Serious Fun   

In collaboration with Night Shift Studio

September 1st - October 15th, 2024

Receptions:

Opening reception: September 6th | 5-8pm 

Curator Talk: September 6th | 6:30pm

First Friday Reception: October 1st | 5-8pm 

Gravers Lane Gallery is pleased to present “Serious Fun”. Studio Art Jewelers and guest curators Ellyse Bendillo & Kate Dannenberg of Night Shift Studio were invited by Gravers Lane Gallery to develop a themed invitational and open call exhibition. The first of two receptions will take place on September 6th, 5pm-8pm. Please join curators Ellyse Bendillo & Kate Dannenberg at 6:30pm as they lead a conversation on “Serious Fun” with participating artists and gallery staff.  “Serious Fun” closes on October 15th 2024.

Serious Fun celebrates the fusion of creativity and fine craftsmanship. This exhibition showcases new works by contemporary jewelers who skillfully combine expert craftsmanship with playful designs. These creations honor the rich history of the craft while embracing contemporary whimsy. The artists featured in the exhibition dedicate their time, refined skills, and high-quality materials to produce pieces that both surprise and delight art enthusiasts and craft aficionados alike. 

Conceived of as a juried group exhibition, Serious Fun is a curatorial invitational as well as an open-call exhibition. By choosing a select group of artists, Bendillo & Dannenberg established an exciting visual benchmark, an intelligent move which provided a guide for artists wishing to be included in the exhibition, while maintaining their curatorial vision. This is made evident by the participating artists’ creative interpretation of Serious Fun. The curators are pleased to present a diversity of designs, materials and interpretations of the theme, representing the diverse work produced by Studio Art Jewelers today.

The guest curators are eager to feature brand new works from many artists, who have specifically created pieces for the theme of the exhibition. Many of these artists are long-admired for their distinctive work and exceptional craftsmanship. As jewelers themselves, Ellyse and Kate are well-acquainted with the diversity within the field, ranging from fine jewelry to wearable sculpture and beyond. The exhibition includes a variety of works to highlight the breadth of the field and explore how these pieces interact with one another. Some artists offer stunning statement pieces alongside more accessible collections of fine and production jewelry.

Artists

Erica Bello

Suna Bonometti

Cindy Cheng

Funlola Coker

June Cream

Margo Csipo

Eva Fernandez Martos

Aurélie Guillame

Samuel Guillen

Everett Hoffman

Mia Kaplan

Niki Leist

Natalie Lowe

Nathalie Maiello

Sally Prangley

Emma Rose

Myriam Saavedra

Rebecca Schena

Molly Shulman

Mallory Weston

Heather White

Elaine Zukowski

About The Curators

Ellyse Bendillo 

Ellyse Bendillo is a jeweler, enamelist, teacher, studio manager, and illustrator. She received her BFA in Metals/Jewelry/CAD-CAM from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and continued her education working on Philadelphia’s Historic Jeweler’s Row. Here she gained a wealth of hands-on knowledge and a love of antique enamel and fine jewelry repair. She brings this love to her illustrative enamel jewelry that celebrates the everyday wonders of life. Her elaborate enamel work treats the mundane with a reverence matching the stained glass work that inspires her. She most recently curated an open-call group exhibition, Memento Mori, featuring works with an emphasis on themes of mortality, impermanence, and remembrance. When she isn’t creating and curating, Ellyse also teaches jewelry-making workshops at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia, and has been a visiting instructor at Peter’s Valley School of Craft.

One of Ellyse’s favorite parts about working in jewelry repair is marveling at ingenious mechanisms and cold connections as she fixes others’ work. She has a folder on her phone just for reminiscing on her favorite pieces she’s encountered while on the job. Trained and practicing as an enamelist, she also loves to see how color can play into jewelry, either as an accent or a means of image-making.

Kate Dannenberg 

Kate Dannenberg is an artist, jeweler, teacher, curator, studio manager, metalsmith, and reluctant writer. She grew up in Philadelphia and studied metalsmithing and jewelry design at the School for American Crafts in Rochester, NY before returning to Philadelphia and finding her place in the Philly craft scene. Working as a bench jeweler for a fine jeweler for a number of years broadened her knowledge of the field and connected her to the network of jewelry artists throughout the city. She co-founded Night Shift Studio with Ellyse in 2019 and began curating in 2021 when she joined theDream Machine team for New York City Jewelry Week.

You can see her this fall at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Fine Craft Show where she is exhibiting for the fifth time. Her love of nature is evident in her work. Kate finds joy in the process of making; creating jewelry, housewares, and more with great attention to detail, craftsmanship, and tactility. Inspired by natural forms and textures and shaped by her love of making, she creates beautiful objects of functional adornment for the body and home fit for everyday use and display. Through her work as teaching artist and curator she strives to uplift the craft community through inclusion, education, and enthusiasm. You can see a full list of upcoming events and view her work atkatedannenberg.com.

Night Shift Studio

Night Shift Studio is a collaborative metalsmithing and jewelry studio in Bok in South Philadelphia. The founders came together over a shared thirst for constructive feedback, creative freedom, and collaboration. Fueling each other’s desire to make, they’ve created a supportive network of fellow artists, each with a unique perspective to lend insight and advice. They share a communal studio space, as well as tools, equipment and expertise. Night Shift hosted its first exhibition, Memento Mori in 2023. Ellyse and Kate are the co-founders and studio managers, but they share the space with talented artists who contribute to and help shape the thriving craft community in Philadelphia.