Trove of Treasures
This December, Susan Swartz, The Silver Fund and YVEL team up for a joint event at the Carlyle
Avenue Magazine, November 2011
With the holiday season approaching, New Yorkers are on the prowl for unique, exquisite and memorable pieces to gift others – or in some cases, themselves. This December, painter Susan Swartz, jeweler YVEL and estate silver specialist The Silver Fund will all be under one roof where holiday shoppers will have a chance to feast their eyes on the remarkable collections. Exhibiting together for the first time, the trio has known each other for years. Admirers and clients can stop by the Carlyle from December 8th to 11th and while the suite will be open to the public from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. each day, clients can also make private appointments outside those hours.
Autumn Presence, Acrylic on linen, 48x48” 2003.
Michael James, owner of The Silver Fund and of Michael James Fine Art, has been friends with Susan Swartz for over a decade, representing her abstract impressionist work at art fairs, most recently in Newport and Palm Beach. “Susan’s paintings express a tremendously affirmative testimony to nature’s beauty,” says James. An environmental activist, Swarts uses her art to draw attention to the fragility of the environment, noting that the narrative behind her pieces is “an urgent plea to notice, respect and preserve our natural environment.” This past summer, Washington’s National Museum of Women in the Arts hosted an exhibition titles Susan Swartz-Seasons of the Soul as part of its focus on the environment, health and creativity. Swartz has worked with other environmentalists like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President of the Waterkeeper Alliance, and Dr. Jane Goodall, who wrote that Swartz’s work inspires others to “experience and savor these images of nature, and also to do what we can to save nature itself.” Along with her husband Jim, Swartz has also lent support to several Academy Award-winning documentaries including The Cove, Born into Brothels and Under Our Skin – a film on Lyme disease and health care which Swartz has personal ties to, having herself suffered from the disease.
In additional to directing his fine art business, James owns The Silver Fund, which will be exhibiting a treasure trove of iconic 20th century silver and jewelry by Georg Jensen and Jean E. Puiforcat, as well as important mid-century gold jewelry and decorative accessories. “This year we’ve added a most interesting collection of retro gold jewelry,” James adds, “we are very aggressive about acquiring names such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Tiffany & Co. and Verdurs, all star talents of the 1930s through the 1960s.”
The highly esteemed Israeli-based jewelry brand YVEL will join The Silver Fund and Susan Swartz at the Carlyle, showcasing their innovative Haute Couture Collection. Orna and Isaac Levy, the owners and founders of YVEL, have been cultivating beauty for 25 years. Founded in 1986, YVEL specializes in handmade pearl and gemstone jewelry set in 18-karat gold. “My family has been in the pearl business for more than one hundred years,” says Orna, “YVE is a natural progression of the pearl passion that is in my blood line.” Three-time winners of the Town & Country Couture Design Award, YVEL celebrated its 25th anniversary this year with the founding of the new Andrea Bronfman School of Jewelry & Art – a philanthropic school for the study of jewelry craftsmanship, benefitting the Ethiopian Jewish immigrants in Israel. Every sale of a piece of YVEL jewelry helps to support this meaningful cause.
