Podcasts about contemporary jewelry

I don't know about you but one of the things I have really enjoyed in talking with other jewelry artists is hearing their journeys of how they found themselves bitten by the jewelry bug. For some, it began with early memories of dress up or rooting through a loved one's collection of jewelry. For others, a series of event brought them unexpectedly to metal but the love for the craft was immediate. I love a good story and a good story teller, and Alix Bluh delivers as you will hear. I connected to Alix's work immediately. We share a love for symbols, patina, texture, and stone, but Alix takes it to another level. And I not only admire her work, but after this conversation I admire her ability to flow and pivot during difficult times to build something even better than she could have envisioned otherwise. Her San Francisco brick and mortar, Modern Relics is a testament to this. I honestly can't wait to visit the next time I'm in the Bay Area. About Alix Bluh... Alix Bluh was introduced to the silver studio at a summer camp in Maine at the age of 12 and that experienced sparked a life long love of creating. Alix moved to San Francisco at the age of 28 where she joined the Sharon Art Studio, a beautiful Victorian stone building in the Golden Gate Park. This is where she began her metalsmithing journey and fell in love with working in sterling silver and gold. After 5 years of practicing her craft and refining her artistic voice in the medium she launched her line. Modern Relics, was born in1999. In 2007 Alix opened her gallery and new studio space, Modern Relics in the Richmond District of San Francisco and hasn't looked back. You can find Alix on Instagram at: @alixbluh or @modernrelicssf   If this podcast means something to you and you would like to support it, please take a a moment to give it a few kinds word with a written review on your favorite podcast listening platform. This helps me share the podcast with others. You can also share a favorite episode or consider joining our Slowmade Podcast Patreon community. You support literally makes this podcast possible. Thank you so much! You can follow along or reach out to Christine on Instagram: @christinemighion or send her an email at: info@christinemighion.com      

These days it feels like so many of us are trying to find new and meaningful ways to connect with our customers. One of the themes that continues to play out during my conversations with other makers is their frustration with Instagram and what to do next.  Today I'm sitting down with Nicole Conklin and talking about her business, Arrok Jewelry. Nicole shares so many good things and during this interview she talks about how we need to understand that Pinterest is like a Google search engine that we can use to our advantage. By entering key words and phrases into your titles and descriptions it can literally drive traffic to your website or instagram.  Nicole also shares her journey with building Arrok Jewelry to the business it is today and how fine tuning your artistic voice and overall look and feel of your business can take your business to the next level. Bio... Arrok Jewelry is owned and operated by Nicole Conklin. Established in 2010, Nicole started her jewelry career after attending The Gemological Institute of America. Once she graduated from GIA she opened Arrok Jewelry and hasn't looked back! Nicole enjoys working with her hands, turning precious and semi precious metals into magical handmade works of art. Her main medium is Sterling Silver, but she also works with copper and brass as accent metals. Nicole's jewelry is bold and powerful, while also remaining subtly feminine. She creates jewelry that evokes emotion and makes the wearer feel empowered and beautiful. Life, Death and Rebirth influence much of Nicole's work, and is a theme often found in her jewelry. Using traditional tattoo flash aesthetic, bold lines and unique stones to help her weave intricate stories in metal, Nicole's designs intertwine juxtaposed imagery, often pairing the macabre with the ultra feminine to highlight the dark/light duality within each of us. Website: arrokjewelry.com Instagram: @arrokjewelry Pinterest: @arrokjewelry If this podcast means something to you and you would like to support it, please take a a moment to give it a few kinds word with a written review on your favorite podcast listening platform. This helps me share the podcast with others. You can also share a favorite episode or consider joining our Slowmade Podcast Patreon community. You support literally makes this podcast possible. Thank you so much! You can follow along or reach out to Christine on Instagram: @christinemighion or send her an email at: info@christinemighion.com

I will forever be grateful to my sister-in-law, Sandra, who came over every Tuesday without fail to cook dinner and watch our children so I could attend an evening metalsmithing course at our local museum. This opportunity allowed me to not only have some time to myself as my husband was working long hours, but she gave me the gift of being able to follow my dreams of becoming an artist. And a couple years later, it  was this gift that helped me through my grief and anxiety over her sudden death.  My craft has blessed me in so many ways and I'm so grateful for the wonderful jewelry artists I have come to know. This craft and these relationship continues to ground and calm me, and when I have felt deep sadness and uncertainty it has held me. My conversation with Cara Wolff was one that brought me right back to my heart and the gratitude I have for my sister-in-law and for this craft.  Cara began making jewelry full-time in 2018, after the tragedy of losing her sister to cancer and her mother's new cancer diagnosis shifted the lens through which she saw her life and purpose. She left her 20-year career as a Wildlife Biologist and transformed her pain into healing when she opened her small storefront and studio in southern Vermont. Though she came to her career as a jewelry maker later in life, Cara had been fascinated with jewelry and gemstones since she was a child and has made jewelry as a hobby since her high school years. Cara creates unique and sacred adornment from the Earth's finest gifts – all her jewelry is hand fabricated in silver and gold and often features show-stopping gemstones and reclaimed materials. She is inspired every day by the beauty of the natural world and the enduring spirit of her beloved sister, Melinda. Instagram: @carawolffjewelry   Website: carawolff.com   If this podcast means something to you and you would like to support it, please take a a moment to give it a few kinds word with a written review on your favorite podcast listening platform. This helps me share the podcast with others. You can also share a favorite episode or consider joining our Slowmade Podcast Patreon community. You support literally makes this podcast possible. Thank you so much! You can follow along or reach out to Christine on Instagram: @christinemighion or send her an email at info@christinemighion.com

What you'll learn in this episode: What to expect at the second Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial and tips for attending. How Portugal's 48-year authoritarian regime and the Carnation Revolution continue to influence Portuguese artists and jewelers today. Why jewelry is so closely linked to power and politics. How artists can use masterclasses and workshops to refocus their work. How Marta is working to promote Portugal's art jewelry scene.   About Marta Costa Reis Marta Costa Reis started studying jewelry in 2004, as a hobby, in parallel with other professional activities. She dedicated herself fully to this work in 2014. Costa Reis completed the jewelry course at Ar.Co – Centro de Arte e Comunicacção Visual, in Lisbon, and the Advanced Visual Arts Course at the same school, in addition to workshops with renowned teachers including Iris Eichenberg, Ruudt Peters, Lisa Walker, and Eija Mustonen, among others. In addition to being a jewelry artist, Costa Reis teaches jewelry history at Ar.Co, writes about jewelry, and curates exhibitions. She also serves as artistic director of the Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial and as a board member of Art Jewelry Forum. Additional Resources: Marta's Website Marta's Instagram   Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript: How does jewelry symbolize power, and where do jewelry and politics intersect? That's the central question that Marta Costa Reis and her fellow curators, artists and speakers will explore at this year's Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial. Marta joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about why this year's theme is so timely; how Portugal's turbulent political history influences jewelry today; and how to plan your trip to make the most of the biennial. Read the episode transcript here. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey, exploring the hidden world of art around you. Because every piece of art has a story, and jewelry is no exception.   Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. If you haven't heard part one, please head to TheJewelryJourney.com. Today, we're going to be talking about the Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial. I am talking with Marta Costa Reis, who is going to tell us all about it. Welcome back.   Sharon: Are you a maker?   Marta: I am a maker.   Sharon: Have you been developing jewelry that's linked to power?   Marta: Actually, not so much. My themes are a bit more, maybe spiritual is the word. I don't know. I'm interested in themes that revolve around time and our connection to time and what is behind us. It's quite different, but this was already the theme of the first biennial. We have to move on and have different themes. Of course, I couldn't do work myself for this biennial. I don't have the time or the mindset to be making at this time. I'm fully focused on the biennial.   Sharon: I was noticing you have several curators. How did you choose the curators of different seminars and exhibits? How did you choose them?   Marta: I can speak, for instance, about the main show that is called Madrugada, daybreak. The main title. I wanted someone that was not a Portuguese person so we don't stay too closed in our own bubble. I wanted someone from another country but who could understand what happened here. Mònica Gaspar is Spanish. Besides being an amazing intellectual and teacher and writer and very knowledgeable about jewelry and design, being Spanish, they had a similar process as ours. They also had a very long dictatorship, and at almost the same time as we did, they became a democracy. So, she could understand more or less the same events. That was important, to have someone with that experience of changing from the dictatorship into a democracy.    We spoke last year Schmuck in Munich about it, and she was interested, but she has a lot of work, so it took a little while to convince her. It's because we are a team and we can share the work that were able to do it and Mònica is able to do it. Patrícia Domingues is the other curator. She's Portuguese, but she's younger than we are.   Sharon: Who is that?   Marta: Patrícia Domingues. She recently had a show in Brooklyn. I can write it down for you later, maybe afterwards.   Sharon: Okay. Patrícia. How do you spell the last name?   Marta: Domingues, D-O-M-I-N-G-U-E-S. I think I got it right. I know how to spell it, but sometimes saying it in English is more difficult. She has been living abroad for a quite a long time, but she's Portuguese, so she has a perspective that is both an insider but also an outsider. I wanted that very much, someone that is not closed here in our little bubble. She's she recently finished a Ph.D. She's younger. She's very much in contact with everything that is being reflected about jewelry in the world right now.    I think they are amazing curators, and they bring a lot to the biennial and to the show. I am there as well not only because I enjoy it, but I wanted to help out with the work, sending the invitations and keeping track of everything so that everything goes smoothly. We are a very small organization, and we do a lot of it ourselves on a voluntary basis. We have to take different jobs in this process. But I'm happy they joined us, and I'm very happy to be working with them on this show.   Sharon: Are you the main curator? Is there a main curator who chose the other ones?   Marta: Yes, that is me. I am the main curator for the whole biennial. Then there is a team and we discuss. We basically invited Mònica and Patrícia and they agreed. The other shows, for instance, the tiara show is curated by Catarina Silva, who is also the head of the jewelry department at ARCO. I'm also taking care of, it's called Jewels for Democracy. That's the show that I mentioned about the women being honored. There's a lot of people involved, but it's quite smooth.   Sharon: Somebody has to keep everything moving and coordinate. How are you promoting the show in Portugal and in general? Anything?   Marta: We will start promoting now. We have the two shows in April. We did the launch last November for the whole biennial. We try to be active on Instagram. Not so much on Facebook, but mainly on Instagram. We will start a more intense campaign. We have a professional communications person that will take care of this. We will start a more intense communication campaign very soon. We have it in two parts, so we are focusing on April. Then we'll have the other show in May, and then it's the end of June. It will be in different parts.    We will also announce the masterclasses very soon. I haven't mentioned the masterclasses yet. That's what I was forgetting. There will be two masterclasses, one with Lin Cheung and one with Manuel Vilhena from the 22nd to 26th of June. We'll open the registrations very, very soon. This week we'll open the registration. You'll start seeing more about it, and we will promote it in different venues. I did an interview for SMCK Magazine, the European magazine about jewelry. It just came out in their last issue. I did it in October or at the end of September, but it just came out. So, we're doing a number of things, but it will become more intense at the end of this month, in February. We will reinforce the communication and the advertising.    Sharon: How long are the shows in the biennial? Does it go through the summer, or is there an ending point or beginning point?   Marta: The main thing is that in the last week of June, everything will be open. The shows in the Royal Treasure Museum, the shows at the Design Museum, the colloquium, the schools, the masterclasses, the students, the galleries. Everything will be open in that last week of June. That will be the right moment to come to Lisbon. That's when we are concentrating everything. On the 30th of June, the two shows at the Royal Treasure Museum will close, but the show at MUDE, the Design Museum, will continue until the end of September, so it will go through the summer.   Sharon: Why do you call it a masterclass? Who's teaching it and what are they teaching?   Marta: It's Lin Cheung. She's from the UK. Manuel Vilhena is a quite well-known Portuguese artist and amazing teacher as well. It's five days. I'm not sure how to differentiate between a workshop and a masterclass, which I guess is a workshop with the masters, and they are masters. They are some of the top teachers I know. I did a small course with Manuel Vilhena a few years ago. Not yet with Lin, but I know they are amazing teachers. I'm sure everyone who comes will enjoy it.    Last biennial, we also had masterclasses, one with Caroline Broadhead and the other with Christoph Zellweger. They are very interesting moments of sharing and learning and deepening your understanding of your own work, not just for students but for artists in every moment of their careers. It's super interesting to be able to have these few days to stop and look at what you do, what you want to do next with very good teachers like they are. This can be a very special moment. For a long time, I did as many workshops and masterclasses as I could, and it was so great.   Sharon: The people who teach the classes, do they vet the people coming, or can anybody who wants to come into the class and take it?   Marta: There is a small vetting process, but basically you send a CV and your motivation, not even a letter, but a few words of why you want to do these classes. That will be the vetting process. But it's pretty much open to everyone in every stage of their education or career.   Sharon: The exhibits and going to galleries, are there charges? Are they free? What is the story with that?   Marta: To visit the galleries, some of the venues will be free. The museums have tickets, but most of the venues that are not museums are free.   Sharon: MUDE is the design museum that just opened.   Marta: Yes. It opened a while ago, but it was under renovation for a long time. It's the only museum in Portugal that has a contemporary jewelry collection. They have been building a collection, and hopefully it will grow. They also have lots of fashion and all kinds of product and graphic design. It's a very interesting collection, very interesting building. They haven't opened yet. We will be one of the first shows. The first temporary show after the renovation will be this one.    Sharon: Wow.    Marta: Yeah, it's exciting.   Sharon: Do you think there'll be a triennial?   Marta: Hopefully we'll do the next one. I have a few ideas. I cannot say yet, but yes. I like to start thinking about the next one while still doing this one. If the team wants to, if we get the support we need, for sure there will be another one.   Sharon: Now for somebody who wants—I started thinking of myself and other people, but members of the audience, if there somebody who wants to come alone, who wants to come to Portugal alone to see the exhibit, where do they stay? You said the end of June is the best time to come.   Marta: The last week of June, yes.   Sharon: Okay, and they stay at a hotel?   Marta: Lisbon is a wonderful, very safe and, I think, easy to navigate town. We don't have a special hotel to recommend, but you can reach out to us and we can help give some suggestions. Stay in a hotel, you will get your program, tell us you are coming. We will try as much as possible to help you out. If you want to organize a group, we can help organize the group as well. But it's easy. Uber goes everywhere, taxis go everywhere, you have the subway, you have buses, you can walk, bike. There are all kinds of ways to travel in town. It's not very big. We're not always able to do it, but many of the events, the venues, will be quite close. There will be a few groups in different locations, but you can visit a lot of things by foot that will be very close by. I think it will be very easy to come even if you're alone.   Sharon: Okay. As long as I have you, tell us about the market for art jewelry in Portugal. Has it grown? Do people care about it?   Marta: I think like almost everywhere else, it's a specialist market that certain people enjoy a lot. Actually, it's not very known by everyone. Most people, when you say jewelry, think about more traditional, more commercial jewelry. Like everywhere, there's a way to go, I think. But there is a group of interested people. There's certainly very interesting artists.    We've had contemporary jewelry, art jewelry being done and presented in shows here since the 60s. We've had a school, the specialized school in Lisbon, since the 70s. We have two galleries. One of them just turned 25. The other I think even more, maybe 30. So, we have had the market for a long time. Now, of course, it's a little bit slow, but I think that happened everywhere with the recent crisis. But it exists, and it's been here for over 40 years, 50 years now. Like everywhere else, it's a continuous work, but people love it. Many people love it. I think it will never stop being interesting and important to a number of us.   Sharon: Okay. Go ahead, if there's anything else you wanted to say.   Marta: About the market, that's basically it. It's an issue, and also what we wanted to promote. That's why we did the biennial, to help people see there's a lot more jewelry than the ones they're used to in the traditional way. That's part of the reason we're doing this, not just for ourselves or the ones who already know what jewelry content actually is all about, but for the ones who don't and might be interested in knowing. Getting the beautiful works that are done out there and reaching out to more people, that's it.   Sharon: Okay. I'm trying to read my handwriting here. I was reading your information last night again, but let's see. The cost, the people and most of the stuff is in English as well as Portuguese.   Marta: Yes, everything will be translated. The colloquium will be in English. Everyone will speak English at the colloquium, and in the museums you will have English. Everything will be translated. Our website is translated. Our Instagram, not all is translated, but because it translates automatically, it's not even an issue anymore, I think. But yes, usually you will always have Portuguese and English, except the colloquium that will be fully in English. It will be quite easy for everyone. English is indeed the common language for almost everything, so we just assume. In Portugal everyone speaks English more or less.   Sharon: Do they learn it in school?   Marta: Yes, yes. In school, movies. The movies are not dubbed. They are in the original English, so we are used to listening to English from when we are very young. It becomes a very common language.   Sharon: That's interesting. We'll have the Instagram and the website listed when we post this.   Marta: Okay, great. Going back, if people want to travel to Lisbon, if they by chance come before June, they will still have very interesting things to see besides the program of the biennial. There are the galleries that will have shows in Lisbon. There's Galeria Reverso and Galeria Tereza Seabra. They both will have shows as they usually have. In April and May, if you visit Portugal, come, because there will be jewelry to be seen. If you plan to come for the biennial, June is a very exciting month. The city is beautiful. It's when there are flowers, there's green, there's the sun. People are just happy in June, everywhere I guess.   Sharon: How is the weather then? Is it hot?   Marta: No, it's warm. June is still quite good. End of July, August is maybe a bit too much, but June usually is still quite good. I won't say the number because I would say it in Celsius so it doesn't mean anything, and I don't know how to say it in Fahrenheit. I won't say a number for the temperature, but it's really nice. The best thing is that the evenings are warm. That's the best, when in the evening it's still warm and it's nice outside. That's June.   Sharon: Are there a lot of people in the streets still when it's warm outside and warm in the evenings? I know you don't live in the center.   Marta: Yes, people will go out. As I said, in June you have traditional parties. The patron saint of Lisbon, his day is in June. From there, you have many, many parties. People go outside, they will eat outside. There will be concerts outside, there will be movies outside, everything will be outside and it will be very nice.   Sharon: I hope that we can all go. I have here the official name is the Second Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial, right?   Marta: Exactly.   Sharon: What is the theme once more again?   Marta: The theme is political jewelry and jewelry of power.   Sharon: Okay. And PIN is involved with this also? PIN is the art jewelry—   Marta: PIN is the Portuguese Contemporary Jewelry Association, and it's the organizer of the biennial.    Sharon: Reading through this information I was ready to book my flight. It looks wonderful.   Marta: Yes. I'm happy you come. But surely, if people want to come, reach out to us. If you write to us through Instagram, the website, it will be easy to reach out to us, and we will help in any way. If you want to come, we can help make it happen in the easiest way possible for you. We're happy to have you and everyone who wants to come.   Sharon: Well, thank you very much for telling us about it.   Marta: Thank you for having me and helping us tell our story.   Sharon: We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to check them out.   Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.

