Exploring Elegant Armor: A day-long look into MAD’s collection of contemporary jewelry

November 24th, 2008 at 03:02pm kristen

What a day! MAD’s jewelry curator Ursula Ilse-Neuman hosted the day-long investigation into the history of contemporary jewelry design, new materials and techniques in the field, and the hidden gems of the Museum’s unique collection. We started off in the Open Studios with jewelry artsits Nova Bronstein, Jocelyn Kolb, April Reigart, Gemma Draper and Seth Papac. Nova, student of world-renowned jewelry artist Jamie Bennett, demonstrated the enameling process for intriqued on-lookers. Also in the studio was April, Jocelyn, Gemma and Seth demonstrating how to use Computer-aided design for innovative jewelry-making, and answering many questions from interested viewers.

Ursula gave an interactive tour of the jewelry gallery around 2:00 PM, explaining the different techniques and styles behind various pieces. This gave visitors the chance to get a better understanding of the jewelry in the galleries, as well as the opportunity to explore the drawers and digital interactive screen to learn a little bit more about each piece.

To wrap up the day, we held a discussion with the field’s leading jewelry artists. The participants discussed defining characteristics of art jewelry today and what it tells us about the social fabric of our world. Artists Jamie Bennett, Iris Eichenberg and Stanley Lechtzin each presented their own works and techniques, and then joined together to discuss various questions relating to the jewelry-making process.

The day was extremely successful and we hope everyone walked away with an exciting new look on jewelry.

Images soon to come!

Entry Filed under: in the studio,mad happenings