins and Rose Roven, in Tiburon. A dozen collectors and enthusiasts viewed selections from the collection and considered the themes and artists represented in it. Susan said her collecting began with the work of German artist Dorothea Pruhl and she displayed several pieces by Pruhl, all made of wood, which had been carved and shaped by the artist. Other artists included Ruudt Peters, Georg Dobler, Lisa Walker, Kiff Slemmons, Jennifer Trask, Herman Junger, Verena Sieber-Fuchs and Tina Rath.

The jewelry, outstanding as it was, had to compete with the view of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, the city of San Francisco and the surrounding hills, all visible from Susan and Rose's contemporary new home. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the views, while warm-hued wood walls and deep overhangs soften the angular glass. How do you house a jewelry collection in a modern, minimalist house? In drawers and cases that are subtly and unobtrusively built into the walls, but are designed with shelves that lift out for easy viewing of the art.

After lunch, the group drove to the Oakland Museum, to see Space, Light and Structure: The Jewelry of Margaret De Patta. The show was jointly organized by the Oakland Museum and the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York and will travel to the MAD later this year. Julie Muñiz, who co-curated the exhibit, walked the group through the gallery, talking about De Patta's techniques, use of stones and personal history. The show is informative and beautiful and features many of De Patta's one-of-a-kind pieces, as well as those from her production line.

From there, we motored to San Francisco, to AJF member gallery Velvet da Vinci. The gallery was featuring a show tied to the De Patta exhibit called The De Patta Project, in which various contemporary jewelers used stones that had once belonged to De Patta to create their own pieces, but with a stylistic nod to De Patta's work. Perhaps it was the effect of looking at so much great jewelry that got the group into the buying mood; few left empty handed.

To complete the day, we returned to Tiburon, to the home of Susan and Bill Beech. There more fabulous jewelry was on display throughout the house. Again, it was a toss up: look at the fabulous view (now at sunset) or the jewels? It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between these two outstanding collections, housed within two miles of each other. These are two of the best private art jewelry collections in the United States, so not surprisingly there was some overlap in the artists represented. But each collection had its own spirit and emphasis. Susan Beech's leans more to the humorous and risqué, reflecting her wonderful sense of humor. Susan Cummins's collection is perhaps more academic and slightly more encyclopedic. Susan Beech appears to favor darker colors; both have Americans, Asians and Europeans in their collections. Susan Beech is more likely to wear her jewelry than Susan Cummins and this likely affects the choices each makes in adding pieces to her collection. Both said they tried to collect jewelers in at least some depth: rather than have one piece by every artist, they both preferred to have fewer names and more work by each artist.

The group ate dinner with the Beeches, talked at length and then adjourned. A wonderful time was had by all. Thanks very much to Susan Cummins and Susan Beech for sharing their collections with us. It was a wonderful day!

In each newsletter we will introduce you to one of the galleries that has joined AJF to support and promote contemporary jewelry. This month's AJF Questionnaire has been answered by Felix Flury of Galerie S O, London and Solothurn.

You have two galleries, one in Solothurn, Switzerland, and one in London. Which came first, and what made you decide to open the second one?

The new website features six member galleries on the home page that have exhibitions of note each month. They will rotate throughout the year, so you will get a good survey of what's on around the globe. This month we feature the following galleries (click photos for more info):

Society for Contemporary Craft: Transformation 8

Platina: Märta Mattsson, Forever Dead

The Signature Shop and Gallery: Generosity of Spirit: The Penland School

Caroline Van Hoek: Ulrich Reithofer, A Curse of Symmetry

Galerie Pont en Plas: Gésine Hackenberg, Still Lifes

Galerie Rosemarie Jäger: Anne Fischer, Juliane Schölß, Ja-kyung Shin

In the past month on the blog you will find interviews with the artists or dealers whose exhibitions are featured on the front page of the website. You will find Valentine's Day offers, paper jewelry, Obsession, Color and Form, Introductions and Traces of Function and a clever take off on Margaret De Patta's jewelry. The Maker's Tools continued with a reamer. Kevin Murray responded to Bruce Metcalf about ethical jewelry. And we started a new series called Curator's Choice.