Jewelers' Werk Galerie

The gallery at 3319 Cady’s Alley NW is the longest-running contemporary art jewelry gallery in the greater Washington area, which is a distinction that requires forty years of sustained operation and the consistent commitment of a single owner to the specific field of what the art world calls art jewelry: objects made to be worn, created by artists working with the materials and methods of jewelry but approaching the result as fine art rather than commercial manufacture. Ellen Reiben established the gallery in 1984, and the current Cady’s Alley location is where it has operated after spending 24 years at a Pennsylvania Avenue address before moving to Georgetown.

Contemporary art jewelry as a category requires explanation because the name suggests two different things to different audiences. To someone who knows the art jewelry world, it refers to a specific tradition of making wearable objects from any material at any scale, produced as unique or limited pieces by artist-makers whose work is shown in galleries and discussed in the critical discourse of contemporary art. To someone who does not know this world, it might suggest updated commercial jewelry design. The distinction matters at Jewelers’ Werk Galerie because the work on display is the former: objects that happen to be worn but whose primary context is contemporary art, made by the 50-plus international artists whose work Reiben has selected and shown over four decades.

The material range in the gallery is deliberately broad. Precious metals, non-precious metals, enamel, textile, polymer, stone, found materials, and combinations that the commercial jewelry market does not produce appear on the gallery’s display surfaces alongside gold and platinum pieces set with gems. This breadth reflects the art jewelry tradition’s refusal to be bounded by the materials and scales that commercial jewelry requires. A necklace that is made from oxidized steel wire and weighs more than a conventional necklace is wearable if the artist designed it to be worn, and the gallery shows it alongside a ring in 18k gold with sapphires.

The international scope of the selection is a specific curatorial achievement. The European countries, particularly Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia, have robust contemporary art jewelry communities, and Reiben’s relationships with international artists and galleries have brought work from these communities into the Cady’s Alley space that Georgetown would not otherwise see. The gallery participates in the international art jewelry fair circuit, which provides the sourcing relationships that sustain the selection.

The gallery is open Monday through Saturday from noon to 5pm. The phone is (202) 337-3319 and the website at jewelerswerk.com provides the gallery’s exhibition history and contact information. For visitors who are new to the art jewelry tradition and want to understand what they are looking at, the gallery welcomes conversation about the work and the artists whose pieces are on display.