What you'll learn in this episode: What to expect at the second Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial and tips for attending. How Portugal's 48-year authoritarian regime and the Carnation Revolution continue to influence Portuguese artists and jewelers today. Why jewelry is so closely linked to power and politics. How artists can use masterclasses and workshops to refocus their work. How Marta is working to promote Portugal's art jewelry scene.   About Marta Costa Reis Marta Costa Reis started studying jewelry in 2004, as a hobby, in parallel with other professional activities. She dedicated herself fully to this work in 2014. Costa Reis completed the jewelry course at Ar.Co – Centro de Arte e Comunicacção Visual, in Lisbon, and the Advanced Visual Arts Course at the same school, in addition to workshops with renowned teachers including Iris Eichenberg, Ruudt Peters, Lisa Walker, and Eija Mustonen, among others. In addition to being a jewelry artist, Costa Reis teaches jewelry history at Ar.Co, writes about jewelry, and curates exhibitions. She also serves as artistic director of the Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial and as a board member of Art Jewelry Forum. Additional Resources: Marta's Website Marta's Instagram   Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript: How does jewelry symbolize power, and where do jewelry and politics intersect? That's the central question that Marta Costa Reis and her fellow curators, artists and speakers will explore at this year's Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial. Marta joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about why this year's theme is so timely; how Portugal's turbulent political history influences jewelry today; and how to plan your trip to make the most of the biennial. Read the episode transcript here. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey, exploring the hidden world of art around you. Because every piece of art has a story, and jewelry is no exception. Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey podcast. This is the first part of a two-part episode. Please make sure you subscribe so you can hear part two as soon as it's released later this week. Today, we're going to be talking about the Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial. I am talking with Marta Costa Reis, who is going to tell us all about it. I met Marta about eight to 5 years ago at the first biennial in Lisbon, Portugal. One of the goals was to gather together examples and information about the history of modern Portugal and the jewelry that's associated with it. When we think of Portuguese jewelry, we don't automatically think of art jewelry. But it has a history of more than several decades about the work that's been going on and art jewelry in general. The second Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial is coming up this summer in Lisbon. The last one was held in Lisbon, too. Marta Costa Rice is going to be telling us about this biennial and what to expect this summer in Lisbon. There will be a lot going on in many venues. There is the exhibition at MUDE, which is a very well-known Portuguese design museum. There's an international symposium with people coming from all over the world to discuss the theme of the exhibition, which I'll let Marta tell you about. A lot is taking place at many of the galleries. One of the key exhibits is taking place at the Royal Treasure Museum. But I don't want to steal Marta's spotlight. Today, she'll tell us all about the second Contemporary Jewelry Biennial in Portugal. Marta, welcome to the program. Marta: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me and for this very nice introduction. So, where should I start? I don't even know. There's so much to tell. I'm currently organizing the second Lisbon Contemporary Jewelry Biennial. I do it as a new chairwoman of PIN, which is a Portuguese contemporary jewelry association. Sharon: PIN, P-I-N? Marta: PIN, yes. PIN has existed now for 20 years. It will be 20 years this September. It was created to organize quite a big event. At the time, Cristina Filipe was one of the founders and was the chairwoman for a very long time. Of course, you know her by the Susan Beach Grant. She received the first Susan Beech Grant for Mid-Career Artists, and that allowed us to publish a book which came from Cristina's Ph.D. about Portuguese jewelry, contemporary jewelry in Portugal. That time, when the book was published, that's when she had traveled to Portugal and we met. We had this challenge for ourselves, saying that if we managed to do a good program to present interesting shows, good visits, we could be able to do a biennial. That's its inspiration, this trip, how all this came to happen. Of course, the timing for the first biennial—we called it the AJF trip. It was like year zero, the pilot episode. The first biennial happened in the middle of the pandemic, so we were never sure that we really would be able to make it happen because there was still a lot of restrictions. But luckily it happened in September 2021, when people were able to travel a little bit. Then we managed to have a huge number of artists and collectors and interesting people. The theme was about the pandemic. It was jewelry of protection and connecting contemporary objects, contemporary jewelry of protection in the 21st century with very old relics and sacred objects that were shown together in an exhibition in a museum here in Lisbon. Of course, we did call it the biennial to force ourselves to do the second one. Sharon: I wanted to ask, what does biennial mean, literally? Marta: It's supposed to be every two years. That that's what it means. It's supposed to happen every two years. Of course, it's a little bit more than two years now. It's two years and a half between the first one and the second one. But because we have this idea to always have as a theme for the biennial something that is happening in the world at the moment. The first one was the pandemic. Now in Portugal 2024, we will have this very important event, which is the 50th anniversary of our revolution when we became a democratic country. I don't know if people are aware that we had an authoritarian regime for 48 years, and it happened in 1974. It was a very smooth revolution. Let's just say that, because it happened without almost any gun being shot. Of course, it took a little while. The Democratic constitution was approved a bit later, but that is the fundamental moment when we became a democratic country or started to become a democratic country. It happened 50 years ago now, so it's really a whole new generation, a whole new world, and we want to celebrate that. Jewelry, of course, has a lot to do with power or representations of power. There is also in contemporary jewelry a lot of political work. Many artists do work that is political or can be read in a political way. We wanted to consider those issues, jewelry of power and political jewelry. That's basically the idea of how it came about. Sharon: Why is it called the Carnation Revolution? Marta: That's an amazing story, actually. It happened because literally a woman that had some red carnations in her hands started to put carnations, the flowers, in the guns of the soldiers. Some of the most famous images of the revolution are soldiers with the flowers in their guns. It represents a lot of things, namely that the guns were not being shot. They were holding flowers. It happened by accident. It's suggested that this lady, apparently one of the soldiers asked her for a cigarette. She said she didn't have cigarettes, but she had a flower, and she put the flower in his gun. And then people started to replicate the gesture. Until today, the red carnation--there were also white carnations, but basically the red carnation is still very much a symbol of that movement, that revolution, and it took the name. For us, thinking about that, the gesture she had is also very much a gesture of adornment, the gesture of adorning that gun with the flower. So, we wanted to pick up on that and what it could mean. Sharon: How is jewelry linked to power? Marta: You have that example, for instance, in the Royal Treasure Museum that you mentioned, which shows the jewelry of the national treasure, jewels that belonged to the state—well, to the crown, basically. Some of them were private jewelry worn by kings and queens. Some of them are more royal estate jewelry. Basically, it's that representation of the power that it can show and the time when diamonds and precious stones and even precious metals were not used by everyone. It showed how powerful a person was, how important or how close to the eye of power. It's the idea of a crown or a tiara, of a whole set of diamonds, but also all the objects that you can put on your body, like the jeweled swords and things like that. Jewelry indeed has a lot to say about power, how you show yourself as a person of power or representing a situation of power, being a king or queen or someone with a very high responsibility. That connection always existed. This museum is brand new. It will be two years ago in June. This jewelry was not accessible. It was not shown for a very long time. It was only in a temporary exhibition, so it's an excellent opportunity to see these pieces that are absolutely incredible. Although many were lost and sold, they're still a very nice collection. Sharon: So, a biennial can be anything, theoretically. Every 10 years, it could be trucks. It could be jewelry, but it could be a biennial about anything, right? Marta: We tried to connect it to things that are ongoing in the world at the moment. For 2024, our main motivation with this event was that we knew it would happen in Portugal. There will be a lot of other moments of celebration of democracy, basically. That that's what the celebration is all about. But if you look at the world at large, it's also very topical, this issue and the themes. It's something that people can relate to at the present moment, not just Portuguese. That's what we thought could be interesting, to see how our jewelers, our artists, are connecting to the world at the present and what they have to say about it through their work, through jewelry. Sharon: How did you get involved in it? Marta: I don't know. It's probably a personality trait. I like to get involved in things. I like this tendency to be of service to something larger than myself. I became involved first with PIN because in my previous professional life, I used to—I was not a lawyer, but I studied law, so I worked with law. I started to be involved with PIN about some situations that were happening with laws that were changing that affected jewelry. So, I started to cooperate with them on that issue. Then I was very much involved in AJF's first visit to Lisbon, and then in the organization of the first biennial. Sharon: AJF means—I want everybody to understand that AJF means Art Jewelry Forum. Marta: Art Jewelry Forum, yes. So, I was the person helping in Portugal. There were others, but I was one of them.  I got very much involved in the first biennial and then Cristina wanted to leave and not do the second one. She was very tired and wanted to move on to something else. I said, "Okay, but we did this biennial. We need to try to do the second one." That's what happened. And I said, "Okay, I'll try to take over and do the second biennial." That's what happened. That's my mission at the moment at this organization, the Portuguese Association for Contemporary Jewelry, to do the second biennial, and from then on let's see how many more we can do. Sharon: I noticed that she wasn't on the list of speakers. Are you giving any kind of prize or a grant like Cristina received 10 years ago to do her book? Marta: No. The program is two exhibitions in the Royal Treasure Museum. One of the exhibitions will be contemporary jewelers doing work to honor a woman of their choice that had a role in the democratic transition, so a woman that was especially hurt by the dictatorship or was especially involved in the democracy. Many of them are artists because we also had censorship and artists could not be free in their work. Many of the women the jewelers chose to honor are artists. A few of them even had to leave Portugal and move to other countries to be able to do their work. But not only do we have anonymous women, we have some politicians. We had one of the first women prime ministers in Europe, so she will be honored as well. There are a few other women that people felt needed some recognition or wanted to give them their recognition. In 1974, when the revolution happened, many of the actors were men because it was done by military men, and all the politicians were men. A few women started showing up afterwards. But before the end of our dictatorship, women had no representation at all in the public space. They were mostly shown as accessories. Good woman, good wife, good cook, but that's all. Only after 1974 did women start to have their own representation as professionals in other things besides being wives. We couldn't even travel to other countries without the husband's permission or have bank accounts or things like that. When I was born, that was still the reality in my country. It's not 200 years ago. It's very, very close to us. That's also why it's important to show those who have not lived through that that an authoritarian regime is a terrible thing. So, we are honoring these women. We have another show of contemporary tiaras by a contemporary artist that will be shown next to the crown jewels. That will be an interesting contrast. These two shows will open in April. So, from April to the end of June, you can see contemporary jewelry in the Royal Treasure Museum, which will also be a first. It's a very endearing project, and there have been great, great partners. Then in May, a show by the contemporary artist Teresa Milheiro will open as well. It's sort of an anthological show, but not only. She always had political themes in her work, so that's one of the reasons why she was chosen to do this solo. Then in the last week of June, between 24th and 30th of June, there will be an immensity of shows. The big show at MUDE that is curated by myself, Mònica Gaspar and Patrícia Domingues is an international collective show with artists from many different parts of the world. Not all parts of the world, because in many countries you still don't have a lot of contemporary jewelry. But we're doing our best to have it as broad as possible. There will be what we call parallel events, which are shows organized by artists, collectives and students that are doing shows at the same time in Lisbon. There's the colloquium with international speakers from many parts of the world. The colloquium will be in English. It will also be accessible online for anyone who wants to stay at home and still be able to accompany that. It will also be about political jewelry and politics and politics of jewelry and power. This will still be the main themes. There will be a show with schools from different countries, a meeting of the students and then an exhibition. The educational part is very present. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of things or there are things I didn't say yet. There will be what you call a jewelry room with galleries from different countries. Galleries are still, and hopefully will be for a long time, a very important part of the jewelry world, so we want them to be present as well and show their artists and their choices. The last week of June will be absolutely filled with contemporary jewelry in Lisbon. Plus it's an amazing month. It's the best month in Lisbon. There are parties on the streets. It's the best. Sharon: Do the galleries choose what to show that's linked to this theme? What is the official theme? Marta: There is a title, which is Madrugada. That means daybreak. This title is inspired by a very beautiful poem by a Portuguese poet, Sophia de Mello Breyner. It's very short, but basically it says this is a new dawn after a very long, dark night. It's a poem about the revolution. She loosely calls it a new dawn. This is the theme. We asked the galleries to bring work that is connected to theme, to political jewelry, and we also asked them to present a Portuguese artist. Some of them already have Portuguese artists in their midst, in their group of selected artists, and some don't. What we want is for galleries to have a look at the national, Portuguese artists, and make their choice. That way, our Portuguese artists get more representation or more presence and maybe a little more representation in other countries. Sharon: You mentioned the educational piece of the shows and symposia. What do you have planned, and what are the topics? Are they in English? Marta: They are in English. The symposium is in English. I can give you some examples. We will have, for instance, and this could be interesting for you, the artist Cindi Strauss will speak about themes from the book she published recently on American jewelry in the 60s and 70s and the counterculture. She will be there. We will also have a Brazilian researcher called Dionea Rocha Watt, and she will speak about jewelry of power, like the jewelry that Imelda Marcos owns, or the jewelry from the recent scandal with the former Brazilian President Bolsonaro, who sold some jewelry he received, and other representations and connections between jewelry and power. But we will also have, for instance, Rosa Maria Mota, who will speak about traditional Portuguese jewelry. It was used by popular woman from the countryside that bought as much gold jewelry as possible as a way to preserve their finances and their power. It's the connection between traditional gold jewelry and women power. Things like that. It's always around politics and policy and power and jewelry. Hopefully it will be very interesting. Sharon: We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to check them out. Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.  

