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MAD Debuts Spring Jewelry Event Lineup
The Museum of Arts and Design will celebrate contemporary jewelry with new exhibitions and a week-long sale.
The Museum of Arts and Design is hosting a variety of events to showcase contemporary jewels.
New York—The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) is celebrating jewelry with a full lineup of events this spring, from its annual sales of contemporary pieces to a new exhibition.
Here’s what’s happening at the museum, which is located at 2 Columbus Circle in New York City.
LOOT: MAD about Jewelry
LOOT: MAD about Jewelry, a week-long show and sale of one-of-a-kind contemporary pieces, returns for its 20th edition.
A variety of materials were used to create this year’s offerings, everything from traditional and new metals to eggshell and sequins.
The annual sale will feature the work of 54 jewelry artists from 18 countries, selected by curator Bryna Pomp. Artists from Cuba, Kenya and Russia will participate for the first time this year.
MAD has highlighted a few artists worth noting.
Platinum is the medium of choice for Jorge Gil, a Cuban designer, sculptor and jewelry designer.
He refers to the metal as “the protagonist” in his work because “no other metal represents the character and dynamic of the modern era in such diverse ways.”
Kenya-based jeweler Jennifer Mulli’s work weaves together design and storytelling, using beads to share the story of her past, present and future.
Russian designer Evgeniia Balashova strives for harmony amid chaos and order, said MAD.
Based in Glasgow, Scotland, Balashova combines 3D printing and traditional hand skills to create jewelry that blends “strict geometry” and “organic flow.”
Greek jeweler Daphne Krinos moved to London to study jewelry design and her work reflects both worlds, drawing inspiration from man-made structures, street art, and animation.
Her jewelry features dark oxidized silver as well as gold, “with a hue reminiscent of the colors of summer in Greece,” as well as translucent colored gemstones, sometimes in unusual cuts and shapes.
Hungarian glass and jewelry artist Marta Edöcs combines silver with glass beads.
With a background in architecture, Edöcs focuses on shapes, surfaces and messages with her recent “Floral” series taking inspiration from nature.
LOOT: MAD about Jewelry is open to the public from April 21-26 with museum admission.
A VIP benefit preview and dinner is scheduled for April 20.
The preview and dinner will include presentation of the fifth annual LOOT Acquisition Prize and, this year, will honor Town & Country Editor-In-Chief Stellene Volandes.
For more information about the event or to inquire about benefit tickets, visit the museum’s website or contact Rebekka Grossman by phone at 212-299-7712 or rebekka.grossman@madmuseum.org.
Proceeds from the sale will benefit the
Editors' Picks
Sponsored by
museum’s jewelry programs, education and collection.
RE:FINE Spring 2020
The Store at MAD, the museum’s store, will present RE:FINE, a curated selection of “redefined” fine jewelry.
There are three artists new to the event this year—Bleeker and Prince, Kothari, and Annie Fensterstock.
Returning designers are: Agas & Tamar, Stephanie Alberston, Lika Behar, Joan Hornig, Anthony Lent, Tony Malmed, Margoni, Marian Maurer, Page Sargisson, .925 Suneera, Petra Class, and Todd Pownell.
The collection will debut with an opening shopping and cocktail evening on May 14 and will be on display through May 24.
Some of the artists will attend the opening and guests will receive 20 percent off their purchases.
The proceeds will benefit the museum and its efforts to raise the profile of contemporary and studio art jewelry, MAD said.
45 Stories in Jewelry: 1947 to Now
The museum is revisiting a jewelry gallery concept it introduced in 2008, featuring pieces in 45 open storage drawers.
Its new exhibition, “45 Stories in Jewelry: 1947 to Now,” is a redesign of the drawers with the works inside put into context by their surrounding histories to give a deeper understanding of the pieces.
The exhibition, curated by Associate Curator Barbara Paris Gifford and an advisory committee, will offer the perspectives of critics, scholars, collectors, donors and advocates.
“Unlike costume and precious jewelry, which often revolves around the use of rare, faceted stones, it is the concept that takes center stage in studio and contemporary art jewelry,” said MAD.
The exhibition will be on display through Jan. 24, 2021.
For more information, visit the museum’s website.
RE:FINE Spring 2020
The Store at MAD, the museum’s store, will present RE:FINE, a curated selection of “redefined” fine jewelry.
There are three artists new to the event this year—Bleeker and Prince, Kothari, and Annie Fensterstock.
Returning designers are: Agas & Tamar, Stephanie Alberston, Lika Behar, Joan Hornig, Anthony Lent, Tony Malmed, Margoni, Marian Maurer, Page Sargisson, .925 Suneera, Petra Class, and Todd Pownell.
The collection will debut with an opening shopping and cocktail evening on May 14 and will be on display through May 24.
Some of the artists will attend the opening and guests will receive 20 percent off their purchases.
The proceeds will benefit the museum and its efforts to raise the profile of contemporary and studio art jewelry, MAD said.
45 Stories in Jewelry: 1947 to Now
The museum is revisiting a jewelry gallery concept it introduced in 2008, featuring pieces in 45 open storage drawers.
Its new exhibition, “45 Stories in Jewelry: 1947 to Now,” is a redesign of the drawers with the works inside put into context by their surrounding histories to give a deeper understanding of the pieces.
The exhibition, curated by Associate Curator Barbara Paris Gifford and an advisory committee, will offer the perspectives of critics, scholars, collectors, donors and advocates.
“Unlike costume and precious jewelry, which often revolves around the use of rare, faceted stones, it is the concept that takes center stage in studio and contemporary art jewelry,” said MAD.
The exhibition will be on display through Jan. 24, 2021.
For more information, visit the museum’s website.
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