"Do jewelers belong to the world of art or craft?" asked
New York Times
writer Victoria Gomelsky in an article on contemporary wearables she penned for the newspaper in 2014. When posed to him, Glenn Adamson, director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, suggested that the question itself may no longer be relevant. "The 21st century being what it is," Adamson said, "categories are points of reference, but not very useful as containers of people." Today's cutting-edge jewelry designers are breaking down barriers between the categories of art and craft through their statement-making pieces that are eminently wearable works of art in their own right. "Adorn" invites submissions from contemporary jewelers working in all media for a survey of innovative wearable art. The exhibition seeks to showcase contributions to the field by emerging, mid-career, and established practitioners while also inciting broader considerations of contemporary jewelry-making as both "personal adornment and public sculpture," to borrow Gomelsky's phrasing. Selections are curated by Yevgeniya Kaganovich, an artist and wearables designer who is Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Design, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and head of its thriving Jewelry and Metalsmithing program.
Works selected by: Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Design, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT WORK FOR CONSIDERATION
FINAL ENTRY DEADLINE: JULY 15, 2015
NOTIFICATIONS: WEEK OF AUGUST 10-14, 2015
EXHIBITION DATES: SEPTEMBER 11 - OCTOBER 22, 2015
Curator Biography: Yevgeniya Kaganovich is a Belarus-born, Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based artist whose hybrid practice encompasses Jewelry and Metalsmithing, sculpture and installation. Kaganovich heads the thriving Jewelry and Metalsmithing program at the University of Wisconsin-Wilwaukee, where she is Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Design. She received a Masters of Fine Arts form the State University of New York at New Paltz and a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Metal/Jewelry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. An active art practitioner since 1992, she has exhibiting her work nationally and internationally and has received a number of awards and has been widely published. Kaganovich has worked as Designer/Goldsmith at Peggie Robinson Designs, Studio of Handcrafted Jewelry in Evanston, Illinois and has also taught Metalsmithing at Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinois, and Lillstreet Art Center, Chicago, Illinois.