Flipping through the pages of Sondra Sherman’s catalog for her most recent body of work, Found Subjects, readers are greeted by a wide variety of jewelry, nestled into the pages of books taken from Sherman’s personal library. Each piece was made in response to the book in which it lives. The formal language of the […]
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Todd Reed has been designing jewelry for over 20 years, and is today living and working out of his Boulder, Colorado studio. His early work incorporated raw diamonds, which was quite unusual at the time. His venture has grown from a one-man operation into a large team of master jewelers, and Todd spends his time creating new designs, collaborating with his team, and managing the business. He currently has a show at de novo in Palo Alto, California, and this provided an opportunity to ask him about his background and current work.
Bonnie Levine: How did you get your start as a jeweler? When did you know you were interested?
Todd Reed: I started to get interested in jewelry when I was 10, primarily watching and being interested in the craft of putting things together. By the age of 19 I had a studio and was teaching myself jewelry making and starting to realize what it took to turn an idea into a well-constructed finished piece. At this time I was a leathersmith and making silver adornments for handbags and leather jackets, etc. I would simply adapt the ornaments to jewelry items by adding an ear wire or ring shank.
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Matthieu Cheminée, a Canadian jeweler, focuses on the fundamental metalsmithing techniques that are practiced across the world today, with a focus on stamping and casting. From his early start learning from Native American silversmiths to studying with jewelers in West Africa to learning traditional jewelry-making techniques in Montreal, Matthieu is passionate about facilitating a collaboration of learning and teaching between jewelers. His recent show at L. A. Pai Gallery in Ottawa, Canada, called Stampclastic, coincides with the launch of his new book, Legacy: Jewelry Techniques of West Africa. Here Matthieu shares more about his background, career, and work in Africa.
Bonnie Levine: How did you get started as a jewelry designer? Was there someone or an experience that inspired you?
Matthieu Cheminée: My mother had a beautiful jewelry collection from all around the world, pieces that my dad would bring back from trips. She had bracelets from Afghanistan, crosses from Ethiopia, pendants from Peru, and more. I had always been attracted to them but my passion for the trade really started when I went to Taos, New Mexico, to visit an aunt when I was 17. I fell in love with all the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni jewelry. Just before I turned 19, I moved to Taos from Paris to learn English and ended up learning jewelry making with great artisans. For almost seven years I made stamped bracelets and concho belts and I learned inlay and overlay.
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Amber has a long and storied past as a material used in jewelry. From being called “the Baltic gold” to rarely being used in contemporary jewelry, today amber is experiencing a renaissance. This renewed interest in the material is the subject of an important exhibition at Gallery Putti in Riga, Latvia. Called Amber in Contemporary Jewelry and running from May 22–August 2, 2014, this exhibit demonstrates the possible range of application of amber in contemporary art jewelry as created by 20 artists from Latvia and Italy, as well as from countries along the ancient Amber Road (Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary). It not only links the Amber Road geographically but also historically by connecting ancient times with the present, and by demonstrating the richness of amber jewelry creation today. Here Bonnie Levine speaks with Gallery Putti’s Eva Melnika, who is interning with the gallery this year.
Bonnie Levine: Amber has been around for 40 to 60 million years and there’s a real mystique to it—it’s been traded, worshipped, and used for healing and protective purposes going back in time. Can you elaborate on the history of amber and why it’s important today?
Eva Melnika: Amber has always been known as the Baltic Gold—it can feel warm and fragrant, and the Etruscans valued amber even more than gold for its beauty and the healing properties they believed it held.
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Eunmi Chun is a contemporary jewelry artist who began her jewelry and metal studies in South Korea and eventually traveled to Germany to study under Otto Künzli at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. Her current show, Precious Beasts—Blooming, at Rob Koudijs Gallery combines her meticulously crafted and organic work with her insights into human psychology. Known for working with repelling, unusual materials such as cow intestine and pigskin, Chun talks about her deviation from traditional metalsmithing materials in this interview.
Find out more about Chun’s work from Pravu Mazumdar’s One on One article about Eunmi Chun.
Olivia Shih: You started your education with a BFA in mathematics and craft, then a MFA in jewelry and metal in Korea. Afterward, you traveled to Munich and studied under Professor Otto Künzli. Could you talk about the transition from one environment to the other and your learning process?
