EXHIBIT FEATURES BOSTON CRAFTS
When the U.S. was barely a century old, artisans began to incorporate a bit of their colonial ancestry into art still controlled by English standards. This renaissance, which became the Arts and Crafts movement, is the focus of Inspiring Reform: Boston’s Arts and Crafts Movement, an exhibition of more than 150 objects at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College in the Boston area, showing through July 14.
Jewelry is among a variety of arts and crafts categories featured in the exhibit.
The exhibit will be shown also at the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, from March 6 to July 6, 1998.
Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, MA 02181-8257; (617) 283-2051, fax (617) 283-2064.
TOY STORIES: RETAILERS PLAY SANTA
“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” lamented young Amy March in Little Women. All children dream of receiving magnificent toys during the holidays, and some generous jewelers made those dreams come true this past holiday season with charitable gifts and campaigns.
An in-store Toys for Tots campaign turned into a power shopping spree for Dominic Maratta of Dominic’s Fine Jewelry in Clinton Township, Mich. Maratta supported the U.S. Marine Corps toy collection campaign with a collection bin in his store and the proceeds from a jewelry raffle. He also donated 10% of his net sales Dec. 6-8 to purchase new toys.
On Dec. 19, Maratta joined the throngs of last-minute shoppers in buying more than $600 worth of toys to add to the collection. At the end of the campaign, Dominic’s Fine Jewelry turned over about $1,200 worth of toys to the U.S. Marine Corps.
Meanwhile, Betty Ravenstein, owner of Juniker Jewelry Co. in Jackson, Miss., felt her heartstrings tugged by a giggly little fellow on the radio – a Tickle Me Elmo. The doll that inspired fistfights and high-priced bidding among desperate mothers was being auctioned by a 10-year-old girl who had received the doll for her birthday. The girl was trying to raise money for the American Diabetes Association to help her father, who suffers from the disease.
The Jackson radio station WTYX-FM 94 auctioned the doll on the air on Dec. 19-20. Ravenstein, inspired by the girl’s generosity and love for her father, called in just before the 5 p.m. deadline and gave the highest bid of $1,800. She then returned the Tickle Me Elmo to the girl.