Dallas, TX—August 6, 2025—This fall, the Dallas Museum of Art presents the first showcase of its extensive holdings of contemporary jewelry, which the Museum has grown into one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of its kind in the United States. With nearly 400 works spanning from the 1940s to today, Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art illustrates the depth, breadth and diversity of contemporary jewelry design, exploring the myriad ways artists have approached the creation of these wearable works of art. Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art opens November 9, 2025, and will be on view through May 3, 2026.
“Constellations explores a kaleidoscope of visions. We aim to incite curiosity and offer new ways of experiencing contemporary jewelry in the 21st century. The DMA has an extraordinary collection that we have been quietly nurturing and building over time. We are thrilled to present, for the first time, an exhibition that showcases this incredible range of works, crafting a dynamic path of discovery through more than 230 visionary artists representing a broad spectrum of geographies, media, and ideas. There are so many incredible stars in the collection, and we can’t wait for people to experience the through lines and connections. Constellations is a groundbreaking moment celebrating the boundless creativity of artists making wearable art,” said Sarah Schleuning, the DMA’s Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Design and Decorative Art.
Over the past 75 years, the Museum has demonstrated a commitment to acquiring cutting-edge contemporary jewelry, curating a diverse collection that demonstrates jewelry’s power as a vehicle for both artistic and self-expression. Broadly defining “contemporary jewelry” as works made by artists who explore ideas and expressions of their own time, the DMA’s collection of these works began in 1950 and, has since grown to encompass nearly 1,400, including commissions by emerging artists and strategic acquisitions of American studio jewelry, made possible by the generosity of local and national collectors supportive of the DMA’s vision.
Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art brings together many of these works for the first time, highlighting the strength and range of the DMA’s sweeping contemporary jewelry collection. Organized into four thematic “constellations,” the exhibition explores jewelry through multiple lenses: “Zones of Body” examines how jewelry activates and engages with areas of the body; “Archetypes” surveys the use of shapes and abstraction in jewelry design; “Signals” analyzes the way meanings become embedded in the materials, design and wearing of these works; and “Play” investigates both playful design, kinetic movement and the sensorial experience of jewelry. In tandem, the exhibition also traces the history of the DMA’s jewelry holdings and looks to the future of the collection.
Many of the works are accompanied by artists’ drawings or archival photographs of the pieces in use, illustrating the maker’s intent for the work and how that vision is realized—or complicated—when activated by the wearer’s body. The exhibition design, by artist and architect Jarrod Beck, reinforces the themes of connectivity and alchemy, creating a dynamic, interactive space to engage with the many facets of these works of art.
“The Dallas Museum of Art holds one of the largest and most diverse collections of contemporary jewelry in the world. We are proud to shed light on this incredible area of our collection, which reflects our global, ambitious approach to acquisitions across all collection areas,” said Tamara Wootton Forsyth, the Museum’s Interim Director and Marcus-Rose Family Deputy Director. “The collection would not be what it is today without the vision, connoisseurship, and generosity of many, for which we are exceedingly grateful.”
About Contemporary Jewelry at the DMA
The Dallas Museum of Art—then known as the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts—began collecting contemporary jewelry in 1950 with the acquisition of a collection of enamelwares by San Diego-based artists Ellamarie and Jackson Woolley, including three pendants by Ellamarie. Throughout the 20th century, the collection expanded with pieces primarily by local and regional makers, including the enigmatic North Texas “Lady Blacksmiths” (Velma Davis Dozier and Esther Webb Houseman) along with Thetis Lemmon, who taught themselves and others the art of metalworking and jewelry design.
The collection began to blossom in scope in 2010, when the Museum was gifted a series of important contemporary works by local philanthropist, collector and longtime DMA supporter Deedie Potter Rose. Five years later, Deedie and her husband, Edward “Rusty” Rose, gifted the Museum the collection of noted Austrian collector and gallerist Inge Asenbaum (1925-2016), one of the most significant voices in contemporary jewelry of her time. The Asenbaum Collection, composed largely of international works from the 1960s to the turn of the 21st century, bolstered the DMA’s collection with over 700 pieces of jewelry by 150 artists, in addition to drawings, catalogues and other ephemera.
These acquisitions catalyzed a new era for contemporary jewelry at the DMA, inspiring additional gifts from donors, key acquisitions and even commissions of new works for the collection by artists Iris Van Herpen, Joyce J. Scott, Brian Fleetwood and Ute Decker.
Catalogue
Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art will be accompanied by the first-ever publication dedicated to the Museum’s contemporary jewelry holdings. Authored by exhibition curator and the DMA’s Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Design and Decorative Art, Sarah Schleuning, the publication offers a series of richly illustrated thematic essays that delve into the nonlinear and nontraditional “constellations” at the core of the exhibition. The 456-page work also extensively frames the history of the Museum’s contemporary jewelry holdings while serving as a meticulously detailed catalogue depicting more than 900 works from the collection.
Support
Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art. We would like to give special thanks to Deedie Potter Rose and Mary Frances Young for their dedication and work. We are grateful for support from Fanchon and Howard Hallam and Catherine and Will Rose. The Dallas Museum of Art is supported, in part, by generous DMA Members and donors, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the citizens of Dallas through the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.
Additional support provided by Sheryl Adkins-Green, Mary Cook, Bess Enloe, Nancy and Jeremy Halbreich, Kasey and Todd Lemkin, Carol and John Levy, Cynthia and Forrest Miller, Bonnie Pitman, Caren Prothro, Gay and Bill Solomon, Emily and Steve Summers, and Sharon and Michael Young.