Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry is the fascinating new exhibit at Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), presenting over 350 works drawn from the Museum’s extensive holdings. Their contemporary jewelry holdings represent one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of its kind in the U. S.
With pieces that span from the 1940s to today, the exhibit illustrates the depth and diversity of contemporary jewelry design and explores how different artists have approached the creation of these wearable works of art. The exhibition brings together many of these works for the first time.
Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the DMA
The exhibition opened at Dallas Museum of Art Nov. 9, and will remain on view through May 3, 2026.
“Constellations is a groundbreaking moment for the DMA’s contemporary jewelry holdings. Few people realize how extraordinary our collection is, and so we are thrilled to present for the first time an exhibition that showcases this incredible range of works spanning geographies, media and ideas,” said Sarah Schleuning, the DMA’s Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Design and Decorative Art.
“When the Museum began collecting contemporary jewelry in the 1950s, we were already at the forefront of the field. But in the last 15 years we’ve increased our holdings by 5000%, including commissions by emerging artists to strategic acquisitions of American studio jewelry, thanks to the generosity of local and national collectors who continue to support our vision. This is a milestone exhibition celebrating the boundless creativity of artists making wearable 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 objects spanning time, media and geographies, including recent commissions of new works for the 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.
Many of the works in the DMA exhibit 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. Throughout its run, Constellations will also spotlight jewelry pieces from other areas in the collection, opening a space for dialogue between the modern and contemporary works on view and historic jewelry-making practices from around the world.
“The Dallas Museum of Art holds one of the largest and most multifaceted collections of contemporary jewelry in the world. We are proud to shed light on this incredible area of our collection, which reflects our global, expansive and 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.”
Catalogue Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry
The Dallas Museum of Art exhibition 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.
Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art is organized by the Dallas Museum of Art. 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. The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an inclusive, welcoming space for everyone to see its global collection of more than 25,000 works spanning 5,000 years of history and a range of world cultures.
“Installation view of the exhibition Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry at the Dallas Museum of Art. Photo by John Smith, courtesy Dallas Museum of Art.”
