A View from the Jeweler’s Bench: Ancient Treasures, Contemporary Statements explores how contemporary jewelry makers are drawing from antique forms and techniques to create stunning works of art. Curated by Sasha Nixon for the Bard Graduate Center. The Gallery presents the exhibition at a time when art and academic institutions are increasingly focused on contemporary art jewelry, and in a moment when ancient jewelry has become a prevalent source of inspiration for contemporary jewelry artists.

The exhibition will focus on how contemporary artists working with jewelry create the final form of a piece at the jeweler’s bench, the place where jewelry is wrought by hand. To convey this process, the exhibition will include a jeweler’s bench, sketches, and tools. It will also consider how jewelry from the ancient world to the present informs contemporary practice by comparing recent pieces to their precedents. This organizational structure will illuminate the connections between present and past—in terms of form, technique, and materials—so that visitors can better see how artists are re-considering the art of adornment and age-old jewelry forms in exciting new ways.

The exhibition features works by contemporary jewelry artists Ashley Buchanan, Jeanette Caines, Lin Cheung, Giovanni Corvaja, Mary Lee Hu, Gabriella Kiss, Otto Kunzli, emiko oye, Mary Hallam Pearse, Nicole Jacquard, Anya Kivarkis, and Kiff Slemmons.

emiko will be participating in an artists panel discussion, “Artist Perspectives: Contemporary Jewelry and Ancient Techniques” on March 27, 2019.

Read Laura Jacob’s review of the show, “A Glittering Education in the Jeweler’s Craft”, from The Wall Street Journal, February 28, 2019 (see image below).

WHERE:
Bard Graduate Center Gallery
18 West 86th St
New York, NY 10024

GALLERY HOURS:
Tues, Fri-Sun 11am-5pm
Wed, Thurs 11am-8pm