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A LETTER FROM THE AJF BOARD CHAIR
Greetings!
 I have spent the last month in Europe visiting a variety of people, places and events all related to jewelry. I am coming away from the experience with more knowledge of the history of jewelry making in Europe and more understanding of what makes the European makers, curators and galleries tick. In my travels I asked everyone for ideas for AJF and to give me their honest impressions of the in-depth articles, interviews and stories we publish on our website and blog, as well as our other grant and travel programs. I have collected many impressions and will put them to work where I can. But I can tell you that the reception of AJF in Europe has been very positive. One young maker from Italy said she liked the fact that we have a point of view and a considered commentary.
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Ornamentum @ Design Miami Basel
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One side note I would like to share is about the Design Miami Basel fair, which I reported on last year for the AJF website. This year's fair included four jewelry booths among the 23 displays. They were Didier from London (showing 1920s to 1950s work) Ornamentum (an AJF member) Caroline van Hoek (an AJF member) and Antonella Villanova (a new Italian gallery with a magnificent show of the work of Manfred Bischoff). This is a notable increase of interest on the part of the fair organizers. Van Hoek and Ornamentum have done the fair for four years but this is the first time for the other two. Other galleries, like Todd Merrill showed jeweler Jennifer Trask in their booth displays. I'd say jewelry has made its presence known and now all we need is for the herds of art and design collectors to discover that diamond stud earrings aren't in anymore!
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Jennifer Trask @ Todd Merrill
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This is the time of year when students have just graduated and professors are recovering from the last semester of work. On our website we added a section for schools and we hope to build it up with many listings of schools throughout the world. If you are an educator, please contact Nancy to find out how to have your school listed. If you are a student, suggest it to your professor. For the rest of you, please enjoy the fantastic work of graduates from the past couple of years. In one place you can get a glimpse of the future of our field.
As we drift into the doldrums of summer (or winter) I hope you will find more leisurely time to catch up on your reading. Please feel free to tell me what book on jewelry you would recommend to the rest of us.
Susan Cummins
Chair, AJF
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EXCLUSIVELY FOR YOU
ACC San Francisco
AJF has arranged to get free passes to the American Crafts Council show in San Francisco on August 3-5 for the first ten people who sign up. Please email us your request right away: it's first come, first serve and one ticket per request.
We have also organized a walkthrough of the best of the jewelry booths at the ACC fair led by Tina Rath, a Bay Area jeweler and a yet-to-be-named collector on Saturday August 4, 2012 at 4pm. They will pick a number of booths to visit and will discuss their favorite piece of jewelry. This will be followed by a no-host coffee at Greens. Bring a friend. Don't miss it. If you'd like to join us, send us an email by July 23, 2012 with 'ACC Walkthrough' in the subject line.
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 | Farrah Al-Dujaili
2011 EAA Winner |
ANNOUNCING THE 2012 EMERGING ARTIST AWARD
The 2012 Emerging Artist Award is now open for business. With a cash award of $7500 (increased from $5000 in 2011) and the chance to have your jewelry exhibited at an AJF member gallery at SOFA NY, this is a must-be-in-to-win opportunity for any jeweler who has recently graduated. The deadline for applications is September 30, 2012. Find out more on the AJF website. Applications can be submitted at www.callforentry.org.
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 | | Susie Ganch |
PENLAND NEEDS YOU TOO!
The Penland School of Crafts is holding its annual benefit auction on August 10-11, 2012 and they're inviting anyone who would like to join them for a weekend of live and silent auctions, meals, music, an open house with Penland's resident artists and a reception at the Penland Gallery. The auctions will feature jewelry by many prominent Americans including Robert Ebendorf, C James Meyer, Susie Ganch and Lola Brooks. To book your ticket, and find out more, click here.
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 EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
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MEET OUR GALLERIES: THE AJF QUESTIONNAIRE
In each newsletter we 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 Heidi Lowe of Heidi Lowe Gallery, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, United States.
Your building looks kind of special. What is its history and how did you come to occupy it?
It's a cute 500 square foot cottage from the 1940s. It sits on a little plot of grass on the main street of Rehoboth Beach. My family had the foresight to trade it for some land about fifteen years ago. Although the place was in disrepair and an old lady was renting it and living there with her many cats, they knew it would be valuable because of its location. It had lots of potential. Read more.
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AJF FEATURED GALLERIES
This month we feature the following galleries on the AJF website (click photos for more info).      
Galerie Elsa Vanier: Yael Sonia, Playing with Geometry Facèré Jewelry Art Gallery: IdioSINcratic Galerie Marzee: Antje Bräuer Gallery Lulo: Meghan Patrice Riley, L'Age D'Or Patina Gallery: Myung Urso, Line + Brush Fingers Gallery: Matthew McIntyre-Wilson |
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WHAT'S NEW ON THE WEBSITE
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AJF FEATURED MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS:
Read my Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection
June 30 - September 23, 2012
Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Interstitial Spaces: Julia Barello & Beverly Penn
June 2 - September 1, 2012
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, Texas
Unexpected Pleasures: The Art and Design of Contemporary Jewellery
April 20 - August 26, 2012
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Space-Light-Structure: The Jewelry of Margaret De Patta
June 5 - September 23, 2012
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
Craft Spoken Here
May 5 - August 12, 2012
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Transit: Jewelry from Israel
June 15 - August 12, 2012
Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Hanau, Germany
Jewels, Gems, and Treasures: Ancient to Modern
July 19, 2011 - July 1, 2014
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
un peu de terre sur la peau : Bijoux contemporains en ceramique
March 15 - August 19, 2012
Les Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France
From Picasso to Jeff Koons. Artist's Jewellery
May 16 - September 2, 2012
Benaki Museum, Athens
June 23 - November 23, 2012
Espace Solidor. Cagnes sur Mer, France
May 11 - September 23, 2012 Museum fuer Gestaltung, Zurich, Switzerland
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AJF RECOMMENDS
On the home page of our new website we have a changing list of the interesting, strange and wonderful ways that contemporary jewelry is hitting the headlines. Why not find out what has been attracting our curiosity at AJF Recommends.
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