Today I'm chatting with the very talented Nisa Smiley! We touch on so many good things like allowing trust and joy to be your guide in life and your art. I can certainly get caught up in the mind chatter telling me to be mindful that I need to make work that will pay the bills.  We also talk about the artistic and emotional value of our work to our customers. Although we don't spend a lot of time on this topic, I really think it's worth paying attention to. About Nisa... Growing up in northern New England, Nisa spent her early years in the beautiful woods and mountains, but her draw to the seaside has been present all along. At 18, she left her beloved mountains and moved to the coast. Decades later, she is still there, entranced by the inexhaustible abundance of inspiration from her natural surroundings. Nisa earned her BFA from the Maine College of Art in 2000, and then settled in Downeast Maine soon thereafter to start her family. In 2006 she founded NISA Jewelry, and since then her work has been shown in juried fine craft shows, galleries, private trunk shows, public shows, and published in multiple books and publications. She is also a seasoned teacher, and loves assisting others in their creative pursuits. She has taught countless private and public workshops, for both older children and adults, and is a certified Precious Metal Clay instructor, as well as a Master for the Craft Apprentice Program (Maine). These days, Nisa can often be found in her sunny studio in downtown Ellsworth, Maine (if it's summer, she can also be found at the beach, or at the J.McVeigh Jewelry gallery in Stonington, Maine), immersed in a plethora of organic found objects, gemstones, and precious metals. Her studio is not public, but visits by appointment are most welcome. Her latest work can be found in select galleries, as well as on her website and social media accounts (Instagram and Facebook). Website: nisajewelry.com Instagram: @nisajewelry Love the show? Please consider supporting the podcast by joining our Slowmade Community on Patreon. Thank you! You can find Christine on Instagram @christinemighion

Each one of us is on our own creative journey. We may be in different places at this time, but I think we can all learn something from each other no matter where we are. I know that each conversation on Slowmade has left me with more clarity and knowledge than I had before, and that is the beauty of community. I'm also deeply grateful to have the opportunity to get to know each artist a little more. Some, from the moment we connect, I feel like I've known for years. Shannon Bundschuh is one of those artists, and talking with her felt like talking to a good friend. Shannon is what I would consider an anomaly in the creative world. Although she began taking some metalsmithing classes in 2016, she took her time to get to know the craft and her market. With that knowledge in hand she intentionally thought through the launch of her business, Carry A Torch, 5 years ago, in 2019. With a background in graphic design, she created a cohesive image that flows seamlessly with her work. And shortly after the pandemic hit, she was able to pivot with her in person teachings at a local retreat center to building beautiful online courses all while raising a family. Shannon Bundschuh is the owner and creative force behind Carry A Torch. She is a silversmith, designing crushworthy jewelry out of her home studio in Scottsdale, Arizona. Shannon's background in many other art mediums—including hand-lettering, computer graphics, sculpture, textiles and painting—all contribute to the color, texture and balance in her creations. A passion for trying new materials and challenging herself is what drove Shannon to try her hand at silversmithing, igniting a flame that has her smitten for good. She quite literally and figuratively carries a torch for this medium. And now in her classes, Shannon is sharing the seductive spark of silversmithing with her fellow artists. You can follow Shannon and see all of her crushworthy jewelry and courses at the links below:  Instagram: @carry.a.torch Website: Carry-A-Torch.com Please consider supporting the podcast by joining our Slowmade Podcast Community on Patreon. Your support makes the podcast possible. If you have a guest suggestion or topic for the podcast, please reach out to Christine at: Instagram: @christinemighion Website: https://www.christinemighion.com

What you'll learn in this episode:   How Thereza helps art collectors enter the world of contemporary jewelry. Why contemporary jewelry shouldn't be a niche, but a part of the larger art and design scene. How Thereza defines contemporary jewelry, and how she became interested in it. How she selects artists for her art and jewelry gallery, Thereza Pedrosa Gallery. Why even delicate art shouldn't be hidden away. Why quality matters just as much as aesthetics in a piece of jewelry.   About Thereza Pedrosa   Thereza Pedrosa (Rio de Janeiro, 1985) is an art historian, independent curator and gallery owner. She graduated in Conservation of Cultural Heritage at Ca' Foscari University in Venice with a thesis on art works on paper belonging to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. She continued her studies and obtained a MA in Management and Conservation of Cultural Heritage at Ca' Foscari University in Venice with a thesis on the use of niello in contemporary European jewelry. In 2009 she collaborated as assistant registrar at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, cataloging all the museum's works on paper. Her work led to the exhibition Revealing Papers: The Hidden Treasures of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, for which Thereza was the scientific coordinator (Lucca Center of Contemporary Art). Since 2011 she has been working as an curator, creating exhibitions, catalogues and projects for artists and galleries in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. In 2012 she founded the blog Beautiful People Live Art, dedicated to art, design, architecture, photography and art jewelly. In 2019 she established with her business partner Elinor Garnero a contemporary art gallery with a focus on art jewelry, the “Thereza Pedrosa Gallery”. In 2021 she joined as an expert the examining committee of the Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School in Florence. She brings a genuinely international perspective to her curatorial activity also thanks to her residencies in Switzerland, Germany and, since 2015, the Netherlands. Additional Resources: Thereza Pedrosa Gallery  Instagram Facebook LinkedIN Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript: For Thereza Pedrosa, no form of art is more important than another. At her gallery, contemporary jewelry, sculpture, paintings and other fine art are all given equal standing, and she's helped numerous art collectors discover jewelry for the first time. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about why contemporary jewelry is still unknown to most art collectors and why that should change; how she balances raising children with owning a gallery; and what she discovered at this year's jewelry fairs. Read the episode transcript here.  Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. If you haven't heard part one, please head to TheJewelryJourney.com.    Today, my guest is Thereza Pedrosa of Thereza Pedrosa Gallery. Thereza is speaking to us from Asolo, which is right near Florence. It's supposed to be a very lovely medieval village. She and her partner and friend, Elinor Garnero, founded the gallery in 2019. Welcome back.    I was wondering about this. If you have people who come in and say, “I like this painting,” or “I want a painting,” and then they look at the jewelry, do they walk out with the jewelry, or do they walk out with both? How does that work?   Thereza: Yes, it's happened a couple of times that someone came inside because they saw the paintings. When you are walking in the street, it's easier to see the paintings from outside than the jewelry. So, they come to see the paintings and discover we have contemporary jewelry, but they don't know about it. It happened a couple of times, where they may buy a painting and also a piece of jewelry. It happens more often that they open their minds to the field of contemporary jewelry, and they come back later to buy jewelry. Normally, if they come inside the first time just thinking about paintings, they are not ready yet to move to contemporary jewelry, but they come back. They fall in love with it. They come back to discover more, and then they can start buying contemporary jewelry.   Sharon: Would you call yourself a collector, somebody who collects?   Thereza: Yes. I don't know how many pieces I have in my own collection, but I sure love to collect myself. I cannot resist. I'm an art lover, and I love to collect paintings, sculptures, books and contemporary jewelry, absolutely.   Sharon: Are they different from each other, the art people who come in and just want a painting versus a jewelry person who comes in and looks at the art? Are they different kinds of personalities or people?   Thereza: I don't think they are different kinds of personalities. Normally, they are people that, like me, love art and design in all forms, especially people who love paintings and discover contemporary jewelry. What happens more often is that they just didn't know the field before. They didn't know contemporary existed. What happens often with these collectors is that they come inside, and they are like, “Oh, I love art. I love sculptures. I collect them. I never knew about contemporary jewelry. I never thought art you can wear existed.” They are excited to discover it.   This is how I was. I always loved art and paintings and sculptures, and I grew up in an artist family. I grew up with my walls surrounded by art all my life. For me, when I got involved in contemporary jewelry, I was like, “Wow!” I love art. I love to have art pieces in my house, but contemporary jewelry is a piece of art I can wear when I go out of the house. It's amazing.   Sharon: Do you consider it that? Do you consider contemporary jewelry art you can wear?   Thereza: I do.   Sharon: You do?   Thereza: Yeah, I do. For me, yes. I also consider them art pieces. There are many jewelry artists, but they make sculptures. If you see this object, you can imagine it big and it would still be amazing. They just decided to make them small and wearable, but they are still art pieces. For example, in my house, I like to keep some pieces of contemporary jewelry around the living room on shelves we have around the house, just off the coffee table because I have two small kids, but in places at least a little higher. I keep one piece here and one piece there because they look like small sculptures. They are interesting to see even when you are not wearing them.   Sharon: That's interesting. People have suggested to me that I frame some jewelry when I'm not wearing it, but I've never thought about it. The first time somebody said it to me, I thought, “Well, that's really stupid.” I didn't understand what they were talking about.    Thereza: Sometimes people come to my house and say, “Oh, my god, you keep this piece here. You should close it in a safe or something,” and I'm like, “This is an artwork. It was made to be seen and to be enjoyed. It was not made to be hidden away. If I need to have something in a safe, if I never look at it or see it or enjoy it, then I cannot own it. What is the purpose for it?” The jewelry in my collection is the same thing. I like to enjoy the pieces, even when I'm not wearing them. I cannot wear 20 pieces at the same time, so I like to see them around me. They make me happy.   Sharon: You've been in a lot of different countries. You've been in the Netherlands. Where else? I know you've been in a lot of countries, selling and creating.   Thereza: I was born in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro. I grew up in Italy. I lived for a couple of years in Switzerland and a couple of years in Germany. Actually now, I live in the Netherlands. It's been almost eight years that I've lived in the Netherlands. My art gallery is in Italy, but I actually live in the Netherlands.   Sharon: Oh, wow! Do you find that the different cultures and places you've lived or studied influences what you do?   Thereza: I think yes, for sure, even if I don't think about it on purpose. For sure I think of it in a more international way. I don't really feel myself as Italian or Brazilian, and I have big difficulties when someone asks me, “Where are you from?” I'm like, “What are you asking me? Are you asking me where I was born? Are you asking me where I grew up? Are you asking me where I was living before I moved to this country?” It's always hard for me, but I like to take the positive sides of everywhere I was living and growing up.    What I like most is to see my kids growing up internationally. My kids are six and four, and they speak four languages and have friends from all around the world. They have friends from Tokai, from China, from Germany, from France, from the U.K., the U.S., Canada, anywhere. We go out on Sunday to have lunch together with some friends. They come to our place or we go to their place, and my kids can try food from India or Tokai, or different festivities, a different region, a different tradition. I think that's the best way for them to learn that we need to respect everyone and hope they will respect us. There is no color of skin or religion or culture that is more important than the other ones. We are all different and we are all the same, but sometimes it is difficult to teach that. If they can live it, I think it's the best way to grow up with this concept.   Sharon: Do you expose them to a lot of art, more than usual? Do you take them to art galleries? I don't know what there is in Italy. How do they learn about art?   Thereza: Some of my friends think we are little bit crazy. When we were expecting my first son, they told us, “Oh, you should put away everything that can break.” Now I'm sitting in my kitchen in Iceland, and I can see here I have a glass sculpture that is full of small, fragile pieces. When friends come over, they are like, “How can you keep that thing there with two small kids around?” I think if you teach them to respect the artworks, they can grow up with them around. I grew up with them around. My parents always had paintings and sculptures around the house. They never put them away because we were children, and I tried to do the same with my kids.   I would like them to enjoy that we have these pieces at home. With a marble sculpture or a bronze sculpture, they can touch it and feel the difference between the materials. I love it when they talk about these pieces and they go around the house and say, “This is my favorite painting,” or “This is my favorite sculpture,” or “I like this one because it's cold,” or “I like this one because I like the shape of it.” I love abstract art, so the paintings we have at home are all abstract, but my kids go around and say, “Oh, I see an ice cream in this painting. I never saw that ice cream before.” Then I start seeing things they see. Obviously, we like to go with them to museums. I go to art fairs sometimes and they can come with me. It's a pleasure to bring them around to contemporary jewelry fairs as well.    Sharon: You went to Schmuck this year. Do you go to Schumck every year?   Thereza: This year was the first year we were participating as a gallery because the gallery's only three years old. We opened it in 2019. Then Corona came, and Schmuck was not there for a couple of years. Before that, I went to visit three times, I think. I visited the last couple of years before Corona came because I was busy with my babies. They were really small, but I went. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, I went. I took a break with my babies for a couple of years, then I opened up my gallery, and this was the first year of participating as a gallery.    Sharon: Did you find new artists there or new work by artists you have? What did you find? What was interesting to you?   Thereza: Everything was different for me because that was the first year I was not free to go around so much as the other three years. I needed to be in our exhibition during the day all the time, so I didn't have much time to go visit other exhibitions. But it was wonderful to meet many artists of the art gallery that we don't get to meet often. If we organize a solo exhibition at the gallery, normally the artist comes for the solo exhibition, but otherwise we don't get to see the artists from other countries so often. I didn't have time to count how many artists of the gallery we met last week, but I think almost 20 of them were there. It was very nice to meet everyone in person.    I met artists of the gallery I had already met other times before and we are friends, but I also met some artists of the gallery that we represent that I'd never met in person before. Finally, we got the opportunity to meet in person. That was also really nice. We got new pieces to bring to the gallery from some of them. It's always a good excuse to meet in person to receive some pieces for the gallery. I also met some artists that I invited to be artists of the gallery. I'm really happy to have had all these exchanges.   Sharon: The people that you asked to be artists, they're people that you don't have now, but you saw they had work you were interested in.   Therbeza: Yes. I invited some artists I already knew I wanted for the gallery, but I just didn't have time to invite them yet. Then I met them in person. In person is always better to talk and invite them to work with the gallery. It's a pleasure. It's better than just writing an email.   Sharon: Was that a chance to see work you usually don't see, besides meeting artists? Was it work you don't see?   Thereza: Yeah, every time you visit Schmuck, you have the opportunity to discover an artist you didn't know before. You study and you try to keep in touch with everything, but there are always some artists you don't know or have yet to discover. It's always wonderful to go there because in one week, you see so many different things, displays, artists' pieces. It's really, really interesting.   Sharon: I've been wanting to ask you about this. There was a long and very interesting interview with you that Art Jewelry Forum did, and you used the word “authorial jewelry.”   Thereza: Well, with authorial jewelry, I don't know if it's a mistake in the translation from Italian. It really means alto jewelry. I think it's also used in English sometimes, but in Italian we use it to divide art jewelry from design jewelry. Alto jewelry is more about artists that also made jewelry, instead of contemporary jewelry artists that work only in the field of jewelry.   Sharon: What holds your attention about art jewelry as opposed to art? What keeps you going with art jewelry? What do you like, and why do you stay attracted to it?   Thereza: There are a lot of things I like. One of them is how many different media contemporary jewelry artists can use to make jewelry. You often find some artist who uses materials you never thought before could be used to make jewelry, and sometimes you see something that looks like one material, and then you go to see what it is and it's a different one. It always surprises me in a good way when I'm surprised with the aesthetics of a piece, the quality of the piece, but also the materials that are unexpected and different from what I was thinking or expecting   Sharon: Is that what you look at? Besides the fact that it has surprised you, do you look at the quality and the craftsmanship and the way it's done?   Thereza: Absolutely. That's really important. It's important to look. The aesthetic is important in a piece because that's what you see, but then there's the quality of it, the durability of it. You don't want it to be broken in one week. It needs to be well-made, it needs to be wearable and it needs to be of good quality. Especially for a young artist, sometimes they don't finish a piece, or they just want to have many pieces done and they don't finish them properly. No, it's really important to finish them properly for the quality of the piece, but also the wearability. It's important that you try the piece on until it works, it doesn't hurt and it doesn't break. That's important because it's an art piece, but it's also jewelry. It needs to be wearable; otherwise, it's a sculpture. Jewelry needs to be wearable for me.   Sharon: No, that's really important. You're right; a lot of young makers don't understand that it has to be something you can wear. Thereza, thank you so much for being here today and telling us about Schmuck and your gallery. Asolo is—what did you say? A couple of hours, less than a couple of hours from Florence?   Thereza: It could be more. It's actually one hour from Venice. It's in the northeast of Italy, 50 minutes from Pauda and one hour from Venice.   Sharon: You're right in the middle of things, then. Thank you so much for being with us today. We really appreciate it.   Thereza: It was a pleasure. Thank you, Sharon.   Sharon: We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to check them out.   Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.

