Racine Art Museum Unveils New Art Jewelry Gifts

Each year, the Racine Art Museum welcomes the newest gifts of artworks to its contemporary craft collection with a debut exhibition. Open through July 5, 2015, New Acquisitions: Contemporary Art Jewelry celebrates recent gifts from a handful of dedicated collectors and donors.

Harold O'Connor, Harp, 1994 Sterling Silver, 18k and 24k-Gold, Spectrolite, and Cable  3 9/16 x 1 5/8 x 3/4 inches Racine Art Museum, Gift of Laurie Waters Photography: Jon Bolton, Racine

Contemporary art jewelry often investigates cultural, social, personal, and environmental topics. Distinguished by a vocabulary of diverse media from precious metals to recycled objects, it also reflects artists' notions about wearability. RAM's holdings in art jewelry-with examples from artists across the globe and at varying stages in their careers-are growing rapidly.

A special feature of this exhibition is a concentrated look at the work of several artists that RAM is collecting in-depth. Artists such as Terri Gelenian-Wood, Eleanor Moty, and Harold O'Connor are represented in the museum's collection by multiple works with new gifts joining examples already in RAM's holdings. This collecting strategy establishes a thorough documentation of an artist's career that reflects how their ideas and aesthetic investigations developed over a period of time. 

New Acquisitions: Contemporary Art Jewelry is made possible at Racine Art Museum by: Platinum Sponsors - Karen Johnson Boyd and William B. Boyd, SC Johnson, Windgate Charitable Foundation; Diamond Sponsor - Sam and Gene Johnson Fund; Gold Sponsors - Herzfeld Foundation, Johnson Bank, Racine Community Foundation, Racine United Arts Fund, W.T. Walker Group, Inc.; Silver Sponsors - Elwood Corporation, Helen Bader Foundation, Osborne and Scekic Family Foundation, Runzheimer Foundation, Inc., Wisconsin Arts Board; Bronze Sponsors - CNH Industrial, EC Styberg Foundation, Educators Credit Union, The Garvey Group, In Sink Erator, Modine Manufacturing Foundation, The Norbell Foundation, Orkney Springs Retreat, Polyform Products, Inc., Real Racine, Robert W. Baird Foundation, Ruud Family Foundation.