JEWELRY EDITION V
September 6–October 5, 2019
CURATOR’S TALK
September 21, 2-3pm
CLOSING RECEPTION
September 27, 5-7pm
FORM & CONCEPT KICKS OFF THE FIFTH YEAR OF
TRAVELING ADORNMENT SHOW-IN-A-BOX
One box—eight American makers. Jewelers Kat Cole and Laura Wood bring their favorite emerging metalsmiths and jewelry artists to a national audience, starting with Santa Fe. The exhibit fits tidily into a box, and will travel the country after its Santa Fe viewing, populating many different spaces with intricate and diverse craft jewelry. “We’re very excited to bring Jewelry Edition to Santa Fe and to form & concept. To show alongside the all-star artists of the Smitten exhibition...it’s a great start to the show.” Jewelry Edition V features over 90 works, and runs concurrent to Six Years Smitten, a separate exhibit at the gallery with over 200 additional pieces of adornment.
Cole and Wood first began collaborating on a possible springboard for emerging artists following their founding of East Carolina University’s graduate symposium. “We wanted to create a project that we could put a lot of passion and enthusiasm behind, that would be a support system for creative practices in the jewelry field.” A major factor from Jewelry Edition’s inception was the emphasis on community. “You’re building a network among artists. Through being able to sell artwork and talk about artwork in the group, it allowed us to see all of the different things you can do outside of your own creative practice,” says Wood. “It’s a labor of love for Laura and I,” Cole adds. “As artists participating in the program, we benefit from the sales of our own work, but we do this because we think it’s important. It’s also a project that keeps Laura and I connected.”
Jewelry Edition has also grown to include other creative interests in its service to the broader field of craft. For the first time this year, Kat and Laura have invited two writers to follow the project. “We know it’s an important component....We’re both students of Bob Ebendorf, and we follow in his footsteps in a way by connecting artists to each other and to a larger community of people.” Wood continues, “You end up sharing your jewelry and selling your jewelry to a really wide, diverse mix of people, and there’s a lot of education that goes into that. I think it’s a big passion we both share.”
Jewelry Edition was first organized in 2012 as a new type of opportunity for early career artists to gain national exposure. The project has evolved to include a range of makers at varying points in their careers. Over the last six years, JE has exhibited 22 artists and traveled their work to different locations including galleries, conferences, institutions, and public spaces, including Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Baltimore Jewelry Center, Contemporary Craft (Pittsburgh, PA), Greenhill Arts Center (Greensboro, NC), and SNAG conferences in both Portland and Philadelphia.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Amelia Toelke, Aric Verrastro, Jillian Moore, Megan McGaffigan, Tanya Crane, Taylor Zarkades King, Kat Cole, Laura Wood
WRITING COLLABORATORS
Ashley Callahan, Luiza deCamargo