What you'll learn in this episode:   How Thereza helps art collectors enter the world of contemporary jewelry. Why contemporary jewelry shouldn't be a niche, but a part of the larger art and design scene. How Thereza defines contemporary jewelry, and how she became interested in it. How she selects artists for her art and jewelry gallery, Thereza Pedrosa Gallery. Why even delicate art shouldn't be hidden away. Why quality matters just as much as aesthetics in a piece of jewelry.   About Thereza Pedrosa   Thereza Pedrosa (Rio de Janeiro, 1985) is an art historian, independent curator and gallery owner. She graduated in Conservation of Cultural Heritage at Ca' Foscari University in Venice with a thesis on art works on paper belonging to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. She continued her studies and obtained a MA in Management and Conservation of Cultural Heritage at Ca' Foscari University in Venice with a thesis on the use of niello in contemporary European jewelry. In 2009 she collaborated as assistant registrar at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, cataloging all the museum's works on paper. Her work led to the exhibition Revealing Papers: The Hidden Treasures of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, for which Thereza was the scientific coordinator (Lucca Center of Contemporary Art). Since 2011 she has been working as an curator, creating exhibitions, catalogues and projects for artists and galleries in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. In 2012 she founded the blog Beautiful People Live Art, dedicated to art, design, architecture, photography and art jewelly. In 2019 she established with her business partner Elinor Garnero a contemporary art gallery with a focus on art jewelry, the “Thereza Pedrosa Gallery”. In 2021 she joined as an expert the examining committee of the Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School in Florence. She brings a genuinely international perspective to her curatorial activity also thanks to her residencies in Switzerland, Germany and, since 2015, the Netherlands. Additional Resources: Thereza Pedrosa Gallery  Instagram Facebook LinkedIN Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript: For Thereza Pedrosa, no form of art is more important than another. At her gallery, contemporary jewelry, sculpture, paintings and other fine art are all given equal standing, and she's helped numerous art collectors discover jewelry for the first time. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about why contemporary jewelry is still unknown to most art collectors and why that should change; how she balances raising children with owning a gallery; and what she discovered at this year's jewelry fairs. Read the episode transcript here.  Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the first part of a two-part episode. Please make sure you subscribe so you can hear part two as soon as it's released later this week.    Today, my guest is Thereza Pedrosa of Thereza Pedrosa Gallery. Thereza is speaking to us from Asolo, Italy—I don't know if I said that right—which is near Florence. It's supposed to be a very lovely medieval village. She and her partner and friend, Elinor Garnero, founded the gallery in 2019, and it features art and art jewelry. Thereza has been in many countries studying, curating and exhibiting. She just took part in Schmuck, which, if you don't know, is one of the world's biggest art jewelry exhibits. Everybody in the world is there. We'll hear all about her jewelry journey today. Thereza, welcome to the program.   Thereza: Thank you for having me, Sharon.   Sharon: So glad to have you. Tell us about your jewelry journey. Were you considered artistic? Are people surprised when you tell them what you do?   Thereza: I think someone who knows me from when I was a child would not be surprised that I work with art and jewelry right now. I grew up in the family as an artist. My father is an artist, and I always went with him to exhibitions and art fairs. I loved to go with him when he was making Murano glasses and blown sculptures. I would go to the studio with him and take photos of him working. So, I think those who saw me growing up will not be really surprised that I love art and work with art.   Sharon: It doesn't sound surprising at all. I didn't know you were really exposed to art. Tell us about your jewelry education, then. How did you learn about jewelry?   Thereza: I started out with my father because he's a plastic artist, mainly a painter and sculptor. Sometimes during the 55 years of his career, he made Murano glasses, sculptures, mosaics, paper, iron, brass; any kind of media. Around 2000, when I was around 15 years old, he made a collection of jewelry. To make this collection of jewelry, he bought a machine for soldering. He did this beautiful collection, and then he moved back to painting and other kinds of sculptures. I asked him, “Well, you have the machine. You know how to do it. Why don't you teach me how to solder so I can make some jewelry for myself?” He taught me the basics and I made some jewelry for myself. Then some design shops sold my pieces and they wanted to start selling them. This is how I started to get involved with contemporary jewelry.    I grew up less than one hour from Padua, where there is a really important jewelry school, the Selvatico, where Babetto and Pavan and many others are from. Growing up, I saw some exhibitions of Giampaolo Babetto and Annamaria Zanella. I saw their works and I got to love their work. That's how everything started.   Sharon: So, you didn't learn classically, right? You didn't go to school and learn. That's not the way you learned.   Thereza: No, when I needed to decide what to study in university, I said, “O.K., I want to stay in the field of art,” but I didn't see myself as an artist. I didn't think I had it in me to make things except for designing my jewelry. I said, “O.K., what can I study? If I study history of art, then I can go into teaching; otherwise, what do I do with history of art?”    In Paris, in the university environment, there is this interesting course called conservation of cultural heritage. In conservation of cultural heritage, we had exams about the laws of art when you work in a museum or salon. Nationally and internationally for an exhibition, there are a lot of laws involving how long the piece can stay away from the museum and these kinds of things. I studied chemistry of conservation for paintings, drawings, and sculptures, and museography, which is what kind of temperature you need in the rooms and the lighting. So, everything you need for the economics, how to find funding for the exhibition. Everything you needed to be a curator or a registrar in a museum, that was what I studied.    I thought I would love to work in a museum as a registrar because I'm shy. I didn't see myself as a curator that needed to be the first in line. I said, “A registrar, he's more in contact with the art pieces, but a little bit in the background.” That was my dream at the beginning, but then I started moving around so much that it was difficult to find a permanent position in a museum. I started organizing exhibitions as a freelance curator for galleries in collaboration with some museums.    Sharon: You did that on your own with a museum? Did you come up with the idea, or did they come up with the idea for the exhibitions you did?   Thereza: The exhibition I did was a coordination with the drawings of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a collection in Venice, and I did the coordination with the Lucca Center for Contemporary Art in Tuscany. The idea for the exhibition was mine, and it was based on my bachelor's thesis. When I was writing my bachelor's thesis, I decided I wanted to write about the Guggenheim Museum in Venice, but I wanted to write about something new. I told them I wanted to write about the drawings, and I asked if could study the archives. They said, “Yes, I'm sure it would be lovely, but we never made a catalog of the drawings of the museum.”    So, my thesis became the cataloging of all the drawings in the museum. It covered how they arrived in the museum, how they received them as a gift from the artist. She bought them from the artist or from some galleries, so that's how they arrived in the collection. I also cataloged which exhibitions they participated in, which books they were published in, the state of conservation, everything you needed to know about the drawings of the collection. Then we made the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, which was at the Lucca Center of Contemporary Art and was only about the drawings of the museum.   Sharon: That sounds like a huge thing, the Peggy Guggenheim drawings. How many were there?   Thereza: I think there were around 80. More than 70, around 80. Drawings are sometimes considered less important artworks, but I've always loved paper media. Actually, in the collection, there are many works that are not just a preparation for a big painting. They are actually works in themselves. Klee, Kandinsky, many important artists from the collections also have works on paper. It really was a beautiful collection.   Sharon: How did you come to own an art gallery, you and your friend Elinor? How did you start an art jewelry gallery, I should say. What happened?   Thereza: I was organizing exhibitions for other galleries. I opened some exhibition galleries in Germany, in the Netherlands, in France. At the same time, I was still making my own jewelry. Then I got pregnant with my first son, and I decided to take a break from my jewelry to organize exhibitions. When my second child, my daughter, was around six months old, Elinor and I were talking and I was saying, “I would love to open my own gallery one day, but I cannot do it now because my kids are two and six months old.” They were too young, and I wanted to be there for them. I said, “I can do it in the future, but right now, I want to be flexible to stay with my kids. If I open a gallery, I need to be there.”    She told me, “Well, I don't feel like I can open a gallery alone,” because her background is architectural. She was in architecture and then art management, but she didn't study history of art as a main course. She was thinking, “O.K., I could be at the gallery, but I don't feel like I can organize the exhibitions myself and do everything by myself.” So, we complement each other very well because she's the one to actually stay at the gallery all the time, and I am the one that organizes the exhibitions and makes the selection of the artists for the gallery and the online shop, the online website. She's the one who stays at the gallery and deals with the collectors.   Sharon: How did you come to art jewelry? It doesn't sound like that was your initial interest. Did your father do art jewelry when he showed you jewelry? Would you call it art jewelry?   Thereza: Yes, he was an artist that made jewelry during some periods of his life, like many other artists like Picasso and Talbert. It was not their main thing, but between other things, they also made some jewelry. Also, in 2012, I opened a blog. The name was Beautiful People Love Art.   Sharon: Beautiful People Love Art.   Thereza: Yes, Beautiful People Love Art. I went on with this blog for seven, eight years. The main thing of the blog was to show how all forms of art are important and interconnected. All sides are the same thing. I don't see drawings as less important than paintings, or sculptures as more important than jewelry. I think they are all important, just different media. When I opened my own gallery, I decided we would be an art gallery. We'll have paintings and sculptures, but I was already showing a lot of contemporary jewelry with my blog.    I fell in love with contemporary jewelry while I was visiting Schmuck and Joya Barcelona and getting to know the artists. Actually, when I was finishing my master's degree, I wrote a thesis about contemporary jewelry and the use of niello in contemporary jewelry. I got in contact with many artists, Giampaolo Babetto, Annamaria Zanella, Phillipe Cizetta. I got to know the field better and I really fell in love with it.    When I decided to open my open my own gallery, I wanted contemporary jewelry to be part of it. I truly believe the contemporary jewelry field should be more open. Not a niche, but more open to art lovers in general. I think to be an art gallery, it helps to make contemporary jewelry be known to people that love art. Really often, they don't even know that contemporary jewelry exists. So, with the gallery we try to get the field of contemporary jewelry to be known outside of the field and the collectors of the field, to get it known to art collectors, design collectors, people that love art in general.   Sharon: Do you find a lot of resistance where people say, “I like the art, but the jewelry is just jewelry”? What do you find?   Thereza: We find everything. My experience at Schmuck was really interesting in this way, because we organized a contemporary jewelry exhibition with 15 artists we represent at the gallery. We were guests of Petenbone Auction House. They were having an auction week with design and glass, so a lot of people that were coming during the week weren't there for the contemporary jewelry exhibition. They would just come inside the auction house and look at the jewelry and go out. There were people coming to see the purview of the auction house and the design and glass. They were just there to see the pieces of the auction and go out without looking at the jewelry.    But there were also a lot of people that came inside to see the jewelry, and they looked at me and were like, “Oh my God, these Murano glass pieces are amazing,” or “Look at this piece from the 70s or this lamp from the 60s. There are so many beautiful pieces here.” There were some people that came to see the purview of the design auction and discovered our exhibition, and they were like, “Oh wow, we've never seen contemporary jewelry before. We didn't know it existed,” but they asked a lot of questions and were interested in understanding the different artists. There are some people that collect one kind of thing, and they want only that. Then there are people that love art in general and get excited about everything. It was very nice last week to see people going around and discovering contemporary jewelry or glass and design. It was a good mix.   Sharon: How do you choose your artists? When you have an exhibit, how do you decide which ones to have?   Thereza: For example, last week, we had an exhibition for Schmuck. We represent around 45 artists at the gallery, but we had limited space to show pieces. I wanted to show them as well as I could. I also wanted some space so you could enjoy each piece and show a little bit more of each artist, so even if you didn't know that piece, you could have an idea of his work. I decided to invite 15 artists and not bring all the artists we have at the gallery to permit people to enjoy the ones with small pieces and finalize the decision about, “O.K., I want to show a little bit of what we have at the gallery.”    It was the first time for us at Schmuck, so I invited some artists that are really well-established, who showed that we have masters of the field. I also wanted to show that we have young artists with careers and artists that work with traditional materials, and others that work with different materials like paper or food or plastic, resin and anything else. I really liked the mix. I don't like to show all pieces from the same artist here and five pieces of the other artist there. I like to mix them, and I like to have a dialogue between the pieces. I wanted the artists of the exhibition to have harmony when you saw it together. That was the important thing I wanted to get across with the exhibition, and I hope people enjoy it.   Sharon: It sounds like they would enjoy it and be exposed to things they wouldn't see a lot. Tell us a little more about who buys from your gallery.   Thereza: All kinds of people. We have contemporary jewelry collectors that love contemporary jewelry, and they come back all the time nationally and internationally. We work in an area where there were many important contemporary jewelry galleries in the past. In the last 10 years, they all closed. They closed more than 10 years ago, because the gallerists retired one after the other. For example, in Padua, there aren't any galleries specializing in contemporary jewelry anymore. We have a lot of collectors that live there who don't have a gallery close by anymore to find contemporary jewelry, so now they come to us.   We also have art collectors that love paintings and sculptures. They come inside to see the paintings, but then they discover contemporary jewelry. They get involved with contemporary jewelry and start buying contemporary jewelry also. That's very nice. We like it when that happens.   Sharon: When you say people are collectors of contemporary jewelry and art, are they people who might say to you, “I want a Babetto piece. Call me any time you get one,” or do they just come in and look around?   Thereza: Both. Sometimes there is someone who is really looking for a Babetto piece, and they come to us because they are looking for a specific piece or a specific artist. We also have collectors that just come inside because they want to have a look, or they come every two or three months to see what is new at the gallery.    With the internet, now we are working a lot online also. It happens often that whoever comes to the gallery was already checking our website, especially our Instagram page. So, when they come to the gallery—because we publish almost every day—often they come to the gallery and already know what they want to see in real life. They come and say, “Oh, I saw this artist and that artist on your Instagram page or on your website. I want to see this and that piece in real life and decide between them.”    There are people that come inside without knowing what they are looking for. There are people that come to have a look at specific pieces, and there are people that really collect. They decide before, “I want a piece of this artist,” and they come to see what we have of this specific artist.    Sharon: We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to check them out.

