The Brick Store Museum’s Bauman Family Contemporary Gallery kicks off its summer season with “Peggy Johnson: A Jeweler’s Life,” a legacy exhibit showcasing the work of Maine jeweler and innovative artist Peggy Johnson. The exhibit opens June 24 and runs through August 1. The exhibition of her work will be accompanied by several Maine jewelers who recently received donations of Peggy’s tools.

Maine jewelry artist Peggy Johnson died in August of 2020 on Munjoy Hill in Portland. She had lived in that neighborhood for the last two decades but began her jewelry career in the 1970’s in Philadelphia. The arc of her more than three decades-long career was spent creating both original production and one of a kind pieces. Those years saw many manufacturing innovations that she employed to make her work. The Museum exhibition will trace not only Peggy’s individual creative path but also celebrate the way in which contemporary jewelers and metalsmiths continue to integrate handmade work and new technological developments within the field to survive and thrive into the 21st century.

A companion display entitled The Legacy Show, will include work by several Maine jewelers and metalsmiths who received the generous donation of some of Peggy’s tools. Exhibiting artists are Shelby Goldsmith, Danielle Gerber, Nick Rossi and Ann Thompson. Metalwork related to the exhibition will be for sale with a percentage of funds directed towards supporting a new generation of Maine jewelers and metalsmiths.

One of Peggy’s signature lines was called “Housewearables,” and consisted of miniature versions of household objects. She was particularly fond of tea and the Museum will be hosting a memorial Tea Talk and Cream Tea with Marianne Russo of Nellie’s Tea (in Scarborough) on Friday, July 9th at 3:30 p.m. with limited, socially distant, seating. For tickets and more information, please visit www.brickstoremuseum.org or call the Museum at: 207-985-4802.