For an exhibit that occupies only one smallish gallery, there's a lot packed into Ornament as Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry From the Helen Williams Drutt Collection.

Opening tomorrow at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the show is essentially a ``visual index'' of contemporary art jewelry, says curator Cindi Strauss. She considers it the most significant collection of its kind in the U.S.

The 76-year old Drutt, who lives in Philadelphia, began collecting wearable art in the late 1960s and was so consumed by it she quickly became a leading scholar - developing college courses and founding a gallery that for years drew craft artists from around the world. ``She is a legend,'' says Strauss.

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