Gain a new perspective on jewelry at SCAD Museum of Art panel discussion
Explore every facet of the fascinating world of fine art jewelry as collector and design aficionado Susan Grant Lewin, internationally acclaimed jewelry designer Dan Jocz and author and writer Andrea DiNoto lead an insightful discussion about how today’s leading designers are redefining jewelry-making as a fine art practice and reshaping an industry in the process.
Moderated by Kathy Lee, director of accessories at Cosmopolitan, Seventeen and Women’s Health, the conversation will explore how contemporary artists are expanding the traditional definition of jewelry and its cultural significance through their imaginative and experimental application of material, form and concept.
This discussion is presented as part of the series of opening events for the group exhibition "Jewelry of Ideas: The Susan Grant Lewin Collection" which includes more than 150 works by the world’s preeminent contemporary jewelers including Gijs Bakker, Otto Künzli, Ted Noten and more.
About Susan Grant Lewin:
Lewin has served as the design editor of Home Furnishings Daily and as senior editor of design and architecture at House Beautiful magazine. As global creative director of Formica Corporation, Lewin commissioned leading artists and designers to use the durable plastic laminate in their artwork, elevating the reputation of the company. Lewin has since formed her own art and architecture public relations firm, Susan Grant Lewin Associates, and works with leading artists and architects around the globe.
Her passion for collecting contemporary jewelry began during her frequent trips to Denmark, where she discovered the work of Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe, who ignited her love of jewelry design. She became a proponent of contemporary American jewelry and organized her collecting around the ideals of experimentation.
About Dan Jocz:
Jocz began his sculpting career in the 1960s before turning to jewelry-making in the 1980s. He taught himself metalworking through trial and error. Much of Jocz’s early jewelry features simple geometric forms, machined surfaces and other elements that relate to his earlier sculpture works. Later series demonstrate the artist’s experimentation, utilizing unusual materials and organic forms. His jewelry is in both national and international public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Art and Design, New York; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada and the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. He has twice been awarded the Patricia Jellinek Hallowell Prize for Outstanding Jeweler in Massachusetts. His work has been widely exhibited and he was the subject of a major retrospective in 2000. Jocz earned a B.F.A. from the Philadelphia College of Art and an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
About Andrea DiNoto:
DiNoto is a New York-based author and writer on art, craft and design. She has written extensively on contemporary art jewelry for Metalsmith magazine, Art Jewelry Forum and American Craft with a focus on both the aesthetics and business of jewelry. For Connoisseur magazine, she wrote features and cover stories on collecting, including articles on pearls, vintage diamonds and Bakelite. For Metropolis magazine, she wrote on Formica and Colorcore jewelry made by leading and emerging jewelry artists. She is the author of "Art Plastic: Designed for Living" and, with David Winter, "The Pressed Plant: The Art of Botanical Specimens, Nature Prints, and Sun Pictures," which earned the American Horticultural Society Book Award.
About Kathy Lee:
Lee leads the accessory, jewelry and watch content for Cosmopolitan, Seventeen and Women’s Health as well as styles and curates jewelry stories. Previously, she worked at W magazine, covering European and American fashion, and at Town & Country magazine, spearheading the monthly Invaluable page that features fine jewelry and collectible objects. Lee worked in print editorial for over 10 years, forecasting and reporting on macro and micro trends each season and developing engaging stories for the respective titles. She consults on product assortment and branding for costume jewelry brands and contributes to developing the concept each season.
This event is free and open to the public.