Marc Newson Exhibition in Philly Features Timepieces For Jaeger-LeCoultre And Ikepod

Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos 561, 2008. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

While at the Philadelphia Museum of Art I was surprised to find an exhibition dedicated to industrial designer Marc Newson and that the display included several timepieces.

I shouldn’t have been too surprised by the timepieces. After all, Newson, 50, whose works range from an aircraft interiors and a concept car to home appliances and furnishings, is a partner in the Swiss timepiece firm, Ikepod. Three pieces from that firm were on view at the exhibition titled “Marc Newson: At Home.” There was also a timepiece he designed for the venerable luxury Swiss watch brand, Jaeger-LeCoultre.

In 2008, Newson created 80th-anniversary editions of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos Clock (top picture), a timepiece that runs on temperature and atmospheric pressure changes in the environment. It never needs winding. The model on display at the exhibition is the Atmos 561, a pared-down and contemporary model of the eternal clock.

The clock’s mechanism runs on a mixture of gaseous and liquid ethyl chloride that expands and contracts with the temperature. The clock must be hermetically sealed for it to operate. In this interpretation, Newson built a bubble-like case made of Baccarat crystal that creates the appearance of a timepiece that floats. Hour and minute hands, month indicators, moon phases and the Atmos 561 name are accented in blue.

Ikepod Hourglass, 2010. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

For Ikepod, he created a timepiece that is as much a sculpture as it is a mechanism to tell time. It’s an hourglass. This version, built in 2010 (like the others) is made of a single piece of blown borosilicate glass. Instead of sand, millions of nanoballs are used, which produce an extremely accurate 60-minute interval when the hourglass is turned.

From top: Ikepod Megapode, 2005, Ikepod Hemipode, 2003. Photo credit: Anthony DeMarco

In addition, there are two watches from Ikepod, a 2003 version of the Hemipode chronograph, which also provides a second time zone display, and a 2005 version of the Megapode watch, also a chronograph with dual time capabilities and a circular slide rule display.

All of the timepieces are from the collection of Adam Lindemann, a New York entrepreneur, avid art collector and partner in Ikepod.

The exhibit itself features many of the Australian-born, London-based designer’s domestic products inside an abstracted 2,000-squarefoot house and garage. It will run till April 28 in the Collab Gallery on first floor of the museum’s Perelman Building.

Below is the hourglass at work during a promotional film by Ikepod.



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Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show to Host 49 Jewelry Artists

The 34th annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show opens Thursday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. This exhibition and sale of contemporary American craft will host 195 of the best craft artists in the United States, selected from more than 1,300 applicants. A total of 49 jewelry designers and a select group of artists from Germany will be among those exhibiting and selling their work.

Etienne Perret  white gem ceramic band with light pink off-round cultured pearl.

The show offers an opportunity to meet craft artists and to learn about and purchase their work in a variety of forms and functions, including: glass, baskets, jewelry, fiber wearable, metal, paper, leather, furniture, ceramic, wood, mixed media, and fiber decorative works.

A gold bracelet from Judith Kaufman.

Five internationally renowned craft experts served as jurors: Elisabeth Agro, associate curator of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Michael Monroe, director of Curatorial Affairs, Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, Wash.; Carol Sauvion, executive director, Craft in America, Beverly Hills, Calif.; Professor Rosanne Somerson, Department of Furniture Design, Rhode Island School of Design; Lewis Wexler, Proprietor, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia.

The group of German craft artists featured in this year’s show was selected in conjunction with the German Crafts Council. The guest artist component was introduced to the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show in 2001. Past guest artist groups include: Korea (2009), Israel (2008), Canada (2007), Finland (2006), Germany (2005), Ireland (2004), Great Britain (2003), First Nation (2002), and Japan (2001).

For the first time in 34 years, the show will feature the work of students from the Savannah College of Art & Design. The show also includes an online auction in which all items were donated.