Eunmi Chun: I first started my college education in mathematics, so when I joined the metal department, I had to start with senior (third year in Korea) students. As a result, I learned demanding skills in quite a short time, during which my work was inferior to that of fellow students. But due to that situation, I started to develop my own methods.
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Biba Schutz is a very productive jeweler living and working in New York City. Her show at Sienna Gallery features a very new series of work. She once used metal exclusively but now has worked glass into the designs. These fresh, wearable necklaces and brooches incorporate glass into her work in a very successful way. The presentation of these new pieces offered a wonderful opportunity to ask her about her work and her history.
Susan Cummins: In your new show at Sienna Gallery, you seem to have changed your approach to making jewelry. Gone are the twisted expressive wires and in come the cool, sleek glass and metal. What happened?
Biba Schutz: I am continually looking for new challenges and traveling in unchartered areas.
As time has passed … my language and materials have grown, but the voice still has the same thread of inspiration and process. I still investigate, challenge, and explore my environment and emotional experiences. There is still mystery, memory, and a place to hide and travel while experiencing my jewelry.
Biba Schutz: Half Full Read More »
Group shows are tricky things. Taboo Studio has had a number of them in the past, with titles like Structure and Purpose, Color and Form, and Perspective and Invention, so a show called Out of the Blue isn’t surprising. The hard thing to do with a group show is to make an observation about something, anything really, that the artists or pieces of jewelry have in common, come up with a theme, and then assemble a grouping that makes sense within the theme you have chosen. Taboo has done this numerous times over the years and is practiced at it. For this post, I spoke with Jane Groover, one of the gallery’s owners, as well as with a number of artists who participated in the show.
Susan Cummins: Jane, in the exhibition Out of the Blue, you asked the following artists to interpret the theme as it relates to the sea and sky:
Brooke Battles • Marilyn Brogan • Susan Chin • Petra Class • Jane Groover • Sydney Lynch • Wendy McAllister • Christina Seebold • Cindy Sumner • Myung Urso
Did you imagine this to be mainly about landscape or color?
Jane Groover: I initially thought that the work in Out of the Blue would be about both landscape and color, while acknowledging that blue certainly means different things to different people. It felt like an intriguing title because of its ambiguity. And since it is common knowledge that the majority of people claim blue as their favorite color, I imagined the work for this exhibition would probably focus primarily on color.
Exhibition view, hands and machines, installation, Mikiko Minewaki, 2007, H.P. FRANCE, Tokyo, photo: Otto Künzli Makiko Akiyama: Please tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up, where did you train, what is your current occupation? Mikiko Minewaki: I was born in Akita prefecture in 1967 and grew up in Kitaakita, a
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Patina Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, had a show last month of the work of Harold O’Connor, who is highly regarded for his technical expertise and was recently featured in a cover article in Metalsmith magazine. Harold is considered one the great teachers of his generation and he has conducted workshops all over the world. The process of fabrication is evident in every piece and his work is clearly marked by his early training and the time in which he has lived.
Susan Cummins: Harold, you are known for your technical expertise. In fact, you conduct classes all around the world teaching embossing, granulation, and reticulation, among other things. Did learning these skills come easily to you? Can you tell the story of the way you acquired them?
Harold O’Connor: I first learned granulation at school in Pforzheim, Germany, in 1967, but I had forgotten that I had already learned it, as my portfolio of early works I showed at Martha Connell Gallery in Atlanta demonstrates. In 1988 I went to a small workshop in the town of Ahlen, in northern Germany, called the European Gold and Silversmith Academy, to learn granulation in gold. There I met several participants from Cologne, Germany. Eventually they became best friends and also introduced me to other masters of the technique in Cologne. By visiting their workshops, I was able to pick up more hints on executing the technique. We saw the works of Germany’s most famous granulationist, Elizabeth Treskow from Cologne (who has a street and a square named after her). The American granulationist John Paul Miller met with Treskow when he was in Europe. Most likely he, too, picked up some pointers from her. After learning granulation, I did not do it at all for one and a half years, as I did not care to make the classical patterns, such as triangles and pyramids of beads. One day in the studio I realized that the 18-karat gold granulation would go well with reticulated silver patterns. From that beginning I have created many forms over the years in this combination. I had been doing some reticulation on sterling silver over the early years but the results were lacking in pattern and detail. Somewhere along the way I broke down and bought some reticulation silver (.820 silver) and a whole new world opened for me in creating forms with interest and dimension. The granulation evolved over time and in recent years I have added the use of silver granulation in combination with the gold. I tell people that doing granulation is like working with enamels—one needs patience and time and a steady hand. Time is consumed in making the beads for granulation, done by heating small snips by hand or in a kiln. The most difficult process to learn is knowing the right temperature at which the beads fuse to the metal surface. Twenty years into it, I’m still learning what works and what doesn’t. Granulation for me is like Zen meditation.
