Last weekend, on the 19th and 20th of May, the 38th Legnica Festival SILVER 2017 culminated.
Organized since the late 1970’s by the Gallery of Art in Legnica, the Festival is one of the biggest reviews of contemporary art jewelry in Europe and during its culmination Legnica becomes a mecca for jewelry makers and lovers from all over the country and a big part of the world.
During those 2 days vernisages of all 26 Festival exhibitions took place together with fringe events such as the enthronement of Golden Finger – symbol of the Festival, a concert and popular science seminar. The exhibitions show over 1,800 objects of contemporary jewelry and design made by more than 500 artists from 50 countries. Many authors of avantgarde jewelry from Chile, Germany, Poland, USA, Italy and other countries were present at the vernisages. Most exhibitions remain open till June 11th.
The main event of the Festival is the 26th International Jewelry Competition IDENTITY. This year a record number of 603 works were submitted by 307 designers from 41 countries. The winners were announced and awarded prizes on Saturday evening in the Old Town Hall. The international jury consisting of Doris Maninger, Sophie Hanagarth, Kim Buck, Arek Wolski and Slawomir Fijalkowski awarded the following prizes:
✔ 1st Prize (Grand Prix of the Minister of Culture & National Heritage) – Susanne Matsche (Germany);
✔ 2nd Prize (the Award of the Marshall of Lower Silesia Province) – Elena Gorbunova (Russia);
✔ 3rd Prize (the Award of the Mayor of the City of Legnica) – Herman Hermsen (the Netherlands);
✔ 4th Prize (the Award of the Gallery of Art in Legnica) – Tom Stöckl (Germany);
✔ Special Prize (Silver Spur) – Miriam Arentż (Germany).
Apart from that the following artists were awarded prizes and honourable mentions by various art-related institutions and organizations:
✔ Lucie Houdkova (Czech Republic) – Inhorgenta Munich Fair Award;
✔ Andrzej Pacak (Poland / United Kingdom) – Polish Jewellery Company Award;
✔ Ana Carolina Escobar (Colombia / France) and Kim Ji Young (South Korea) – Honourable Mentions of the Director of the Gallery of Art in Legnica;
✔ Herman Hermsen (the Netherlands) – Honorable Mention of the Goldsmithing Artists’ Association;
✔ Daniel Michel (Germany) – Honorable Mention of Pica Pica blog;
✔ Michalina Owczarek (Poland) – Honorable Mention of the International Amber Association.