It was the end of spring 2025 when the merchandise buyer for the deYoung/Legion of Honor told me she thought my work could be a good fit to accompany an Impressionist exhibit in the Fall. The exhibit was, Manet & Morisot, at the Legion of Honor. This sparked instant excitement as I love Manet! I was not familiar with Morisot so I immediately looked her up and liked her work. I was intrigued by the similar colors use by both painters, and it gave me an idea. I suggested that if she sent me photos of the paintings that were going to be exhibited, I could put together pieces inspired by the colors used in the paintings. She liked the suggestion!
A couple of days later she sent me a "confidential" file with a selection of paintings! I printed the files and started going through my gem collection, looking for similar colors. I narrowed the gems down to labradorite, black onyx, bio kyanite, mint kyanite, aqua chalcedony, chrysoprase, rose quartz, rainbow moonstone, pearls, blue quartz, moss agate, & prehnite.
It was really fun and exciting to work in this way, inspired by paintings. Working with color is one of my favorite aspects of the jewelry making process.
I had about six weeks to put a collection together to show the buyer. During that time I also had to prepare for, and exhibit at two fairs, travel to Oregon for a week, and prepare my house in Oakland to put it on the market. Needless to say, It was a real marathon!
I worked on eight color stories; each with a small, medium and large necklace and earring options, as well as two to three ring styles. Once everything was ready I arranged them on linen boards by group. I met with the buyer the last week of July with a collection of 80+ sample pieces, the collection was beautiful and cohesive. She loved what I had done and chose a group of 20 pieces for the exhibit. It was great to see her excitement over the collection, it was the first time I worked with color in this way so I was relieved that it was successful!
Once she placed the order, I had seven weeks to make and deliver one hundred pieces. The following weeks became a production frenzy, with many late nights! After all that work, it was so satisfying to see all the jewels together and ready to head to the museums' warehouse for photographing! You can see the finished order below.
As someone who loves museums in general and the deYoung and Legion of Honor in particular, it is such an honor to have my work shown there! I love representing my community in our local art institutions, it's such an honor!
I also want to say that working with the museum's buyer is always a pleasure, and everyone at the deYoung has been incredibly welcoming, supportive and kind every time I have participated at one of their events!
I went to see the Manet & Morisot with my mom in October and loved it! The exhibit opened on October 11th and runs through March 1st, 2026. I highly recommend you see it if you have the chance. I plan on going back to see it a second time, it is really a special opportunity to see some incredible paintings. I had seen some of these painting in Paris, but great to see them all together and discover a new painter I wasn't aware of.
It was great to see my jewelry at the gift shop at the end, it is beautifully displayed! I kept hearing how nicely displayed it was from friends and clients, they were right!
Some of the pieces I made for the Manet & Morisot exhibit, these and more are available on their website, and some are featured in their Holiday "The Fine Art of Giving" gift guide.
For those of you who have gone to see the Manet & Morisot exhibition, I would love to hear your thoughts!
With love and appreciation,
Vanessa
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