What you'll learn in this episode: Why the best modernist pieces are fetching record prices at auction today How “Messengers of Modernism” helped legitimize modernist jewelry as an art form The difference between modern jewelry and modernist jewelry Who the most influential modernist jewelers were and where they drew their inspiration from Why modernist jewelry was a source of empowerment for women About Toni Greenbaum Toni Greenbaum is a New York-based art historian specializing in twentieth and twenty-first century jewelry and metalwork. She wrote Messengers of Modernism: American Studio Jewelry 1940-1960 (Montréal: Musée des Arts Décoratifs and Flammarion, 1996), Sam Kramer: Jeweler on the Edge (Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2019) and “Jewelers in Wonderland,” an essay on Sam Kramer and Karl Fritsch for Jewelry Stories: Highlights from the Collection 1947-2019 (New York: Museum of Arts and Design and Arnoldsche, 2021), along with numerous book chapters, exhibition catalogues, and essays for arts publications. Greenbaum has lectured internationally at institutions such as the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, Savannah. She has worked on exhibitions for several museums, including the Victoria and Albert in London, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, and Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York. Additional Resources: Link to Purchase Books Toni's Instagram The Jewelry Library  Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript: Once misunderstood as an illegitimate art form, modernist jewelry has come into its own, now fetching five and six-figure prices at auction. Modernist jewelry likely wouldn't have come this far without the work of Toni Greenbaum, an art historian, professor and author of “Messengers of Modernism: American Studio Jewelry, 1940 to 1960.” She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about the history of modernist jewelry; why it sets the women who wear it apart; and where collectors should start if they want to add modernist pieces to their collections. Read the episode transcript here.     Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. If you haven't heard part one, please go to TheJewelryJourney.com. Today my guest is art historian, professor and author Toni Greenbaum. She is the author of the iconic tome, “Messengers of Modernism: American Studio Jewelry, 1940 to 1960,” which analyzes the output of America's modernist jewelers. Welcome back.    Do you think that if you had looked up and seen Sam Kramer's shop, would you have been attracted?   Toni: Oh, my god, I would have been up in a shot. Are you kidding? I would have tumbled up those stairs had I known it was there. I never even knew what it was, but I was always seeking out that aesthetic, that kind of thing. Like I said, my mother would buy handmade jewelry, silver jewelry, and I loved what she bought. I would go to galleries with her. When I say gallery, they were more like shops; they were like shop-galleries, multimedia boutiques, not specifically jewelry, that would carry handmade jewelry. I loved it. Had I seen Sam Kramer's shop, I would have been up like a shot. The same thing with Art Smith. I would have been down those steps like a shot, but I didn't know they were there, and I was too busy running after boys and going to the coffee shops in Greenwich Village to look carefully.   Sharon: Out here, I don't know if you would have had those influences.   Toni: You had a few shops. You're in the Los Angeles area?   Sharon: Yeah.   Toni: There were a few shops in L.A., not so much in Northern California. There was Nanny's in San Francisco, which was a craft gallery that carried a lot of jewelers. In Southern California there were a few studio shops, but I don't know how prominent they were. I don't know how obvious they were. I don't think that they were as much on people's radar as the ones in New York.   Sharon: When you say studio jewelers, was everything one-off, handmade?   Toni: Yes—well, not necessarily one-off. Generally, what these jewelers would do—this is the best generalization—for the larger, more expensive, more involved pieces, they would make one. When they sold it, they'd make another one, and when they sold that, they'd make another one. If the style was popular, they would also have what they would think of as production lines—earrings, cuff links, tie bars that they would replicate, but they were not cast usually. At that time, very little of it was cast. It was hand-wrought, so there were minor differences in each of the examples. But unless we get into the business records of these jewelers, we don't really know exactly how many they made of each design.   Sharon: Why is it, do you think, that modernist jewelry has been so popular today?   Toni: Oh, that's a good question. That's a very good question. I think a lot has to do with Fifty/50 Gallery's promotion. Fifty/50 was on Broadway at 12th Street, and it was a multimedia gallery that specialized in mid-20th century material. There were three very smart, very savvy, very charismatic owners who truly loved the material like I love it, and when you love something so much, when you have a passion, it's very easy to make other people love it also. I think a lot of the answer to that question is Fifty/50's promotion. They were also a very educative gallery. They were smart, and they knew how to give people the information they needed to know they were buying something special. I think it appeals to a certain kind of person.    Blanche Brown was an art historian in the midcentury who was married to Arthur Danto, who was a philosopher who taught art history at Columbia. His wife, Blanche Brown, was also an art historian. She did a lot of writing, and she would talk about the modernist jewelry, which she loved. It was a badge that she and her cohort would wear with pride because it showed them to be aesthetically aware, politically progressive. It made them stand apart from women who were wearing diamonds and precious jewelry just to show how wealthy their husbands were, which was in the 1940s and 1950s, the women who would wear this jewelry. So, for women like Blanche Brown and women through the 1960s, 70s, 80s and even now—well, now it's different because we have all the contemporary jewelers—but I think it set these women apart. It made them special in a way. It set them apart from the women who were wearing the Cartier and the Van Cleef and Arpels.    You dress for your peers. You dress to make your peers admire you, if not be envious. Within the Bohemian subculture of the 1950s, within the Beat Generation of the 1950s and through the 1960s and the hippies in the 1970s, it set apart that kind of woman. Remember, also, feminism was starting to become a very important aspect of lifestyle. I think when “The Feminine Mystique” came out around 1963—I would have to check it—women were starting to feel empowered. They wanted to show themselves to be intelligent and secure and powerful, and I think modernist jewelry imparted that message when one wore it. It's not that different than people who wear the contemporary jewelry we love so much now. Art Jewelry Forum says it's jewelry that makes you think, and that is what I think a lot of us relate to in that jewelry. It's jewelry with a real concept behind it.   Sharon: That leads me to the next question. I know the biographies repeat themselves. When I was looking up information about you, they said you're an expert in modernist and contemporary jewelry. Contemporary can mean anything. Would you agree with the contemporary aspect?   Toni: I don't view myself as an expert in contemporary. I think I know more than a lot of people about it only because I study it. It's very hard to keep up because there are so many new jewelers popping up all the time. The name of my course that I teach at Pratt is Theory and Criticism of Contemporary Jewelry. Because of that, I do have to keep up to the day because it's a required course for the juniors majoring in jewelry studies, and I feel a responsibility to make them aware of what's happening right at that point I'm teaching it. Things are changing so much in our field, but I don't view myself as an expert. I just think I know a lot about it. It's not my field of expertise, and there's so much. You've got German jewelers, and you've got Chinese jewelers, and you've got Australian and New Zealand jewelers, and you've got Swedish jewelers. All over the world. You've got Estonia, a little, small country, as these major jewelers. They are each individual disciplines in and of themselves.   Sharon: How is it that you wrote the catalogue that became “Messengers of Modernism”? Were you asked to write the catalogue?    Toni: Yeah, I was hired by David Hanks and Associates, which was and still is the curatorial firm. They're American, but they work for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. At that time, there was a separate Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, and that's really where Messengers of Modernism—it came under the Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts. Now, it has been absorbed into the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. It's just one building. It was a separate building. Basically I was hired by the museum to write the catalogue.   Sharon: And how did it become a book?    Toni: It is a book.    Sharon: Yes, but how did it become—it was a catalogue.   Toni: It's a book, but it functions as the catalogue in the next edition.   Sharon: Right, but I was saying that you wrote the catalogue, and then you said it was published by Flammarion in Paris. Did they say, “Oh, let's take it and make it a book?” How did it transform?   Toni: It was always a book, but it functioned as the catalogue for a particular collection, which is their collection of modernist jewelry. Many exhibitions, even painting exhibitions, when you go to a museum and view a painting exhibition and you buy the accompanying text, it's the catalogue of the exhibition.   Sharon: Yes, but a lot of those don't become books per se. That's why I was wondering, did somebody at the publishers see your catalogue and say, “This would make a great book?” I have never seen the exhibition, but I have the book.   Toni: I think this is a semantic conversation more than anything else. It has become, as I said, the standard text, mostly because nothing else really exists, except I believe Marbeth Schon wrote a book on the modernist jewelers which is more encyclopedic. This book, “Messengers of Modernism,” first of all, it puts the collection in the context of studio craft from the turn of the century up until then, which was then the present. The book was published in 1996. I think what you're saying is it's more important than what we think of as a museum catalogue and it's become a standard text.   Sharon: Yeah.   Toni: It was always conceived as a book about modernist jewelry; it was just focusing on this one collection. What I'm saying is people would say, “Well, why isn't this one in the book? Why did you leave this one out?” and I said, “Well, I didn't leave this one out. This is a book about a finite collection that's in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.” If I were writing a book about modernist jewelry, of course I would have included Claire Falkenstein, but she wasn't in their collection, so it's not in that book. That was basically what I meant.   Sharon: Is there a volume two that's going to be coming out with the ones that weren't in the collection that you think should be in the book?   Toni: That book was published in 1996. We're already in 2022. People are always asking me, but one never knows.    Sharon: I guess you don't need an exhibition to write a catalogue.    Toni: No, to write a book, of course you don't.   Sharon: To write a book. What's on your radar? What do you think you have next? Is it in the realm of modernism that you would be writing about?   Toni: That's really what I write about. I lecture about contemporary jewelry to my students and occasionally to the public, but my area of expertise is modernism. There are cardiologists that have a part of their practice in general medicine, but if somebody has a gastrointestinal problem, they're going to send them to a gastroenterologist. I can deal with the broad strokes, which I do, but unless it's one specific jeweler that I would write about, I would not attempt a book about contemporary jewelry. I would stick with modernism, what I feel very confident and comfortable with.   Sharon: If somebody who's passionate about jewelry but not wealthy said they want to start building a modernist collection, where would they start?   Toni: That is another good question. First of all, they would really have to comb the auctions. If they were very serious about collecting important works, I would send them to Mark McDonald, who's the premier dealer in this material. He was one of the partners of Fifty/50.   Sharon: Right, does he still work in that area? Didn't they close the store? Yeah, they closed the store.   Toni: Yeah, two of the partners tragically died. Mark had Gansevoort Gallery after. That was on Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District here in New York, which was a wonderful gallery also specializing in modernist material, multimedia. Then he had a shop up in Hudson, New York, for many years, right opposite Ornamentum Gallery. That closed, but he still deals privately. He is the most knowledgeable dealer in the period that I know of. If anybody was really serious about starting to collect modernist jewelry, he would be the person I recommend they go to.   Sharon: It sounds like somebody to collaborate with if you're writing your next book.   Toni: We always collaborate. We're good friends and we always collaborate.   Sharon: Where do you see the market for modernist jewelry? Do you see it continuing to grow? Is it flat? Is it growing?   Toni: Yes, the best of it will continue to grow. There was an auction right before the pandemic hit. I think it was February of 2020, right before we got slammed. It was an auction that was organized by David Rago Auction in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and Wright, which is also an auction gallery specializing in modern and modernism from Chicago. Mark McDonald curated the collection, and the idea behind that exhibition was it was going to go from modernist jewelry from the mid-20th century up to the present and show the lineage and the inheritance from the modernist jewelers. It also included Europeans, and there was some wonderful modernist jewelry in that exhibition that sold very well—the move star pieces, the big pieces.    Then there was—I guess a year ago, no more than that—there was an auction at Bonhams auction house which was one couple's collection of modernist jewelry, artist jewelry—and by artists, I mean Picasso and Max Ernst, modernist artists. They collected a lot of Mexican jewelry and two of Art Smith's most major bracelets, his modern cuff and his lava cuff. I always forget which sold for what, but these were copper and brass cuffs. One sold for $18,000 and one sold for $13,000. I think the modern cuff was $18,000 and the lava cuff was $13,000. If anybody comes to my lecture tomorrow for GemEx, I talk about both of them in detail. This is big money. Five figures is very big money for these items, but these are the best of the best, the majors of the major by Art Smith. Art Smith is currently very, very coveted.   Sharon: Who's your favorite of the modernist jewelers? Who would you say?   Toni: Well, I have two favorites. There are three that are the most important, so let's say three favorites. One is Art Smith, and the reason is because the designs are just brilliant. They really take the body into consideration, negative space into consideration, and they're just spectacularly designed and beautiful to wear. Sam Kramer, the best of his work, the really weird, crazy, surrealist pieces like the one that's on the cover and the back of the Sam Kramer book. Margaret de Patta, who was from the San Francisco Bay area, and she was diametrically opposite to these two because her work was based upon constructivism. She had studied under Moholy-Nagy, the Hungarian constructivist painter, sculptor, photographer. Her work is architectural based upon these eccentrically cut stones. She would be inspired by the rutilations, which are the inclusions within quartz, and she would design her structures around them. I would say those are my three favorites.   Sharon: That's interesting. I wouldn't have thought of Margaret de Patta. I guess I think of her in a different category. I don't know why.   Toni: She's one of the most important modernist jewelers. She founded that whole San Francisco Bay Area MAG, the Metal Arts Guild. She was their guru.    Sharon: When I think of San Francisco at that time, I think of all the jewelry I bought when I was 16 and then I said, “What did I want this for?” Now I see it in the flea markets for 14 times the price I paid for it.   Toni: Right.   Sharon: But who knew. Anyway, Toni, thank you so much. It's been so great to have you. We really learned a lot. It's a real treat. Thank you.   Toni: I had a great time also. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you.   Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.

