NEW LONDON MUSEUM TO OPEN THIS MONTH

A major new museum featuring the Gilbert Collection of gold, silver, mosaics, and gold boxes will open in London on May 26. The collection was donated by Arthur Gilbert, a London native who retired from the evening-gown business and moved to California in 1949 at age 36.

The collection, which Gilbert and his late wife, Rosalinde, began to form in the 1960s, comprises about 800 items and includes objects from such historic houses as Althorp, Belton, Stowe, and Powderham Castle. The gold and silver items range from the 15th to the 19th centuries, from India to continental Europe and South America. Included are gold, silver-gilt, and silver pieces. Noteworthy items include works by great 18th-century English silversmiths such as Paul de Lamerie. Also featured are some 200 gold snuff boxes, particularly a group of five made for Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712-1786) that are set with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and carved hardstones.

For more information, call (44-207) 240 4080, fax (44-207) 240 4060, www.gilbert-collection.org.uk.

METAL WORK ON VIEW AT CONN. CENTER

?Filtered Senses,? an exhibition of contemporary metal work by 15 nationally known craft artists, is on view in the Lynn Tendler Bignell Exhibition Gallery at the Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, Conn., through June 4. The center is located in western Connecticut, about an hour?s drive from metropolitan New York.

Guest curator Charles Lewton-Brain, a jeweler, sculptor, author, and teacher living in Canada, has invited these artists to create pieces for the show that focus on the theme of ?how we filter our senses.? Participating artists are Christine Clark, Thelma Coles, Andrew Cooperman, Jim Cotter, Dee Fontans, Matthew Hollern, Linda Kaye-Moses, Robert Kaylor, Julie Koebbe, Curtis LaFollette, Thomas Mann, Harold O?Connor, Ira Sherman, Deb Stoner, and Lewton-Brain himself. While they are known primarily for their work in jewelry, many of their pieces are purely sculptural and highly narrative.

According to the curator, ?The work in this exhibition addresses the ways in which we all filter our incoming experiences and interactions with others and how we choose to see our own realities.?

The Lynn Tendler Bignell Foundation, established in 1995, supports contemporary American craft artists. For more information, call the Brookfield Craft Center at (203) 775-4526.