Serious Fun!
contemporary jewelry | expert craft | playful expression
What’s Serious Fun?
Serious Fun is an exhibition of jewelry by contemporary artists who apply their expert craftsmanship to playful designs creating work that both honors the deep history of craft and celebrates contemporary whimsy and creativity.
We love to see artists devote their precious time, hard-learned skills, and fine materials to creating works that surprise and delight audiences with their forms, subject matter, or ingenious mechanisms.
Meet your curators
Ellyse Bendillo
Ellyse Bendillo is a jeweler, enamelist, teacher, studio manager, and illustrator. She received her BFA in Metals/Jewelry/CAD-CAM from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and continued her education working on Philadelphia’s Historic Jeweler’s Row. Here she gained a wealth of hands-on knowledge and a love of antique enamel and fine jewelry repair. She brings this love to her illustrative enamel jewelry that celebrates the everyday wonders of life. Her elaborate enamel work treats the mundane with a reverence matching the stained glass work that inspires her.
She co-founded Night Shift Studio with Kate in 2019 and curated her first exhibition, Memento Mori in 2023.
Kate Dannenberg
Kate Dannenberg is an artist, jeweler, teacher, curator, studio manager, metalsmith, and reluctant writer. She studied metalsmithing and jewelry design at the School for American Crafts at RIT in Rochester, New York. Her love of nature is evident in her work. She finds joy in the process of making; creating jewelry, housewares, and more with great attention to detail, craftsmanship, and tactility.
She co-founded Night Shift Studio with Ellyse in 2019 and began curating in 2021 when she joined the Dream Machine team for New York City Jewelry Week.
Night Shift Studio
is a collaborative metalsmithing and jewelry studio in Bok in South Philadelphia. The founders came together over a shared thirst for constructive feedback, creative freedom, and collaboration. Feuling each other’s desire to make, they’ve created a supportive network of fellow artists, each with a unique perspective to lend insight and advice. They share a communal studio space, as well as tools, equipment, and expertise. Night Shift hosted its first exhibition, Memento Mori, in 2023. Ellyse and Kate are the co-founders and studio managers, but they share the space with talented artists who contribute to and help shape the thriving craft community in Philadelphia. Learn more here!