AJF: Shaping Museum Jewelry Collections at NYC Jewelry Week 2025

ART JEWELRY FORUM: AJF IN CONVERSATION

Three leading curators—Joanne T. Hyppolite (NMAAHC), John Stuart Gordon (Yale University), and Ulysses Dietz (Newark Museum, emeritus)—join historian Toni Greenbaum for a dynamic conversation on the evolving role of studio jewelry in museum collections. They’ll explore diverse strategies, challenges, and opportunities in acquisition, exhibition, and education, offering insight into how institutions engage audiences through jewelry.

Toni Greenbaum (a.k.a. Toni Lesser Wolf)

Toni Greenbaum is a New York-based art historian specializing in twentieth and twenty-first century jewelry and metalwork. She wrote Messengers of Modernism: American Studio Jewelry 1940-1960, Sam Kramer: Jeweler on the Edge, and the entries on jewelry and metalwork for Design 1935-1965: What Modern Was, along with numerous book chapters, exhibition catalogues, and essays for arts publications. She is currently working on a monograph about modernist jeweler Art Smith, to be published by Smithsonian Books in fall 2026.
Greenbaum has lectured internationally at institutions such as the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Acad. of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague; Yale Uni. Art Gallery, New Haven; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and Museum of Arts and Design, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah. She has worked on exhibitions for many museums, including the V&A Museum, London; Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal; and Bard Grad. Center Gallery, NY.

Joanne T. Hyppolite

Joanne Hyppolite, Ph.D. is the Assistant Director of Culture in the Office of Curatorial Affairs at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), where she specializes in African American and Afro-Caribbean material and expressive culture. She curated the Cultural Expressions inaugural exhibition for the NMAAHC, where a permanent case and display of jewelry by Art Smith is featured. Joanne has been building the museum’s growing collection of work by Black jewelers since 2015, including acquiring the NMAAHC’s substantial Art Smith archives and works by Winifred Mason Chenet, Billye Oliver, Bill Smith, and Russell Ferrell. She is the co-author, along with Toni Greenbaum of the forthcoming monograph Bodyworks: The Jewelry of Art Smith (September 2026, Smithsonian Books) and several articles on Black craft including “Jeweler Art Smith’s Rhythmic Modernism” in The Promise of a Nation, “A Quilt Called Freedom,” in Craft Quarterly and “Carole Demesmin: Paket Kongos.”

John Stuart Gordon

John Stuart Gordon is the Benjamin Attmore Hewitt Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Yale University Art Gallery. He grew up among the redwoods of Northern California before venturing East and receiving a B.A. from Vassar College, an M.A. from the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture, and a PH.D. from Boston University. He works on all aspects of American design and has written on glass, American modernism, studio ceramics, and postmodernism. In addition, he teaches a history of American silver in Yale’s Department of the History of Art and is currently writing a history of gold in America.

Ulysses Dietz

Ulysses Grant Dietz served as curator of Decorative Arts at The Newark Museum from 1980 until 2017, and was appointed Chief Curator in 2012. As the curator of 114 exhibitions covering all aspects of the decorative arts from colonial to contemporary, he studied and collected furniture, silver, base metals, glass, ceramics, textiles, and jewelry. Ulysses has been labeled a ‘national resource,’ a man with ‘encyclopedic knowledge (who) has helped put the Newark Museum on the map as a vanguard of modern decorative arts.’ He is particularly proud of his work on the Museum’s National Historic Landmark Ballantine House, built in1885. The Ballantine House was reinterpreted between 1992 and 1994 with a groundbreaking installation called House & Home.

Mr. Dietz is a great-great grandson of Ulysses and Julia Grant. His is a trustee of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University. He has lived with his husband Gary in Maplewood, NJ for over 40 years.

NYCJW25: November 17 – 23, 2025

Each November, NYC Jewelry Week proudly presents ‘The Week,’ a 7-day celebration dedicated to the art of jewelry. This annual festival invites a global audience to explore the world of jewelry through a dynamic mix of in-person and virtual experiences, spanning New York City and beyond. Our hybrid program features virtual programs streamed on YouTube alongside immersive on-site activities.

In-person, NYC Jewelry Week brings together leading figures in the jewelry industry to curate extraordinary experiences, including exhibitions, exclusive shopping opportunities, and retail collaborations. Attendees can also participate in insightful panel discussions that explore trends, challenges, and innovations in the field. Each event creates memorable jewelry moments that celebrate the creativity and craftsmanship of the industry.

Committed to inclusivity, many of our programs are free and open to the public. NYC Jewelry Week seeks to reshape how people view jewelry by inviting everyone to appreciate the artistry behind the scenes. Join us in celebrating the transformative power of jewelry and experience the beauty and innovation that define our community.

We look forward to welcoming you to NYCJW25!