Press Room

Museum of Arts and Design Presents Special Daylong Program Exploring Contemporary Jewelry on Saturday, November 22, 2008

Events Include Panel Discussion on New Trends in Jewelry Design eith Artists Stanley Lechtzin, Iris Eichenberg and Jamie Bennett and Open Studio Demonstrations of Innovative Jewelry Techniques

New York, NY (November 5, 2008)

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) presents a daylong public program dedicated to contemporary studio jewelry on Saturday, November 22, 2008. This special program will introduce visitors to the leading trends, techniques, and processes in the field of jewelry design through artist demonstrations and discussions. Events are free and open to the public with Museum admission and include:

• A Panel Discussion on current issues on contemporary studio jewelry with artists Stanley Lechtzin, Jamie Bennett and Iris Eichenberg, moderated by Ursula Ilse-Neuman, MAD’s distinguished jewelry curator;

• Open Studio demonstrations with artists Jocelyn Kolb and April Reigart, both students of Stanley Lechtzin, revealing the use of computer-aided design (CAD) in jewelry production;

• Curator-Led Tour of the Museum’s acclaimed exhibition, Elegant Armor: The Art of Jewelry with Ilse-Neuman.

This special initiative is a program of the Museum’s Tiffany & Co. Foundation Jewelry Gallery, a groundbreaking resource center and gallery dedicated to the study and presentation of contemporary jewelry. The first resource of its kind in the country, the gallery presents jewelry exhibitions; displays MAD’s distinguished collection of over 450 modern and contemporary works in publicly accessible study storage drawers; features interactive videos on materials and processes in jewelry making; and provides visitors with access to a public research database on jewelry design and the collection.

Detailed information about the jewelry program on November 22 follows below. For additional information, contact 212.799.7780 or visit www.madmuseum.org.

OPEN STUDIOS
Artists Jocelyn Kolb and April Reigart will begin the day with Open Studio presentations, demonstrating the use of computer-aided design (CAD) for jewelry production. These exceptional artists are both students of Stanley Lechtzin, who is known throughout the contemporary jewelry world for his pioneering and masterful use of CAD. 

Artists will also be on hand to demonstrate sophisticated enameling techniques used in contemporary jewelry design and production.

Open Studios is an ongoing MAD program that allows visitors to observe the creative process of art-making. Demonstrations will be held from 11:00AM–1:00PM.

PANEL DISCUSSION: “QUO VADIS: NEW DIRECTIONS IN JEWELRY DESIGN”
Three of the field’s leading jewelry artists, Jamie Bennett, Iris Eichenberg and Stanley Lechtzin, will participate in Quo Vadis: New Directions in Jewelry Design, a panel on key trends in contemporary studio jewelry. Moderated by Ursula Ilse-Neuman, the panel will investigate the defining characteristics of art jewelry today and its relationship to the social fabric of our society.

The panel will be held from 3:00PM–4:30PM at the Museum’s auditorium and will be followed by a reception with the artists.

About the Panelists
Considered one of the foremost jewelers of our time, Jamie Bennett began his career as a painter and his work reflects a careful integration of color and form.  Bennett will discuss a new enameling technique that he has developed in which he applies enamel to electroformed metal. Currently Professor of Art in the Metal Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz, Bennett has been featured in exhibitions internationally and most recently was the subject of a retrospective exhibition, Edge of the Sublime: Enamels by Jamie Bennett at the Fuller Craft Museum.

Iris Eichenberg has worked in many different facets of the art world, as an artist, educator, and curator, and is known for her highly conceptual approach to jewelry design. Eichenberg was the head of jewelry department of the Rietveld Academy for many years and is currently the Artist-in-Residence and Head of the Metal/Jewelry Department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her work is exhibited throughout Europe, the United States, India, Australia and Japan. Her recent design series, Tenement/Timelines, investigates the material remnants of European immigration to the New World, while upcoming work, New Rooms, explores the theme of dislocation and resettlement.
Stanley Lechtzin, a pioneer in the application of advanced technology in jewelry design and production, has been a pivotal figure in championing computer-aided design and manufacture for the past 50 years. Lechtzin first developed an innovative application of electroforming techniques for jewelry in the late 1950s and began his exploration of computer technologies in 1978. He has championed the application of Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacture (CAD/CAM) to jewelry, creating innovative works that been exhibited extensively in the United States and abroad. Lechtzin is the Professor of Crafts, founder and acting Head of the Metals/Jewelry/ CAD-CAM Area in the Craft Department at the Tyler School of Art (Temple University).

About the Moderator
Jewelry Curator Ursula Ilse-Neuman joined the Museum in 1992 and has curated numerous exhibitions in all media. Recent exhibitions include GlassWear, Glass in Contemporary Jewelry, which is currently traveling internationally, Zero Karat, and Treasures from the Vault. Her forthcoming book, Inspired Jewelry, accompanying the inaugural exhibition Elegant Armor, presents highlights of MAD’s jewelry collection. Ilse-Neuman is the author of numerous publications and has juried many competitions and lectured widely.  She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture. 

CURATOR TOUR OF ELEGANT ARMOR
Curator Ursula Ilse-Neuman will provide visitors with a special inside look at Elegant Armor: The Art of Jewelry, the inaugurating exhibition of Tiffany & Co. Foundation Jewelry Gallery. Featuring over 240 works from 1948 to the present, this exhibition explores the inspirations for contemporary jewelry, including the fine arts, the human form and the natural world.  On view are works by renowned American jewelry artists Art Smith, Sam Kramer, Margaret De Patta, Arline Fisch, Stanley Lechtzin, Jamie Bennett, as well as international designer including Gijs Bakker, Hermann Jünger, Iris Eichenberg, Gio Pomodoro, Bruno Martinazzi, Wendy Ramshaw, and David Watkins, among many others.

The tour will be held from 2:00PM–2:45PM. Limited space is available; reservations required. For tickets, call 212.299.7790

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN
The Museum of Arts and Design explores how art, craft and design intersect in the visual arts today. The Museum focuses on contemporary creativity and the ways in which artists and designers from around the world transform materials through processes ranging from the handmade to cutting-edge technologies. The exhibition program explores and illuminates issues and ideas, highlights creativity and craftsmanship, and celebrates the limitless potential of materials and techniques when used by creative and innovative artists. MAD’s permanent collection is global in scope and focuses on art, craft, and design from 1945 to the present day.
###