Image: Bernhard Schobinger, Small Tear Drop Chain, 2014, steel, akoya pearls, gold, Japanese urushi lacquer, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, promised gift of the Rotasa Collection Trust. © Bernhard Schobinger
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will host ‘Perspectives on Contemporary Jewelry: An International Symposium’ on Saturday, September 26, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Lynn Wyatt Theater of the museum’s Kinder Building on the main campus in Houston, Texas. The day-long programme brings together scholars, curators, and artists to discuss the work of Dorothea Prühl and Bernhard Schobinger.
The symposium is presented in connection with two solo exhibitions organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: ‘The Jewelry of Dorothea Prühl’ and ‘Going Underground: The Jewels of Bernhard Schobinger.’ The museum’s announcement describes both artists as innovative jewelry makers whose “boundary-pushing visions” are the focus of the programme.
The museum’s event listing sets out the programme: a welcome and introduction by Elizabeth Essner; a morning session with Renate Luckner-Bien and Iris Eichenberg on Prühl; lunch and exhibition tours led by curators Cindi Strauss, Elizabeth Essner, and Meagan Howard; and an afternoon session with Claudia Schmuckli and Cindi Strauss on Schobinger, followed by a reception. Admission is free with advance registration, either for in-person seating, which is limited, or for a virtual livestream, and a boxed lunch can be ordered for an additional fee.
Both exhibitions are installed on Level 2 of the Kinder Building. ‘The Jewelry of Dorothea Prühl’ runs through January 3, 2027, and ‘Going Underground: The Jewels of Bernhard Schobinger’ runs from September 3, 2026, to January 3, 2027, according to the museum’s exhibition pages, which describe the presentations as the two artists’ first U.S. solo exhibitions.
The event is also identified as the 50th Annual Ruth K. Shartle Symposium, which receives generous support from The Brown Foundation, Inc. For the related exhibitions, the museum lists major support from Sara and Bill Morgan and additional generous support from the Michael W. Dale Exhibitions Endowment for Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design, Dr. Sara Sant’Ambrogio, and Deedie Potter Rose.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which issued the announcement, is located at 1001 Bissonnet in Houston.
