New York, NY - The Museum of Arts and Design
(MAD) held their annual LOOT Opening Benefit, which began
with a three-hour cocktail portion on the second floor
gallery where guests were in a flurry of jewelry shopping.
The annual Awards Presentation at MAD’s ROBERT restaurant
followed. The Museum honored four avid studio jewelry and
arts philanthropists: Loreen
Arbus was presented with her award by LOOT’s Chair Marsy
Mittlemann; Carolee
Lee was presented by MAD’s Board Member Ann
Kaplan, Michael and
Karen Rotenberg was presented by LOOT’s Curator Bryna
Pomp. All four honorees took to the podium and expressed
their love for the Museum and the field of jewelry. During
Loreen Arbus’s acceptance speech, she announced that MAD was
her favorite museum in the world. The Museum’s Chair and
Board of Trustees Michele
Cohen made the opening remarks at the benefit dinner.
Chairman Emerita Barbara
Tober and husband Donald Tober were present, as well.
LOOT: MAD About Jewelry, annual five-day
exhibition and sale of contemporary art jewelry, with all
proceeds benefiting the Museum’s programs and exhibitions. Now
in its 18th edition, LOOT remains the only event in North
America to provide the public with the opportunity to meet and
directly acquire contemporary pieces from the most skilled,
innovative, and creative jewelry artists working globally today.
Open to the public from April 17 through April 21, this year’s
LOOT features a curated selection of jewelry by thirty-five
international emerging and established artists.
“The 2018 artists we invited stood out for their
inspiring craftsmanship and inventiveness,” said LOOT Curator
Bryna Pomp. “The jewelry featured incorporates a wide range of
remarkable non- traditional materials, from crocheted textiles,
ecologically tie-dyed silk, felt, leather, and resin to
3D-printed nylon, titanium, safety pins, bicycle tires, X-ray
film, papier-mâché, and wood.”
LOOT 2018 welcomes thirty-five artists from
fifteen countries, most of whom have never been shown in New
York. In addition to artists from Argentina (2), Denmark (2),
France (5), Germany (2), Greece (3), Israel (1), Italy (4),
Japan (1), Romania (1), South Korea (1), Spain (1), Switzerland
(1), United Kingdom (8), and the United States (2), LOOT will
feature an artist from Thailand for the first time in the
event’s history.
LOOT: MAD About Jewelry reflects the Museum of
Arts and Design’s commitment to the exploration of materials and
process, as well as its long-standing presentation of jewelry as
an art form. MAD is the only American museum with a gallery
dedicated to the display of both temporary jewelry exhibits and
its own collection of contemporary and modern studio and art
jewelry.
One of the evening highlights was Shannon R.
Stratton’s, Chief Curator of the Museum of Arts and Design
(MAD), announcement that artists Isabelle Molénat and Sarran
Youkongdee have been awarded the third annual LOOT Acquisition
Prize, on the occasion of the eighteenth edition of LOOT: MAD
About Jewelry. LOOT presents a cross section of the most
exciting cutting-edge art jewelry designs, while offering the
public a rare opportunity to purchase pieces from and to meet
some of the most skilled creators in the field. This year’s
prize will result in the acquisition of two jewelry works,
Isabelle Molénat’s Collection Knots Necklace (2018) made of silk
and polypropylene and Sarran Youkongdee’s Siam Rattikarn (2017)
made of Felt, brass, pearl, for the Museum’s collection. Awarded
by a jury, the LOOT Acquisition Prize seeks to recognize a LOOT
jewelry artist whose work reflects a maturity in artistry and
concept; exhibits both a superior and experimental understanding
of materials and form; and demonstrates expertise in technique
and execution.
The LOOT 2018 Chair is Marsy Mittlemann, and
fashion designer Dennis Basso joined the Opening Benefit Host
Committee, which also included Iris Apfel, Davina Benshetrit,
Andi Potamkin Blackmore, Noreen Buckfire, Marian C. Burke, Kathy
Chazen, Caroline Blackman Coakley, Michele Cohen, Paolo Costagli,
Jessica Kagan Cushman, Gino Di Geso, Patti Dweck, Joan Hornig,
Ann Kaplan, Judith Leiber, Shari Siadat Loeffler, Ella McHugh,
Robert Lee Morris, Rebecca Moses, Linda Plattus, Polina
Proshkina, Angela Sun, Barbara Tober, Isabel and Ruben Toledo,
Kay Unger, and Barbara Waldman.
Previous recipients of the LOOT Award include
fashion icon Iris Apfel, collector Barbara Berger, jewelry
designer Joan Hornig, fashion designer Kay Unger, and artists
Joyce Scott and Axel Russmeyer.
ABOUT THE LOOT ACQUISITION PRIZE WINNERS
Isabelle Molénat
Textile jewelry designer Isabelle Molénat lives
and works in Toulouse, France. More than ornaments, she
considers her jewels to be messengers, carrying stories about
our heritage and linking us to other times. Her “Knots”
collection represents the tying and resolution of these links,
to understand their meaning and impact. Molénat sees the process
of creation as an interplay between technique and chance: the
technique represents the past, while the chance represents the
present. She works in silk and eco-prints her fabric using dye
from carefully selected plants, which produce tannins that
change through the seasons. Molénat uses the dyed silk to make
sheathed ribbons, which she then weaves to create wearable
textile sculptures.
Sarran Youkongdee
Thai jeweler Sarran Youkongdee began his jewelry
practice in 2008. Inspired by the rich culture and heritage of
his birth country, he creates art to wear, characterized by
flowers and an artistry that pays tribute to women past and
present. His creations are amalgamations of elaborate designs
and royal handicrafts from the past, made with contemporary
materials. Deeply interested in women’s role in Thai society, he
combines modern beauty and ancient wisdom to create pieces that
speak to women of all generations.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN
The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) champions
contemporary makers across creative fields and presents the work
of artists, designers, and artisans who apply the highest level
of ingenuity and skill. Since the Museum’s founding in 1956 by
philanthropist and visionary Aileen Osborn Webb, MAD has
celebrated all facets of making and the creative processes by
which materials are transformed, from traditional techniques to
cutting-edge technologies. Today, the Museum’s curatorial
program builds upon a rich history of exhibitions that emphasize
a cross-disciplinary approach to art and design, and reveals the
workmanship behind the objects and environments that shape our
everyday lives. MAD provides an international platform for
practitioners who are influencing the direction of cultural
production and driving twenty-first-century innovation, and
fosters a participatory setting for visitors to have direct
encounters with skilled making and compelling works of art and
design.
www.madmuseum.org