The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) will present a major exhibition celebrating the evolution of contemporary jewelry design. Titled “Constellations: Contemporary Jewelry,” the exhibit opens on November 9 and will run through May 3, 2026.
The show will feature more than 350 pieces of wearable art from the museum’s jewelry collection, which is considered one of the most important in the United States.
“This is a groundbreaking moment for the DMA’s jewelry holdings,” said Sarah Schleuning, the Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Design and Decorative Art at the museum. “Few people know how exceptional our collection is. We’re excited to finally share the wide range of works we’ve gathered from different places, using different materials and expressing different ideas.”
The exhibit will show how jewelry can be more than decoration. It will highlight its role as a creative form, a way to express identity, and a tool for cultural conversation. Covering more than 75 years of work, the collection includes pieces from various countries, artistic movements, and materials.
The museum first began collecting contemporary jewelry in the 1950s. According to Schleuning, this early start placed the DMA at the forefront of the field. In the past 15 years, the museum has expanded its collection by 5,000%. This growth has included commissions from rising artists and new pieces of American studio jewelry. Schleuning credited generous donors from Dallas and across the country for helping the museum build such a strong collection.
“This is a milestone exhibition,” she said. “It celebrates the endless creativity of artists who turn jewelry into art you can wear.”
The exhibit will be organized into four main themes or “constellations”: body, archetypes, signals, and play. These sections will help visitors explore how jewelry connects to the human body, expresses meaning, and breaks away from traditional ideas of adornment. Many works will be shown with artist sketches and old photographs, giving visitors a look into how the pieces were made and worn.
To accompany the exhibit, the DMA will publish a 456-page catalog, the first book focused solely on its jewelry collection. Highlights of the show will include work from American studio jewelers, experimental European designers, and recent commissions from top contemporary artists.
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