A much-anticipated pop-up sale of contemporary jewelry returns to New York’s Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) from May 3 to 7 for its 25th edition.
The annual MAD About Jewelry selling exhibition features the work of 50 artists, with proceeds going toward the museum’s educational programs and the acquisition of contemporary jewelry for its permanent collection.This year’s participants come from 23 countries.
An avenue of support
Bryna Pomp, the exhibition’s director, views works by thousands of makers every year before selecting the participants. This is her 15th year curating the event, which she calls “critical” to supporting contemporary jewelry makers worldwide,since they have “very few opportunities” to show their work to the public. Buyers use the event to find artists for their own galleries and shops, she says.
“The feedback I get from [artists] is that their participation has represented quite a significant milestone in their career,” Pomp relates. “They understand the competitiveness of being selected by me to participate in the show, and I think it brings a tremendous amount of acclaim and recognition to their work. Many of them have gone on to many additional exhibitions and acquisitions, perhaps by other museums, as a result of MAD About Jewelry.”
The museum takes a percentage of the sales the participating artists make, and holds an award ceremony and exhibition preview at a benefit brunch on the event’s opening day. The awards celebrate leaders in the field of jewelry and collecting; this year’s honoree is Frank Everett, Sotheby’s vice chairman of jewelry for the Americas. There’s also the MAD About Jewelry Acquisition Prize, which goes to either one or two winners and sees their work enter the museum’s permanent collection.
Spreading their wings
Participating makers have to attend the whole show and fund their own travel arrangements. That investment was worth it for 2023 attendee Eve Balashova, a Scotland-based artist who makes colorful pieces in 3D-printed nylon. Aside from sales, she benefited from international exposure and pushing herself out of her comfort zone — including making her first live TV appearance to promote the event.
“It was really great to boost [my] confidence and just go for it,” she says.
She already had two American stockists, but the exhibition was her first time selling in person in the US. It gave her insight into what customers were drawn to, and “inner encouragement” to try and sell more in the country, she says. Clients who bought at the pop-up went on to shop online, and she enjoyed a bump in newsletter subscribers and Instagram followers.
Atlanta, Georgia-based Hillary Jackson, who participated last year,creates pieces featuring preserved flowers or deceased butterfly specimens that she sources from aviaries.She enjoyed spending time with contemporaries with whom she doesn’t usually overlap, and learning from a pre-event mentoring call that covered topics such as merchandising.She also received tips from attendees about other opportunities, though she was not able to pursue all of these due to family commitments.
“You can’t put a price tag on the various parts of that experience,” says Jackson. “It’s a bucket list item I didn’t know I had.”
Main image: Bryna Pomp, director of MAD About Jewelry. (MAD About Jewelry)
