Each year since 1995, the American Jewelry Design Council has issued a challenge to its members: Make a single piece in response to a theme. The themes for these AJDC “projects,” chosen by a committee, are intended to inspire members to step outside their day-to-day studio work to create a one-of-a-kind piece that embodies the creativity and craftsmanship of this select group of artists. For many years, the projects have been displayed in Las Vegas during the annual Jewelry Week trade shows. They have also appeared in gallery and museum exhibitions in the United States and Europe. The pieces are then returned to the care of their makers with the understanding that they will not be sold and will remain part of the AJDC collection. The 36 AJDC members whose work is represented here—all highly respected artists at the top of their game—demonstrate the fascinating array of responses that this strategy generates. Selected by Headley-Whitney Museum of Art curator Amy Gundrum Greene from among five AJDC projects—ICE (2012), WAVE (2013), FIRE (2015), TRANSFORMATION (2016), and STRIPES (2017)1 — the pieces will be shown as part of the fiftieth- anniversary slate of exhibitions at the museum, which was founded by celebrated twentieth-century jewelry designer George W. Headley to house his own collection. “I thought it was very important to have a jewelry exhibition,” says Greene. “Prior to this exhibit I showcased four of the members in earlier jewelry exhibits, so I was familiar with the quality of work.” The ever-growing AJDC collection, of which these pieces are a part, also represents something unique in the craft world, and perhaps in the art world at large. As a compendium of jewelry by some of the most talented designers in the field, it offers an extraordinary cross section of the best work being produced in the United States in the past two decades. And, because a number of the participants have been members for many years—some since the organization’s inception in 1988—it also traces the development of the individual artists’ The AJDC Design Project: A Living Collection David Updike David Updike is an editor at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His features, reviews, and profiles of contemporary American jewelry and textile artists appear regularly in Ornament magazine. 10