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What you'll learn in this episode:   Why jewelers from the Pacific Northwest have a singular style, and how Laurie draws inspiration from her environment How Laurie and other artists in the Northwest School of Jewelers incorporate found objects, humor and wordplay into their work What inspired Susan to focus on American jewelry How Susan sorted through Laurie's 30-year archive, and what it was like to write “North by Northwest: The Jewelry of Laurie Hall”   About Susan Cummins   Born in 1946 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but raised primarily in Atherton, California, Susan Cummins specializes in contemporary art jewelry and spent many years as a gallerist in Mill Valley, California. In 1983, Cummins took over Horizon Gallery in Mill Valley, re-naming it the Susan Cummins Gallery. Noting a lack of representation, Cummins settled on American jewelry as a primary focus for her gallery. Eventually, Cummins relocated to a larger space in Mill Valley and became known for representing painters and jewelers in the same gallery space, blurring the rigid distinction between fine art and craft. Cummins maintained the gallery until 2002. In 1997, Cummins helped found Art Jewelry Forum, a nonprofit tasked with connecting people working across the field of contemporary jewelry and educating new audiences. She continues to be a frequent contributor and is currently serving as the board chair. Cummins has also served on boards for arts organizations such as the American Craft Council and the Headlands Center for the Arts. Her primary focus in recent years has been her work as director of the Rotasa Foundation, a family foundation that supports exhibitions and publications featuring contemporary art jewelers. Susan Cummins was elected a 2018 Honorary Fellow of the American Craft Council.         About Laurie Hall   Laurie Hall, along with Ron Ho, Kiff Slemmons, Ramona Solberg, and Nancy Worden, is part of what has been called the Northwest School of Jewelers, an influential jewelry art movement centered around an eclectic style of narrative and composition. Laurie Hall is a long-time artist and educator from the Pacific Northwest, whose work has exhibited internationally. In 2016, her work was featured in Craft in America's exhibition Politically Speaking: New American Ideals in Contemporary Jewelry. Laurie's work is part of numerous private and public collections including The Museum of Art and Design in NYC, The Tacoma Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Additional Resources: Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com: Coney Island Express 1983 Carved polychromed wood, bronze, sterling silver, string, and found cocktail umbrella  1 1/2 x 1 1/4 x 16 inches Private collection  Photo: Roger Schreiber   Stumped 1988 Yew wood, sterling silver (oxidized), and antique compass 13 x 1/4 x 3/8 inches The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Helen Williams Drutt Collection, museum purchase funded by the Morgan Foundation in honor of Catherine Asher Morgan, 2002.3793   Cubist Café 1987 Sterling silver (oxidized) 6 1/2 x 12 3/4 x 1/2 inches Tacoma Art Museum, gift of Mia McEldowney Photo: Doug Yaple   Wrapped Up in the Times 1987 Sterling silver (oxidized), aluminum sheet, and decoy fish eye 6 x 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches Sandy and Lou Grotta collection Photo: Richard Nichol     The Royal Brou Ha Ha 1996 Sterling silver (stamped), stainless-steel fine mesh, hematite beads, and sterling silver foxtail chain 10 x 10 x 1 1/2 inches Tacoma Art Museum, gift of Sharon Campbell Photo: Richard Nichol   One Screw 2009 Bronze screw and sterling silver 1 x 1 x 1/4 inches Curtis Steiner collection Photo: Curtis Steiner   No. 2, Please! 1988 Bronze, found No.2 pencils, basswood, and color core 16 x 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Helen Williams Drutt Collection, museum purchase funded by the Morgan Foundation in honor of Catherine Asher Morgan, 2002.3791   Behind the Eight-Ball 2008 Fabricated marriage of metal ball (copper, sterling silver, nickel silver, bronze), copper frame, found printing plate and stencil, and sterling silver 2 3/4 x 3 x 1/2 inches Marcia Doctor collection Photo: Roger Schreiber   Transcript:   Although her work has been shown internationally, Laurie Hall's jewelry is undoubtedly rooted in the Pacific Northwest. As a member of the influential Northwest School of Jewelers, Laurie's eclectic, often humorous work has drawn the attention of numerous gallerists and collectors, including Art Jewelry Forum co-founder Susan Cummins. Susan recently captured Laurie's career in the new book, “North by Northwest: The Jewelry of Laurie Hall.” Laurie and Susan joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about the influences behind the Northwest School; where Laurie draws her inspiration from; and what they learned from each other while writing the book. Read the episode transcript here.  Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode.    Today, my guests are Susan Cummins and Laurie Hall. Susan has co-authored with Damian Skinner a new book, “North by Northwest: The Jewelry of Laurie Hall.” For 20+ years, she was the driving force behind Art Jewelry Forum, which advocates for contemporary art jewelry. Laurie is an arts educator and jeweler from the Pacific Northwest whose jewelry has been exhibited internationally. She's a key figure in the Northwest School of Jewelry, an influential jewelry art movement centered around an eclectic style of narrative and composition. If you haven't heard Part 1, please go TheJewelryJourney.com.    Welcome back. Susan, did you see Laurie's work somewhere and said, “I want to show that,” or did Laurie send you a photo and say, “Do you want to carry my stuff?” How did that work?   Susan: I don't think Laurie sent me anything. I think I saw her work in a gallery in San Francisco that had it before I did, the Lane Potter Gallery.   Laurie: Right.   Susan: It could have been that I saw it in the catalogue for Jewelry U.S.A. or another invitational of some sort, or I could have seen it through Kiff Slemmons, who I was also showing at the time. Somehow or another, I saw images of it. I had a show—I can't remember if it was a group show. Maybe it was Northwest jewelers; I don't remember the reason for the group show, but it seemed to me that Laurie's work would fit into that. That's when she did the café piece, because Laurie always was very conscious of where her pieces were going.    If she was doing a show that was going to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, she wanted to do something that reminded her of that area that she thought people there would relate to. She thought San Francisco was kind of like Paris, in that there are cafés and Bohemians, life and art and all that. So, she made this café piece that looks like it could have been something that Brock or Picasso did early in their careers. There's a guitar in there. There are tables with plates and chairs and things askew, as if in a cubist painting, and the word “café” in big letters across the top. It was something she thought the San Francisco community would like.    When she did something for the East Coast, she often thought about folk art and Americana, so she used whirligig figures, literally off of whirligigs, or folk art-influenced imagery, like people riding a bicycle, or a tall bicycle with a top hat on and a little message, or the words “Coney Island” on it so they would be thinking of Coney Island. It was very folk art, Americana-like, which she thought the East Coast would be more interested in. Laurie was definitely making work for these markets she showed in, very conscious of that and very accommodating to it. Anyway, did I answer your question? I think I got carried away there.   Sharon: Yes. Laurie, how did the fact that you were a teacher influence the work you did? I don't know if you're still teaching.   Laurie: I taught for over 38 years. The cubist café was because we were studying cubism. I taught calligraphy, lettering and graphics. I love lettering and graphics, and the kids influenced me a lot because they would comment on what I was making or doing. I didn't work at school, but I'd sometimes bring a piece in and show it to them. Did I answer it?   Sharon: Yes.   Susan: Why don't you talk about that piece you did that was a challenge for the students in your class to make something like it?   Laurie: Yeah, you mean the football thing. At Mercer Island High School, they always win all the sport competitions, football, basketball, baseball, soccer, everything. Sometimes they'd shut school down when they were in the finals. I had a whole bunch of football players in my class, and they all called me Hall. They all thought I was cool.    Sharon: I'm sorry. You were cool? Is that what you said?   Laurie: They thought I was cool.   Sharon: For a minute I thought you said cruel, and I was going, “O.K.”    Laurie: No, they called me Agent Orange and Galleon. It was quite funny. They all wanted an A, and they kept coming up and saying, “What does it take to get an A? This is an art class. It must be easy to get an A.” I said, “All right. We're making jewelry. You guys have to make a necklace and wear it into the lunchroom if you expect to get an A. You have to wear it. I really want you to wear it all day, but I won't be able to see you all day.” Anyhow, they did it, and everybody enjoyed it.   Sharon: And did they get A's?   Laurie: If they deserved one. Just by them doing it, I thought they deserved an A because of that, yeah.   Sharon: It's a high hurdle, walking to the lunchroom with something like that.   Laurie: Yes, guys with big necks and everything. It was humorous.   Susan: You also did a piece yourself that had to do with the idea of football, which was a sandwich board piece you wear over your shoulders, front and back. It was called “Rah, Rah, Sis, Boom, Bah.” There were footballs flying over the goalposts and flags and people waving and numbers and all kinds of things.   Laurie: I had a little candy. They used to give candy out. If you had a date to the football game, they'd give you a favor, a little tin football with some candy in it. So, I used that football on the necklace. That was my found object that I had, but how did I come about having that? I think it was in my brother's drawer upstairs in my parents' house.   Susan: No, somebody invited you to a football game and gave you a piece of candy.    Laurie: I doubt it. I probably stole the candy in it.    Sharon: Laurie, was there a point in your jewelry making that you were selling but making so much that you said, “I can't teach right now”? Was there so much demand, or no?   Laurie: No, I had a really good job. I needed the money. I had no other means of support because I'm a single lady, and I loved it. It was consistent. It was reliable. I had no desire to make production jewelry. I worked for Robert Lee Morris one summer for six weeks. It was interesting, and I really liked Robert. I went to his workshop up in Lake Placid, New York. He made that Coty collection of bracelets that are all aerodynamic, and he was talking about that. I used hollow construction a lot because I'm not a flat jeweler. I really make dimensional things.   Sharon: Yes, you can see that now.   Laurie: To me they're sculpture; they really are. They're sculptural, and I like the way they interact with the body. It's a sculpture on the body, as I said, but I'm not really intellectual about what I'm doing. I'm just recording things that I think other people could find interest in and making them. Do I know they're going to find interest in them? I've always been lucky my work has gone out. Am I big seller? I usually sell what I make, but I can't make that much. I've always been interrupted by school. I had a lot of kids every day. I was in a public school, and then I had to clean the room and get the supplies. I had a whole lot of energy. I'm kind of amazed at what I did at this point.    Sharon: Have you ever put on a piece that you had been playing with and said, “This is too flat,” or “It's not talking,” or “This isn't what I had in mind”?   Laurie: You mean do I mess up and trash something? Yeah, of course. There's one piece in the book that's made out of an aluminum ruler. I made that piece three times and even had it photographed. I don't have a lot of money, but I don't think about that. I just go and do something because I know I'll have to figure it out later. When I finally got that piece done, it went to a gallery and it sold immediately, but I made it three times. I have evidence of the way it looked along the way.   Sharon: What was it the other times? You didn't think it was dimensional enough?   Laurie: It just didn't do it. That's all I can say. To be honest about it, it wasn't compelling. There are compelling ideas. Some people can sit down and design something and make it—I'd say there's the ordinary way things look where they're acceptable, like a lady the other day showed me a picture of something on a TV set and said, “Is this your piece?” I looked at it and said, “No. It's nice, but I don't make that kind of thing.” I don't try to make nice. I don't try to make acceptable. I just try to make something that's got a little bit of magic to the message. You don't get it right away maybe, but you keep wanting to go back and look at it. That's what I hope for, and that's what it does to me when I make it. I either know it works or I know it doesn't work.   Sharon: Do you have a story in mind that you want to say, or message in mind that you want to get across in a piece before you start it?   Laurie: Sometimes, like when I found the screw, I knew what I was going to do with it. I saw what was behind the Eight Ball. I saw that ball thing, and I had some Corbusier letters. They were stencils, and I had the monkey. I knew I wanted to make a marriage of a metal ball, and I wanted to see how round I could get it. That was the high bar, so it was technical in one aspect. I try to go over the high bar sometimes.    What other piece can I talk about? The “Wrapped Up in the Times” piece doesn't have any found objects in it other than a glass eye, but I had aluminum, and I made the newspaper out of aluminum because I could cut letters. If you know how you can do it with the materials you have available—and I work with anything. If I think it will work in the piece, I work with it.   Susan: We should say that “Wrapped Up in the Times” is a fish wrapped up in The New York Times. It's a pun. I was going to say a couple of things about Laurie's work. One is that she really does describe the Northwest. If you've ever lived in the Northwest, which I have, either in Portland or Seattle, there are so many references to her place of origin that you just can't miss them. For example, there are a lot of boats in her work. There's water or fishing references. There's a bridge. One necklace is of the bridge. Portland, if you've ever been there, there's a river that goes through the city, and over the river are many, many bridges. There's also a lot of wood and log sections, like rounds of cut wood which came from some branches of a hawthorn tree—I forget what it was.   Laurie: Yew wood.   Susan: Yew wood, yeah. Those sections were all arranged around a necklace with a little compass down in the bottom, which refers to a story about Laurie getting lost in the woods. She called it “Stumped,” again referring to getting lost in the woods, but also referring to the fact that Portland was a big source for lumber companies back in the 19th century for wood. For a long time, they cut the trees and left them stumps, so there are vast areas where there were stumps. Even today, Portland is known by the nickname of Stumptown, and you can find Stumptown coffee around town. It's a brand of coffee. There are parts of the city that are called Stumptown. So, it's a joke, and yet she made this necklace that has this title.    A lot of Laurie's pieces are like that. They are puns or plays on words, or just something funny. There's another piece called “The Royal Brewhaha,” which is about brewing tea. It's got tea bags all around it, all of which Laurie made, but it's about the English, so the royal part comes in making a deal about something. It's just funny and fun. She's often very clever about how she names them. It's also things that are coming from this area, except maybe “The Royal Brewhaha,” but many things—   Laurie: Except it was Princess Di and the royal family. I am Scottish, English, Irish, all the British Isles, so I couldn't help but identify with her because she was so tortured by the royal family. I hated that, so I had to make a piece about it.   Susan: Everything that she's doing is coming from her place, her environment. Everything around her and in her life is incorporated one way or another into the pieces.   Sharon: Susan, in writing the book and interviewing Laurie and going through the archives, what surprised you most about Laurie's work?   Susan: I knew Laurie to some degree before, but not all that well. It is fantastic when you write a book about somebody and you get to ask them every single question you can think of about themselves, about their lives, about their backgrounds, about the piece they made. We literally went through all the work Laurie had ever done that we had pictures of, and I said, “O.K., Laurie, what's this piece about? What's it made of? When did you make it? What were you referring to?” So, we have something written up in our archive about every single piece.   I don't know if there's any one thing that surprised me about Laurie, but everything about Laurie was interesting and funny and fun and amazing in how original her work is, and how she embodies a certain area of this country, and how she was a very American jeweler who was interested in stories and her place of origin. I think none of that was a big surprise, but it all was really interesting to me.   Laurie: Ramona had used things from other places in the world, and I could relate to what she had done, but I didn't want to do it again. I knew I wanted to celebrate American things, and that was it. Then I went about trying to describe it, not thinking it out until I had to make things. I'm very driven by a deadline and a vacation and having time to work, because I worked all the time.    Sharon: Were you picking things not just from America, but from the Pacific Northwest?   Laurie: I was living there and I loved where I was from, so I couldn't help but record what was going on in my life.   Sharon: I'm curious, because in the past 30 years, let's say, everyone has even less of an understanding of your work. I could see how it would be like, “Oh look, you have this ethnic jewelry over here, and you have your cool jewelry over here,” which is really unusual. Have you seen more “I don't get it” in the past 30 years?   Laurie: If someone saw the café necklace on, they'd want it, or they'd say, “Well, maybe I can't wear that, but I really like that.” I don't want to worry about that. I didn't worry about it, and I'm still not worried about it. That's what's wrong. I think Dorothea Prühl was not thinking too much about acceptability. I love her pieces. Being free and expressing your own self or your original thoughts is better than anything else. It really is.    Susan: I think Laurie's work speaks to American interests. I don't think those interests have changed a huge amount from when she made these pieces, but she's been making pieces all along. She's still making pieces. She's still reflecting her times and her place. I think we're talking more about the beginnings of her career or some of the earlier pieces, but the later pieces are also very similar in their humor and their personal reflections of where she is. That doesn't change much over time. Your environment is your environment. The Northwest is the Northwest. There still are influences from nature, from First Nations people. There's a lot of imagery you can see all around Portland and Seattle from the Native Americans who were there originally, which influenced Laurie's work as well.    Laurie: I love that stuff. It's the same feeling. It was looking at the materials. Making with materials is so exciting with the colors, the textures, all of those things. It's just so exciting putting them together.   Susan: And that's pretty much constant with what Laurie's made all along.   Sharon: Laurie, was there something surprising or interesting that was thought-provoking as Susan was interviewing you and you were thinking more about the work? Were there surprises or reflections you had that hadn't occurred to you?   Laurie: I think Susan explained how I think. That was a surprise to me, because I didn't think anybody could figure out how I think. That was the biggest gift she gave me. I was so pleased with the writing and also with Damian, with some of the things he'd say to me. It was fun. We interviewed a lot, and it was always exhilarating.    I never did this because I was trying to make a living or be famous or anything, but I did it because I liked expression. Even from when I was a kid, I won a poster contest. I was in the fifth grade. Everybody at the school entered and I won; the fifth grader got first prize. I never felt that my primitive style would be rejected. I also felt that I could go ahead and be the way I am inside, put it down in paint, put in down in printmaking, put it down however—not that I didn't have to work hard to get one composition to work, but another one would fall into place. There are quick pieces. Then there are long, hard pieces that you work on. They're all different.   Susan: We should also say, Laurie, you were teaching art in general in your high school classes.   Laurie: I wasn't just a jewelry teacher. I was teaching painting, printmaking, graphics, textiles, everything. I had to go out at the end of the day and go from one end of Seattle to the other getting supplies. Then I'd go down to Pacific Island Metal where they have all this junk, and I'd think, “Oh, look at that! Look at that, this metal!” I love metal, I really do. I can make sculpture for the body, but when you think about making your sculpture that is freestanding, I haven't done much with that yet. I still want to make some tabletop ones, little ones, but it's putting things together that's so exciting.    Sharon: So, there's more to be explored. I have to say the book is very clear in terms of explaining your thought process behind each of the photos, which are beautiful, as well as your thought process in general. It's published by Arnoldsche. How do you say that?   Susan: Arnoldsche. They've published a lot of books on contemporary jewelry, especially European ones, but they've also published more American writers about American jewelers now. Toni Greenbaum just published one on Sam Kramer. The influx book that Damian and Cindi Strauss and I worked on was also published by Arnoldsche. They are really the best distributors of contemporary jewelry publications.   Susan: Yes, and I was excited they were going to publish my book.   Sharon: It sounds like such an honor. It's a beautiful book. It's available on the Art Jewelry Forum site, ArtJewelryForum.org, if you want to see a beautiful book. It's also a very readable book with the pictures. Thank you both very, very much. It's greatly appreciated. I hope to talk to you about the next book.   Susan: Thank you, Sharon. Thanks so much for having us.   Laurie: Thanks, Sharon.   Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.      

