EUGENE, OR.- The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art opened the exhibit Coming into View through February 18, 2007. “Coming Into View” is a traveling exhibition of the work of 12 emerging national and international contemporary jewelers. The exhibition opened in conjunction with the 2006 Society of North American Goldsmiths conference in Chicago. The purpose of “Coming into View” is to define some of the most visible conceptual strategies employed by emerging studio jewelers. The artists strategically use the formats and expanded materials of jewelry as a vehicle to examine the social, cultural, political, and psychological ideas inherent to the function of adornment. The work in this exhibition examines four thematic areas of inquiry, including “the body”, “jewelry deconstruction”, “cultural reference” and “meditation”. The jewelry in “Coming into View” can confront, seduce and challenge our perceptions of what jewelry should be, de-centering prevailing notions of style and taste in contemporary jewelry. The work in the exhibition is made by artists deeply involved in the understanding of materials, methods and traditions of the field of Jewelry and Metalsmithing.

“Coming Into View” curators are Mary Hallam Pearse and Sakurako Shimizu. Mary Hallam Pearse is currently the visiting assistant professor of Jewelry/Metalsmithing at the University of Georgia Athens. Sakurako Shimizu is a New York based artist and independent curator.