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September Issue
2008
Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte,
NC, Offers Contemporary Jewelry Exhibition
The Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC, is presenting the exhibition, Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry from the Helen Williams Drutt Collection, on view through Jan. 4, 2009. The exhibit places contemporary jewelry within a larger framework of 20th and 21st century art. The exhibition showcases a broad array of national and international works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's celebrated Helen Williams Drutt Collection of contemporary jewelry.
Over her lifetime, the legendary scholar, educator and gallery director Helen Williams Drutt, has assembled arguably one of the most comprehensive collections of contemporary studio jewelry in the world. Ornament as Art features approximately 275 pieces of jewelry spanning the 1960s through today, as well as drawings, watercolors, sketchbooks and sculptural constructions by the artists. Placed in context with significant movements in the non-craft art world, the exhibition encourages the appreciation of contemporary jewelry beyond its traditional boundaries without ignoring its roots.
Objects on view include necklaces, bracelets, brooches, earrings and rings culled from 15 different countries. Highlights include a sterling silver and polyester resin Torque 22-D Neckpiece (1971) by Stanley Lechtzin, a leading innovator in electroforming technologies; Claus Bury's Ring (1970), a revolutionary work that blends precious metal with alternative materials; and Bernhard Schobinger's Scherben vom Moritzplatz Berlin necklace (1982-1983), a distinctive combination of antique crystal beads with shards of Coca-Cola bottles found in a politically charged section of Berlin.
Ornament as Art is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue available for purchase in The Mint Museum Shops. For a complete schedule of programs surrounding this exhibition, visit (www.mintmuseum.org). The exhibit has been organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Generous funding has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rotasa Foundation.
For further information check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Museum at 704/337-2000 or visit (www.mintmuseums.org).
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