The event attracts some 25,000 visitors over a four-day period. Funds raised are used to purchase works of art and craft for the museum’s permanent collections, support education programs, and contribute to conservation and publication projects.

Dates and hours for the 2010 Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show are: Thursday and Friday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Saturday,10 a,m,-6 p,m,, Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. General admission is $15. Two-day passes are $20. Children under 12 are $5. Tickets may be purchased at the door, or in advance by calling the Craft Show office at (215) 684-7930. Group admission can be arranged for 10 or more by contacting the Craft Show office.

The Pennsylvania Convention Center, the site of the Craft Show, is located at 12th and Arch Streets.

North African ‘Desert Jewels’ Exhibit at Philadelphia Museum of Art

An exhibition of historic jewelry and photographs from North Africa will be on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in an exhibition called Desert Jewels, September 4 – December 5.

For thousands of years, North Africa, a region that comprises the modern nations of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Egypt, has been a crossroads for trade and the transmission of cultural influences from the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. This exhibition explores the richly diverse artistic heritage of North Africa through the presentation of a group of extraordinary works of the jeweler’s art collected over the course of three decades by Xavier Guerrand-Hermès, of the Paris-based fashion empire. It includes 93 pieces of jewelry complemented by 28 late 19th- and early 20th-century images by photographers who were captivated by the allure of North Africa. The exhibit features ornate necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings, many of which have not been publicly displayed before this exhibition.

The exhibit will be in the new Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, across the street from the main museum building.

“These objects illuminate the rich history of North African craftsmanship, which has been shaped by the imprint of many different cultural traditions,” said Timothy Rub, the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s George D. Widener director and CEO. “We are pleased to collaborate with the Museum for African Art to share this exceptional collection, which is remarkable not only for its quality and great beauty, but also for the rich insights it provides into the customs and cultural diversity of North Africa.”

Examples of jewelry created with combinations of silver, coral, amber, coins, and semi-precious stones demonstrate the shared aesthetic heritage of many North African societies, the Philadelphia Museum said in a statement. Meanwhile, variations in materials and motifs reflect significant regional differences. Brightly colored necklaces of amazonite beads or large amber beads, such as the Three-Strand Necklace made in Morocco, symbolize wealth, while pendants or enameled beads known as tagguemout are used to encourage the wearer’s fertility. Many of the works in the exhibition indicate regional and group identity, and many were designed to protect the wearer from harm. Hand-shaped amulets, or Khamsa, typically made of silver, are the most popular form of protective jewelry, and are sometimes engraved with prayers and inscriptions in Arabic and Hebrew. The jewelry on view also identifies its wearer. Women receive jewelry from their husbands when they marry and wear it as a symbolic expression of social codes and cultural identity. Some of the jewelry on view is unique to a specific geographic location.

Beginning in the 1860s, European photographers seeking images of foreign locales, set up studios in the major cities of North Africa, photographing women wearing their jewels, as well as documenting markets, ancient archaeological sites and landscapes. The popularity of these photographs, which featured images of Arabs, Jews, Imazighen (also known as Berbers) and people from sub-Saharan Africa, reflected Europeans’ growing fascination with the so-called Orient.

These photographs came to the attention of Western collectors in the 19th century, when archaeological monuments in the region were being explored, visited, and, in some cases, pillaged. Important photographers of the day including the Scotsman George Washington Wilson, the Neurdine brothers from France, and the Turkish photographer Pascal Sabah, visited the region. Some of their images were used for postcards, while other remained in little-known collections.

Captions: (Top) Necklace with central pendant, Tagguemout, 20th Century, Draa Valley, Morocco, Silver, coral, enamel, coins, glass, copal, shell, cotton, plastic, buttons, Photo courtesy of Karen L. Willis/Museum for African Art.

(Second image) Hand pendant with salamander motif, Khamsa 19th or 20th Century, MoroccoSilver, bronze.