I met Ken Trapp at a luncheon during SOFA Chicago, just after he had left the Oakland Museum as the curator of decorative arts to take the position of curator-in charge of the Renwick Gallery, in Washington, DC. We had been invited, along with a few other contemporary studio jewelry enthusiasts, by Susan Cummins […]
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“I believe that my actions are searching for signs to be able to grow, to become more humane and free, to bear witness with art to man as the being that can wrest something from the “panta rhei” (“flowing of everything,” Heraclitus), from coming into being, something that cannot expire, something with which heaven
Bruno Martinazzi, 1923–2018 Read More »
Marjan Unger wearing Sketch for Sleeping Beauty II necklace, by Robert Smit, photo: Michael Ferron, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 1991 On June 27, 2018, Marianne Unger-de Boer passed away at home in Bussum, the Netherlands, after a rich, yet too-short life. Marjan was 72 years old. As she liked to remind her audiences in lectures, she
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Born June 10, 1918, Denver, Colorado Died August 2, 2015, Sausalito, California June Schwarcz, Vessel 593, 1971, electroformed copper foil with plique-à-jour enamel, height 127 x 236 mm, photo M. Lee Fatherree June Schwarcz, one of the masters of contemporary craft, has passed away at the age of 97. June’s enamel work and sculptural
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Manfred Bischoff, 1995, photo: Rike Bartels Died March 30, 2015, Siena, Italy “Beauty belongs to everyone” I like to share it with my friends. Manfred Bischoff passed away during the Holy Week. No one can visit him in Tuscany anymore, in his home in an orchard deserted by the Capuchin Friars, with its the
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Born February 4, 1934, Evergreen, Illinois Died April 2, 2015, Deer Isle, Maine Today we make jewelry and wearable art from any material that we choose, but it was J. Fred Woell who in the 1960s broke the rules and paved the way for art jewelers. Fred pioneered the concept of using found objects
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Born Halle, Germany, 1984 Died Le Vernet, France, 2015 Juliane Noack’s interests spanned jewelry making, music, experimental fashion and design, and figurative sculpture. An excellent draftsperson, Juliane had an unusual facility for understanding and implementing skills of all kinds: She could make whatever she wanted and never stinted on the time and effort required.
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Portrait of Margaret West Died Blackheath, New South Wales, Australia, 2014 Margaret West, jeweler and poet, lived a life rich beyond most imaginations. And it was on her own terms, through intellectual energy, fierce love of beauty, and compassion. From what was originally a wide-ranging creative project, Margaret came to value compression, reduction, the
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