The Art Jewelry Forum (AJF) has released its comprehensive bi-monthly digest for September 2026, capturing a dynamic season of international exhibitions, prestigious grants, artist residencies, and critical discourse shaping the contemporary art jewelry landscape. From major retrospectives across European museums to vital professional development opportunities in North America, the global art jewelry community continues to push the boundaries of materials, design technology, and conceptual storytelling.
Major Opportunities and Grants for Contemporary Creators
Among the most anticipated announcements in the current reporting period is the official open call for AJF’s 2027 Solo Exhibition Award. Open to jewelry artists of any age and nationality, the $20,000 grant aims to support the realization of a solo exhibition designed to advance an artist working in the field of art jewelry. Proposed projects must center broadly around jewelry. Applications for this significant career-boosting opportunity remain open through November 15, 2026.
Creators looking for international recognition also have until October 15, 2026, to apply for the prestigious Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2027. This annual international award celebrates excellence and innovation across all forms of contemporary craft, prominently including art jewelry. Shortlisted works from the competition will be featured in a major European exhibition in the spring of 2027, competing for a grand prize of €50,000, alongside two special mentions of €5,000 each.
Meanwhile, institutional and localized support structures continue to foster talent worldwide. Brooklyn Metal Works (BKMW) has opened applications for its 2027 Resonance Residency. Designed to provide jewelry artists at every career level with studio space in New York City—a vital hub for the contemporary jewelry scene—the three-month residency offers a comprehensive support package. Selected artists receive a semi-private studio space, an unrestricted $300 monthly stipend, tool and course credits, an artist lecture stipend, and professional reviews of the work produced during the program. The application deadline is set for October 9, 2026.
Exhibitions and Museum Highlights Worldwide
Museums and galleries across the globe are presenting ambitious exhibitions that bridge historical contexts with contemporary practices. In Lisbon, Portugal, MUDE – Museum of Design is hosting an extensive exhibition dedicated to the contemporary jewellery collection of Tereza Seabra. Running from September 25, 2026, through January 31, 2027, the presentation reflects Seabra’s visionary role as a collector, author, teacher, and gallery owner. Assembled since the late 1960s, this closed collection comprises over 300 works, serving as a visual map of Seabra’s professional collaborations and emphasizing jewelry as an essential expression of design.
In the Netherlands, the Zilvermuseum Schoonhoven has launched a major solo exhibition by Belgian artist David Huycke, titled David Huycke: A Cloud That Weighs More Than the Moon. Running from October 3, 2026, through April 25, 2027, the exhibition explores how silver can render intangible phenomena tangible. Blurring the lines between science, imagination, precision, and wonder, Huycke’s silver pieces evoke planets, clouds, atoms, and landscapes. From a distance, they appear sleek and minimalist, while close inspection reveals intricate constructions composed of hundreds of tiny silver spheres. Huycke currently teaches at AJF member institution School PXL-MAD.
Galerie Door in the Netherlands is similarly showcasing master craftsmanship through Earthly Paradise—Daniel Kruger and the Art of Seduction, running from October 3 to November 14, 2026. Kruger’s work famously combines disparate elements—such as shells, gemstones, plastics, relics, and fetishes—into singular, exuberant, and seductive pieces of art jewelry.
Further exploration of material and meaning can be found at Galerie Rosemarie Jaeger in Germany, which is presenting Cose Della Vita from September 27 to November 29, 2026. The exhibition unites works by Giampaolo Babetto, a master goldsmith of the Paduan School; photographs combined with small-format paintings and text fragments by former Kolumba Museum curator Stefan Kraus; and oil pastels by Katja Krumbeck. The diverse works are tied together by a shared appreciation for lived experience, visual delight, and a subtle humor regarding the everyday "things of life."
France and North America Join the Global Conversation
Parisian venues are heavily engaged in contemporary jewelry dialogue, notably through contributions to the Parcours Bijoux festival. At Jérôme Guillochon – Pagliani, the exhibition Angel or Demon, running from October 8 to 24, 2026, and curated by Elsa Vanier, brings together 10 designers, including AJF members Niki Stylianou and Karin Roy Andersson. The participating artists explore themes of harmony, apocalypse, nature, humanity, studio anxieties, and personal resilience through the conceptual lens of angelic and demonic archetypes.
Additionally, the Musée du Bijou Contemporain is set to host Citational Art from October 24, 2026, through January 31, 2027. This expanded iteration of a 2023 exhibition curated by Elsa Vanier invites jewelry artists to reinterpret world-famous works by masters such as Van Gogh, Soulages, Magritte, Roy Lichtenstein, and Cartier. By transposing iconic imagery and historical series into their own wearable vocabularies, the creators examine the complex process of artistic citation.
In North America, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) continues its engagement with the medium through two distinct presentations. The Millennium Corridor currently hosts For Your Eyes Only: The Secret Language of Jewelry, an intimate exhibition pairing historical and contemporary pieces that carry deeply private meanings, closing November 1, 2026. Additionally, Chicago-based jeweler Erika Novak, known for seamlessly combining traditional metalsmithing with advanced design technology, is scheduled to host a trunk show at the MFAH Shop on September 25 and 26, 2026.
Brooklyn Metal Works is simultaneously presenting Kerianne Quick | Oh Well Whatever Nevermind, an exhibition running through November 8, 2026, that critically confronts the machinery of modern violence and the cultural apathy that normalizes it.
Discourse, Education, and Community Events
As the art jewelry community looks toward the future, public discourse and educational initiatives remain robust. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is preparing to host the annual Marjan Unger Lecture on November 2, 2026. Goldsmith Eva van Kempen and archaeologist Maikel Kuijpers will use the historical technique of filigree to examine the evolving definition of human craftsmanship in an era increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence and automated knowledge work.
In Japan, the newly established community-based art project Kyotooooooo Jewelry 2026, running from October 24 to November 1, 2026, will integrate jewelry directly into the streets, businesses, and everyday public spaces of Kyoto. By fostering exhibitions, events, and spontaneous encounters, the initiative asks participants to consider jewelry not merely as a commercial object to be worn, but as a catalyst for cultural exchange and human connection.
Parallel to this, the National Museum of Art, Kyoto, will present Reflections in Jewellery: Memory and Identity from October 24, 2026, to January 17, 2027. This major exhibition features approximately 350 post-war jewelry pieces, showcasing a large-scale public presentation of the Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry’s collection alongside masterworks brought to Japan from Germany after a 50-year hiatus.
For professionals and scholars seeking publishing and research avenues, the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) has made its entire archive of Metalsmith magazine fully searchable and free to read online via the Internet Archive, covering not only editorial content but historical advertisements and ephemera. Furthermore, Metalsmith has issued an open call for submissions for its upcoming July 2027 special issue, inviting writers and makers to contribute across four distinct editorial pathways through a deadline of January 19, 2027.
The Art Jewelry Forum continues to connect these global developments through its ongoing programming, including the upcoming AJF Live session scheduled for October 23, 2026, featuring American maker Aaron Decker and RISD Museum assistant curator Emily Banas. Comprehensive listings for international exhibitions, workshops, and community events remain accessible directly through AJF’s dedicated online portals.
