NEWvember update!

It's November...and eight weeks since my last post! Where does the time go? Lots has been happening in the world and I have to admit that I have been very distracted by the news lately. But, I will not talk politics here! Suffice to say, I have been in my home state of Florida for a few weeks and we are all feeling very BLUE (yay!) here -- and it has nothing to do with the economy.

Now...back to the business of JEWELRY!  The Museum of Arts & Design (MAD) in NYC reopened in late September in their new beautiful Columbus Circle location.  They have a very strong focus on jewelry, with a 2nd floor permanent gallery that has been underwritten by Tiffany & Co.  Their inaugural exhibition, Elegant Armor, highlights the post-WWII studio jewelry movement. If you have a chance to visit MAD, this collection of pieces is a must-see for any jewelry afficionado. While you're there, be sure to visit The Store to check out the jewelry for sale.  My work is there, along with a very well edited collection of jewels and functional art & objects.   

I have two upcoming trunk shows that I hope some of you will be able to attend.  The first is at Citrine in Bronxville, New York, December 5 & 6. The second is at Hotham Jewels in Charlotte, NC, December 19 & 20.  

I have lots of new work coming along for 2009 - so check back soon for a new post with pics.

Town & Country

The October issue of Town & Country is heavy on jewelry...and my stack rings are featured on one of the jewelry pages.  

New work

This sparkly cuff is the newest one-of-a-kind piece in my collection. It features 60 cts of rose cut tourmaline, sapphire, aquamarine & peridot.   I love the open space between the stones, which gives them the illusion that they are floating or dancing around the wrist.  I would have to say it's my new favorite.

The Artist as Jeweler

It seems like everywhere you turn this year there is a jewelry exhibition being mounted in a major or regional US museum.   Many artists who have been well known for their painting or sculpture have made a remarkable impression on the world of art jewelry, and their contributions are now being made available to the public in several venues.  Earlier this spring, I saw a collection of jewelry works by Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida.  Tiffany is surely a household name for his innovations in glass and his signature windows and lamps, but he produced a large collection of beautiful jewels focused on color and design using semiprecious stones and enamel.   While the Morse exhibition is on the smaller scale and not nearly as well known or publicized, exhibitions celebrating the jewelry of Alexander Calder, Art Smith and other 'blue chip' artists are being mounted by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.  What I find the most interesting as an artist is how naturally the progression from one medium to another was for each of the featured artists.  Tiffany had been making little enamel pieces and working on a very small scale which naturally evolved into his interest in jewels.  One look at Calder's sculptural jewelry pieces and you can see his large scale mobiles and the direct relationship of one to the other.   

Years ago, I worked for my Mother who had a gallery of contemporary American craft in Central Florida. Among the artists she represented was William Harper, then a professor of jewelry and metalsmithing at Florida State University, and perhaps the most innovative enamelist ever.  We mounted an exhibition titled "Artist as Alchemist," which featured not only Harper's jewelry, but a series of drawings that might have seemed a major departure from his metalwork, though I saw them as a completely natural progression from one form of expression to another.  I think all of these artists' abilities to successfully explore territory outside of their usual medium was due to in part to a natural curiosity and desire to keep things interesting, but also to their being so fluent and free with the creative language.  This concept has come up in a lot of my conversations with artist friends lately -- the idea of being so immersed in one's creative language, 'speaking' it every day, and always trying to push the personal boundaries to learn and discover new techniques, new mechanics, new 'words' in the expanding vocabulary of the craft.   I heard recently that a retrospective of Harper's work is being assembled. When I have more info, I will post a link.  For anyone interested in the studio jewelry movement in the US in the last century, a show of Harper's work is a must-see.  I am fortunate to own one of his pins, a serpentine enamel piece with a little gray pearl, made sometime in the mid-80's.

Here's a link to an article in the latest issue of JCK Online that further talks about this big studio jewelry movement.   There has long been a strong distinction between fine art jewelry and commercial designer jewelry, although the gap is narrowing.  It's an exciting time to be making jewelry.

A final thought as I wrap up this post, I'm watching the Olympic trials as I write, and talk about striving for excellence -- and fluency --  in the language of your life's pursuit! It's all so very inspiring.

Designer Showcase 2008

The National Jewelry Institute will inaugurate its first annual Designer Showcase at the Forbes Galleries in NYC in April.  I am honored to be among the designers chosen by the curators to be a part of this exhibition.  The show will run from April 25 thru June 28 and will then move to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh where it will remain through July 2009.   It will be exciting to see my work in a museum setting.   

New Year, New Blog + News

For about a year friends and colleagues have been urging me to start a blog. I've been collecting ideas and noteworthy items to post here, and hope to find time to write each month and keep it current.  2008 has started with me hitting the ground running, preparing for the first few trade shows & trunk shows of the year. My first stop will be a buying trip to Tucson with my friend and fellow jewelry designer, Vicente Agor.  Vicente and I share a love affair with Mexican opals and have been neighbors at many trade shows. We will both be exhibiting at the Global Design show in Philadelphia in February, and if we have our way, will both be sneaking our dogs into the show!   Tucson is such a gargantuan show, and in many ways is so overwhelming -- it's amazing to look across a tented venue at the seemingly endless quantity of natural resources our Earth has endowed us with. I find myself to be continually drawn to a raw & organic feel in my materials, so I'll be searching for more one-of-a-kind things, translucent stones, rose cuts and as always, lots and lots of cabochons in all colors, shapes and sizes.  I will post pics from the trip when I return.

The publishers of INSTORE Magazine have a new publication titled INDESIGN, targeted at retailers of fine jewelry design.  The Jan '08 inaugural issue feature "The Finer Things" names my Elizabethan bangles among their top trends. A big THANK YOU to the editors who suggest that customers should purchase several at a time in order to stay way ahead of the curve! They also point out that gold is expensive these days and that customers like to wear it and show it off.  This is encouraging news with gold inching its way towards $900 an ounce and showing no sign of stopping or slowing its climb. 

In spite of the challenges of the gold market it is an exciting time to be making new work. I will soon post pics of new pieces, along with a studio tour. In the meantime, anyone interested in seeing more of my work can visit my website collection pages at www.stephaniealbertson.com