What you'll learn in this episode:   Why jewelers from the Pacific Northwest have a singular style, and how Laurie draws inspiration from her environment How Laurie and other artists in the Northwest School of Jewelers incorporate found objects, humor and wordplay into their work What inspired Susan to focus on American jewelry How Susan sorted through Laurie's 30-year archive, and what it was like to write “North by Northwest: The Jewelry of Laurie Hall”   About Susan Cummins   Born in 1946 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but raised primarily in Atherton, California, Susan Cummins specializes in contemporary art jewelry and spent many years as a gallerist in Mill Valley, California. In 1983, Cummins took over Horizon Gallery in Mill Valley, re-naming it the Susan Cummins Gallery. Noting a lack of representation, Cummins settled on American jewelry as a primary focus for her gallery. Eventually, Cummins relocated to a larger space in Mill Valley and became known for representing painters and jewelers in the same gallery space, blurring the rigid distinction between fine art and craft. Cummins maintained the gallery until 2002. In 1997, Cummins helped found Art Jewelry Forum, a nonprofit tasked with connecting people working across the field of contemporary jewelry and educating new audiences. She continues to be a frequent contributor and is currently serving as the board chair. Cummins has also served on boards for arts organizations such as the American Craft Council and the Headlands Center for the Arts. Her primary focus in recent years has been her work as director of the Rotasa Foundation, a family foundation that supports exhibitions and publications featuring contemporary art jewelers. Susan Cummins was elected a 2018 Honorary Fellow of the American Craft Council.         About Laurie Hall   Laurie Hall, along with Ron Ho, Kiff Slemmons, Ramona Solberg, and Nancy Worden, is part of what has been called the Northwest School of Jewelers, an influential jewelry art movement centered around an eclectic style of narrative and composition. Laurie Hall is a long-time artist and educator from the Pacific Northwest, whose work has exhibited internationally. In 2016, her work was featured in Craft in America's exhibition Politically Speaking: New American Ideals in Contemporary Jewelry. Laurie's work is part of numerous private and public collections including The Museum of Art and Design in NYC, The Tacoma Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Additional Resources: Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com: Coney Island Express 1983 Carved polychromed wood, bronze, sterling silver, string, and found cocktail umbrella  1 1/2 x 1 1/4 x 16 inches Private collection  Photo: Roger Schreiber   Stumped 1988 Yew wood, sterling silver (oxidized), and antique compass 13 x 1/4 x 3/8 inches The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Helen Williams Drutt Collection, museum purchase funded by the Morgan Foundation in honor of Catherine Asher Morgan, 2002.3793   Cubist Café 1987 Sterling silver (oxidized) 6 1/2 x 12 3/4 x 1/2 inches Tacoma Art Museum, gift of Mia McEldowney Photo: Doug Yaple   Wrapped Up in the Times 1987 Sterling silver (oxidized), aluminum sheet, and decoy fish eye 6 x 4 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches Sandy and Lou Grotta collection Photo: Richard Nichol     The Royal Brou Ha Ha 1996 Sterling silver (stamped), stainless-steel fine mesh, hematite beads, and sterling silver foxtail chain 10 x 10 x 1 1/2 inches Tacoma Art Museum, gift of Sharon Campbell Photo: Richard Nichol   One Screw 2009 Bronze screw and sterling silver 1 x 1 x 1/4 inches Curtis Steiner collection Photo: Curtis Steiner   No. 2, Please! 1988 Bronze, found No.2 pencils, basswood, and color core 16 x 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Helen Williams Drutt Collection, museum purchase funded by the Morgan Foundation in honor of Catherine Asher Morgan, 2002.3791   Behind the Eight-Ball 2008 Fabricated marriage of metal ball (copper, sterling silver, nickel silver, bronze), copper frame, found printing plate and stencil, and sterling silver 2 3/4 x 3 x 1/2 inches Marcia Doctor collection Photo: Roger Schreiber   Transcript:   Although her work has been shown internationally, Laurie Hall's jewelry is undoubtedly rooted in the Pacific Northwest. As a member of the influential Northwest School of Jewelers, Laurie's eclectic, often humorous work has drawn the attention of numerous gallerists and collectors, including Art Jewelry Forum co-founder Susan Cummins. Susan recently captured Laurie's career in the new book, “North by Northwest: The Jewelry of Laurie Hall.” Laurie and Susan joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about the influences behind the Northwest School; where Laurie draws her inspiration from; and what they learned from each other while writing the book. Read the episode transcript here.    Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is a two-part Jewelry Journey Podcast. Please make sure you subscribe so you can hear part two as soon as it comes out later this week.     Today my guests are Susan Cummins and Laurie Hall. Susan has co-authored with Damian Skinner a new book, “North by Northwest: The Jewelry of Laurie Hall” For 20+ years, she was the driving force behind Art Jewelry Forum, which advocates for contemporary art jewelry. Laurie is an arts educator and jeweler from the Pacific Northwest whose jewelry has been exhibited internationally. She's a key figure in the Northwest School of Jewelry, an influential jewelry art movement centered around an eclectic style of narrative and composition. We'll hear more about Susan's and Laurie's jewelry journey today. Susan and Laurie, welcome to the program.   Susan: Thank you, wonderful to be here.   Sharon: So glad to have each of you. Susan we'll start with you. Can you tell us about your jewelry journey?   Susan: My jewelry journey did not start until I was running a gallery in Mill Valley. I showed a lot of crafts in the gallery, and that introduced me to some American jewelers who were part of that craft movement in the 80s and 90s. I started to show those American jewelers in the gallery and after a while, I began to realize how smart and how very skilled they were, and how wonderful it was to work with them. There were no other galleries that just showed American jewelers in the United States at that time. All the other galleries that existed showed a lot of European work. So, I thought, “O.K., this is going to be my specialty.” That's mainly what I did and what I showed, and I became very infatuated with jewelry at that moment in time.   Sharon: Is that when you started Art Jewelry Forum?   Susan: I started Art Jewelry Forum in 1997, and the gallery I had in the 80s and 90s. So, it was a while before that came to be, but yes, within that period of time.   Sharon: Laurie, what's your jewelry journey?   Laurie: As a kid, I started doing art right away. My parents observed me drawing horses on the wall and my mother said, “Bill, I think we have an artist here.” I was given their stamp of approval from the very beginning. Did I think about being a jeweler? No, it's always been about art and making things like accessories, costumes, that kind of thing. I just wanted to be an artist, whether it was a visual artist or making things. I liked making compositions that were about something.   Sharon: Did you first meet Susan when she had the gallery? How did you two first meet?   Laurie: I met Susan at the gallery in Mill Valley. She requested to show my work, so of course you respond; you don't hesitate on that. I knew Susan's reputation already and I was thrilled. As usual, it was a bit of a hot potato because I taught full time and it was hard to get the pieces done. I think I squeaked in at the last minute, but I did get there.   Susan: Laurie is famous for being late, especially delivering work to every show she was ever in, but I have to say doing this book, she was right on time with everything. It was a miracle. She really, really performed in this case.   Sharon: There are some beautiful photos, so I can imagine pulling them all together must have been such a task.    Laurie: It was, but it was fun.   Susan: She kept very good records and we had access to all of those. For years she'd been taking photographs. Unless an artist does that throughout their career, it going to be hard to even put together a monograph of their work.   Sharon: I bet it would be, if you had to go back and start pulling things from 30 years ago. Laurie, in the book, “North by Northwest,” it talks about the influence that Ramona Solberg had on you. Can you tell us who she was, what happened and how she influenced you?   Laurie: I came to Seattle to teach. I taught a couple of years on Vashon, and then I was recruited to go to Mercer Island, which was—I didn't know at the time—the best school district in Seattle in terms of kids and the economics of it and everything. It was a public high school. I went to a conference down in Tacoma, and Ramona was there. It was an art education conference. I walked in, and she had this whole table of ethnic jewelry, which was the rage, and I liked it. Everybody liked it. It really put things on display, and she had her own work right next to it.    I think her aesthetic was something I always had to begin with, in some ways. I like making compositions; I like collage and printmaking; I like painting; I like sculpture; I liked all of that, and there it was in some ways. All of her pieces were made with found objects. A lot of people do found objects, but they don't remove them from looking found. Hers were integrated into the composition, somewhat of a cubistic-looking composition.    Her persona, she was a big gal, but she always wore polka dots and stripes and bright colors. She was cheerful looking, and she would wear a bandana around her neck. Everybody loved her and I could see why. She reminded me a little bit of my mom. My mom was a version of Ramona and her sense of humor. Ramona would call it like it is. She didn't ever try to make it up. She wasn't charming for the sake of being charming; she was matter of fact, right on. She called it, and you stood there at attention. I just liked her no-nonsense approach, and her jewelry to me was art. I was looking for something I could devote myself to. I had painted. I had done printmaking. I had done everything in college, and everybody was impressed with what I made. I sold everything, but I was looking for something I could wrap my mind around and my physical self around. It seemed like it was the thing, and it certainly was.   Sharon: What was it that moved you so much? Was it the fact that the found objects were integrated so they became part of a piece? What was it that opened your mind to that?   Laurie: Graphically her pieces were—you wanted to own them. You wanted to put them on. They were pendants and things like that, but they were very appealing to me. It harkens back to me going to a house dance down in Salem at Atlanta University, and there being this barn and this guy collaged all this barn stuff all over the wall. I thought it was beautiful. There was a collage like that that Ramona was making, but it wasn't just Ramona; it was the wholeness of Ramona. She not only had these collections, but she could talk about objects. She had traveled a lot. She had been in the Army, and she had been over in Europe. She had had adventures and was part of the world. She was really a beacon for me.   Sharon: Susan, you knew her too, because I think the first time I ever heard the name was from you.   Susan: I did know her. I think we should also bring in here that the point in time Laurie is talking was during the 60s and 70s, when there was a strong feeling of interest in objects and aesthetics from other cultures. People were wearing beads and bright-colored clothing, and all the things Laurie's talking about that were in Ramona's purview were part of what was happening then. Ramona just did it with a particularly great style and attitude. So, I think there was a proclivity at the time for somebody like Laurie, an impressionable young thing, to be intrigued by Ramona.   Laurie: And then the Pencil Brothers and all the things that were going on in Seattle. Seattle was ripe for craftspeople.   Sharon: The Pencil Brothers?   Laurie: The Pencil Brothers, yeah.   Sharon: Who were they?   Laurie: If you read Susan's book, “In Flux,” you will see—help me out here, Susan.   Susan: It was Ken Cory and Les LePere who were from eastern Washington. They used to show in a gallery called Margolis Gallery in Seattle. Other people from that eastern part did a lot of what Laurie's calling funk jewelry. We talked about of this in the book “In Flux: American Jewelry and the Counterculture.” Those kinds of things were circulating around at the time in the 60s and 70s in Seattle. The Northwest was very strong in that regard.   Sharon: Laurie, you're described as being part of the School of Northwest Jewelry. What is that?   Laurie: The Pencil Brothers are part of it, Ken Cory being one of them, and the other one is Les LePere. Ramona is part of that. Merrily Tompkins and Don Tompkins, who were—Merrily was one of Ken Cory's students. They were all over in Ellensberg. That scene was going on, and then in Seattle there was Ramona. It started with Ramona, but I was paying attention to what I saw.    Susan: Ron Ho.   Laurie: Yeah, Ron Ho.   Susan: Kiff Slemmons   Laurie: Kiff Slemmons, yes, absolutely.   Sharon: What was it, a belief? What made them a part of it?   Laurie: I think a lot of us liked the same kinds of images in terms of the found objects. They were using pencils. Number two pencils; Ramona used those. Ken Cory used them obviously, but I can't remember if he got the idea from Ramona or he got the idea himself. I saved pencils when I was in college. It was just something you did. I liked them. I like carpenter's pencils. I'm not explaining this too well, I don't think.   Susan: Let me give it a try. The Northwest Group, which is mainly Kiff Slemmons, Laurie, Ron Ho and Ramona—those are the major players—they were all doing work that had some familiarity with each other. They were using found objects as part of it, but they also often were making statements or telling funny stories or representing something more dynamic, like traveling the world and collecting bits and pieces from things. Ron Ho was a gay man who was Chinese. The other three were all students of Ramona, and they all did work that was similar to hers, but also very distinctively different. They all had something to say about different topics, and they all saw each other and saw each other's work. I think there was a strong difference between what they did and what everybody else was doing in the United States at the time. I was interested in showing it in the gallery because I thought it was particularly interesting in that it had something to say and was saying it with objects you could understand, like the pencils Laurie was describing.   Laurie: And the rulers and the compasses. Ramona used dominos. I remember going to New York for my show at the Elements, and I knew were really doing something different than the East Coast. They were into slick things and production jewelry and titanium and all that stuff. I'd seen that in London when I went there. Ramona did a study abroad program, and I went on it with Ron Ho. We saw Caroline Broadhead and Catherine Mannheim and Wendy Ramshaw and all those people. We went to see Wendy Ramshaw, and I realized we were doing something different. It's what I felt comfortable with: liking antiques, liking the Asian influence in the Northwest, liking the colors. To make things and put rivets in was very exciting. It was a formative way of making jewelry, put a rivet into something and rivet the whole thing together. How exciting.   Susan: And how simple and how direct.   Laurie: And how hard, oh my gosh! You can't believe once you start putting something together. You're not in charge; it's in charge. It's on the table. It's flat. You've got to make it so it can go onto somebody, and you don't know how it's going to get there. You tape it together; you string it together; you do anything you can to make it look like you could put it on. You put it on and say to somebody, “How do you think this is working?” “Well, I think it's good.”    I remember the café necklace, when I made that, I worked on it Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I have to say I skipped school, not Thursday, but Friday and then Monday I think I skipped school too. I never would skip school, but it was very important to me. It was going to Susan. Anyhow, did I know it was going to work? No, that's half the reason you do it. The way I work, that's why I do it. I have an idea or I have something I've seen, and suddenly you'll come down to your worktable and everything's been rearranged. You look down and see an idea right there on the table. It's very creative. It's about the piece dictating to you what to do next, and you just keep working.   Sharon: With found objects, do you have a box? Do you collect them on the beach and put them in a box, and you look at it one day and it says, “Make me into this”? How does that work?    Laurie: I don't always use found objects. Ramona thought it was funny; I said I make found objects, and that's the truth. I think so much of this jewelry that was made with found objects, people didn't really make it into a conversation. They just plunk them down. Do I go out to garage sales and all that kind of stuff? No, I've got too much stuff to begin with.    I find things incidentally. There's a ring in the book that's a one-screw ring. I found that screw on the floor in my school workshop. I asked the guy I worked with if he knew who it belonged to and he didn't know, so I thought, “O.K., it's mine.” The eight ball, I found that on the floor in Multnomah Arts Center where I was teaching here in Portland. You just see things. Sometimes it's a fragment that nobody could even identify, but it makes you have juices in your eyes. You're really excited. Do I know what I'm going to do with it? Not necessarily.   Sharon: How about when you saw the screw? Did the screw talk to you and say, “Make me into this”?   Laurie: Yeah, I thought that could be a ring because I'd already made a two-screw ring with the flange that I found in the same workshop. I thought it was kind of dirty and funny, which is the juvenile part of me, and that's why he bought it.    Sharon: How did you segue? You said in school you studied printmaking and all kinds of different arts, but how did you come to jewelry? Did you just keep doing more jewelry?   Laurie: I took a jewelry class from a visiting professor at my university. It wasn't Ramona, and the guy didn't know what he was doing, so I had to learn by myself. That didn't bother me. I'd seen Calder's work, so I wanted to make jewelry. My first work doesn't look like Calder exactly. It was of that time period, and Calder had a huge influence on all of us. It was that forging of metal and changing it from one thing to another. Susan, you have a picture of you wearing that wonderful piece—it might be Dorothea Prühl —that looks like great, big paperclips, the steel piece.   Susan: Probably Dorothea, yeah.    Laurie: Yeah, I love her work. There's this essence of originality that some pieces have, and if you can get in touch with that in your own soul, that's the best kind of art that can be made because it's original. I knew right away because I had a fantastic art history professor at Atlanta University. I knew what monumental was; I knew what original was; I knew you had to have a style. It wasn't that it scared me; it excited me that I could express myself and it could be mine, not anybody else's. It wouldn't look like everybody else's.   Sharon: So, that's what brought you to jewelry.   Laurie: Yes.    Sharon: How do you describe your jewelry to people when they say, “What do you do?” If you say you make jewelry, they think gems and gold.   Laurie: I always tell them I don't make jewelry. Sometimes it can be worn. It sometimes goes on the wall in a frame. It is wearable, but forget the word jewelry. It's a composition that I'm making with different materials.   Sharon: Do people usually get that? Do they understand what you're saying?   Laurie: Not necessarily. Most people think of jewelry as a category and they can't escape it. It's too bad, because more of the exciting pieces are being made with Legos and pieces of wood and recycled stuff. Maria Phillips is shredding a cup, and she'll put it together with popsicle sticks or whatever. Everything can become a beautiful or interesting piece to look at that ignites another thought. That's what you want to do. You want to put something out that ignites a thought.    When the piece is in charge, it says what it wants to say. I'm separate from it. It's like giving birth to child, I suppose. You've got to let it free, let it go out there and walk. You put it on somebody, and that's where the ethnic jewelry—it was on parade. People were wearing it and it was colorful. It had funny things in it that they had never seen before, but you adopted it and you liked wearing it. It fit your style and people were dressing in really fun ways.

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So excited to share with you a conversation I had with Sylvie Lam of Herterra. She is a somatic therapist and creator of beautiful beaded earrings at Herterra Wear. In this conversation got extra vulnerable and we discuss our journeys with Lyme disease and the things that have helped on our healing paths. Also lots of ideas  and questions about branding and developing a heart centered business. We also dive into ancestry, dance, herbalism, therapy and so much more! Let me know your favorite takeaway on instagram @thymeinthestudiopodcast Links:https://www.herterrawear.com/https://sylvielam.com/https://www.instagram.com/herterra.wear/https://www.instagram.com/inspirochete/https://www.instagram.com/sylvielamcounseling/ Links mentioned:for more information on trauma in the body and healing racialized trauma.“My Grandmother’s Hands”https://www.amazon.com/My-Grandmothers-Hands-Racialized-Pathway/dp/1942094477“The Body Keeps the Score”https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=The+Body+Keeps+the+Score&qid=1599885755&sr=8-3 Thyme in the Studio links: https://www.patreon.com/thymeinthestudiohttps://www.instagram.com/thymeinthestudiopodcast/https://www.instagram.com/aida.zea.arts/https://www.facebook.com/groups/403582056803336/www.thymeinthestudio.comhttps://www.aidazea.comContact me: sara@aidazea.com Thymelights:*The somatic therapy teacher and Hakomi trainer Melissa Grace for her therapeutic insight and stance *Melissa Michels work with 5 rhythms https://goldenbridge.org/Also, the books When the Body Keeps the Score and My Grandmother's Hands for more information on trauma in the body and healing racialized trauma.Sylvie is the founder of Herterra. Where she.Making bold earrings for bold women who aren’t afraid of a little color and fringe. From her therapy site she states.Outside of the office, I feel at home in the forest, with a paintbrush in my hand, or on the dance floor. My ongoing commitment to self-growth and exploration through five-rhythms dance, yoga, and meditation continues to enhance both my personal and professional life.Credentials– Masters in Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Clinical Counseling from Naropa University – Certified Hakomi Therapist through the Hakomi Institute – PACT Level 1 therapist – EMDR trained from the Mailberger Institute – MESA (Moving to End Sexual Assault) Hotline Volunteer – Teaching Assistant for Naropa University Human Growth and Development Courses – Teaching Assistant for Hakomi InstituteMy mission:To support individuals to work through trauma and blocks in order to return to a natural state of connection with their bodies, hearts, and spirits allowing them to live with a greater sense of agency and choice.To assist couples in working through individual and collective trauma that impacts their relationship in order to cultivate a more connected and easeful partnership. The beginning of our chat  and our super secret invocation  before we went live was especially magical and is available to patreon supporters. We're offering a pay what you can community model so you can join for as little as $1/month! Thanks for considering that option!www.patreon.com/thymeinthestudio

Jennifer Merchant is a studio jewelry artist and sculptor based in Minneapolis. She is best known for her innovative, layered acrylic process in which she layers images and prints between solid acrylic. Her work is graphic with clean lines and an ultra-modern aesthetic. Pieces confound viewers by appearing transparent from one angle of view and showcasing bold patterns and colors from another. Jennifer graduated with a BFA in Metals and Jewelry from Savannah College of Art and Design. She is a full-time maker exhibiting her work across the country at galleries, museums and art fairs. Her work has also been published in several national magazines, such as American Craft, Ornament and Delta Sky Magazine. What you’ll learn in this episode: How Jennifer uses traditional woodworking and metalsmithing tools to create remarkable, vibrant-yet-transparent designs by hand. How her pieces go beyond precious materials and inspire people to wear something fun and personal. How the jewelry community has supported and impacted her work. What’s next for her jewelry, including more complex forms and sculptures. Additional resources: Website Facebook Instagram Twitter

Sasha Nixon is a curator, historian, and practicing metalsmith. She specializes in the study of contemporary art jewelry, particularly how individual artists are influenced by ancient and historical jewelry styles and techniques. She is co-curator of the Museum of Arts and Design’s (MAD) exhibition Fake News and True Love: Fourteen Stories by Robert Baines (October 2018–March 2019) and received MAD’s 2018 Windgate curatorial internship. She also co-curated the exhibition ANTIQUEMANIA, presented at Pratt Manhattan during the inaugural New York City Jewelry Week (November 12–18, 2018). The Society of North American Goldsmiths awarded Sasha their 2017 emerging curators grant for her exhibition, A View from the Jeweler’s Bench: Ancient Treasures, Contemporary Statements. She presented her paper “Pixels Bejeweled: Modern Media, Contemporary Jewelry, and the Replication of Desire” at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s international symposium “Digital Meets Handmade: Jewelry in the 21st Century” in May 2018. That paper and “In the Studio: Lin Cheung,” written for Metalsmith magazine, will be published later this year. What you’ll learn in this episode: Sasha’s path to becoming a hands-on metalsmith as well as a jewelry historian and curator. The process for creating A View from the Jeweler’s Bench: Ancient Treasures, Contemporary Statements. The challenges overcome when putting together the exhibition. What people will take away from visiting A View from the Jeweler’s Bench. Additional resources: A View from the Jeweler’s Bench Exhibit – ends July 7, 2019 Facebook LinkedIn Instagram

Charon Kransen is an internationally known lecturer and gallerist representing studio jewelers from around the world. He established Charon Kransen Arts in New York City in 1993, and the gallery’s collection consists of jewelry, hollowware and accessories by both renowned and emerging artists. The work is presented annually at various American art fairs, such as Sculpture Objects Functional Art and Design (SOFA), Art Palm Beach and the Int. Art and Design Fair in New York, and at select galleries specializing in contemporary crafts and design. Educated as a jewelry artist in Holland, Germany, Israel and Norway, Charon has taught and lectured extensively worldwide. The educational branch of Charon Kransen Arts also includes the distribution of books and exhibition catalogs on all aspects of jewelry, metal and design. What you’ll learn in this episode: Why there was an explosion in the Netherlands of new jewelry styles using unconventional materials. Why education is the key to promoting an appreciation of contemporary jewelry. What qualities Charon looks for in new artists. Why avant-garde artists often end up making commercially appealing pieces out of necessity. How to evaluate and determine if you should acquire a piece of art jewelry. Additional resources: Website: www.charonkransenarts.com

Jewelry designer and former psychologist Dana Busch shares her history of getting five degrees in the health care field including a Ph.D. in psychology and struggling with severe scoliosis, before returning to her true love of art and making custom jewelry.

Photo by Micah Fischer ‘13. CraftPerspectives Lecture | Namita Gupta Wiggers and Benjamin Lignel on Contemporary Jewelry Museum of Contemporary Craft and the MFA in Applied Craft and Design welcome Benjamin Lignel and Namita Gupta Wiggers.   Contemporary jewelry is doing OK. It does not need another pat on the back in the form of a 300-page book of images. When taking on the task of editor in 2010, Damian Skinner decided to treat Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective as an opportunity to examine jewelry as a mature, fully developed practice. Rather than propose yet another set of justifications for its existence, he led a project to provide instruments to navigate the spaces in which jewelry lives (Part 1), to understand the history of the field (Part 2), and to grasp some of the contentious issues that animate jewelry today (Part 3). This joint lecture by Benjamin Lignel and Namita Wiggers, both contributors to Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective, Part 1, will look at the history of contemporary jewelry through the lens of some of its defining moments. Why was the critique of preciousness so important? What exactly is de-skilling, and does it herald the end of bench-based craft? Why is inheritance an issue for long-term preservation of contemporary jewelry? Lignel and Wiggers will also discuss the spaces of contemporary jewelry, revealing how they are both found and invented as products of contemporary practice. We will show how such spaces are determined by maker’s willingness to appropriate them and to challenge the limits of what is historically “given.” While we share some assumptions about contemporary jewelry, our positions as curator and editor/maker have colored, and to some extent polarized, how we think about the field. This lecture is meant to test our methodology and to better understand the functionality of the book as a user-friendly tool kit. The lecture will pick up selected tools in a non-linear presentation of a non-linear book with the goal of leaving the audience with the strange urge to burn, and then redraw the plinth on which contemporary jewelry sits. This program is co-sponsored by Art Jewelry Forum and the MFA in Applied Craft + Design. A book signing will follow the lecture. Download

Damian Skinner, curator of applied art and design at the Auckland Museum and editor of the new book Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective, discusses the fascinating world of contemporary jewelry. Using unique pieces, Skinner places the medium in a historical and cultural context.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright shares personal stories of how she used her vast collection of brooches to make diplomatic history. In a conversation lead by MAD's Chief Curator David Revere McFadden, Secretary Albright will discuss the exhibition Read My Pins, and how she used her brooches as a means of personal and diplomatic expression.r Link to MAD Calendar: http://madmuseum.org/DO/Calendar/200909/Albright.aspx