After years of studying contemporary jewelry in Europe, Thai artist Rudee Tancharoen returned home to share her passion for art jewelry with the people of Thailand and established Atelier Rudee, the only international academy for art jewelry in Thailand, to do just that. Her current solo show, Tales of the Truth, is on exhibition at ATTA Gallery in Bangkok, Thailand, through July 5, 2014. Here she talks with Bonnie Levine about the show and the important work of Atelier Rudee.
Bonnie Levine: Tell me about your background. How did you become interested in making jewelry since there is not a long tradition of art jewelry in Thailand? Who has had a major influence on your work?
Rudee Tancharoen: My introduction to art jewelry is quite a delightful coincidence. After I graduated in industrial design from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, I worked as a designer for a while. However, I found that there are some aspects of industrial work that did not quite agree with me. I wanted to try something else where I could still use my creativity, but involved less in industrial business. I then decided to take a three-year course at the Alchimia school in Florence, Italy, where I was introduced to and graduated in the art of contemporary jewelry.
During my last year at Alchimia, I had an opportunity to study with Manfred Bischoff for a whole year and his philosophy has had a major influence on my work in several aspects.
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Design historian Bella Neyman and Israeli jewelry artist Ruta Reifen recently launched Platforma, a curatorial initiative to bring art jewelry to a wider audience and give it the same respect that contemporary painting, sculpture, and design enjoy. Its inaugural exhibition, F-1, recently on view at Brooklyn Metal Works in Brooklyn, New York, is named for the visa that all foreigners must procure to study in the United States. The exhibition showcases 10 artists from eight countries whose work combines the methodologies taught in the United States with the cultural references and art traditions they identify with from home. Here Bonnie Levine speaks with Bella and Ruta about Platforma and F-1.
Bonnie Levine: Platforma is a newly established curatorial initiative established by the two of you. Can you tell us about it—what is its mission and why did you feel the need to start it?
Bella Neyman: Platforma was launched over a cup of coffee last summer. Ruta and I both wanted to create a new venue through which to show art jewelry and, like everyone else in this business, we want to get in front of young collectors. Artists, especially emerging ones, need the support of clients to survive and we want to play a role in helping the field grow and prosper. Our mission is to breathe new life into the field through pop-up exhibitions and events and amass a following that will be interested in what we have to say and in the work that we are showing. As we do not have a permanent space, we feel like we can take chances and experiment with what we are showing and how we choose to show it. Furthermore, as we want to entice young collectors to fall in love with art jewelry we also want to try to educate them.
F-1: Curated by Bella Neyman & Ruta Reifen Read More »
Robert Smit was awarded the Golden Ring of Honor this year, which places him in the Pantheon of great contemporary jewelers. It was given in recognition of his dedication and brilliance in making jewelry, drawings, and paintings over many years. This year, the ring was made by Otto Künzli, who was the last recipient of the Ring of Honor. Otto’s design is quite amusing. Rosemarie Jäger gave Robert a reception at her gallery to mark this occasion. Robert is a prolific and thoughtful artist who has strong opinions that guide his process. It was a pleasure to have the privilege of interviewing him.
For further recent publications about Robert Smit, you can read Liesbeth den Besten’s article in Metalsmith, v.33, n.5, 2013, and the catalog published by Padova, Musei Civici agli Eremitani, on the occasion of this year’s show, called Esoteric Revelations.
Susan Cummins: Congratulations! You were just awarded the Golden Ring of Honor 2014 by the Association for Goldsmiths’ Art in Hanau, Germany. This recognition is a great honor. What is the history of this 41 year-long tradition? And how do you feel about getting it?
Robert Smit: The tradition was started in 1933, so it is already 81 years old! In the beginning, the Golden Ring of Honor was given every year up until 1957. In 1960 it was changed to every 3 years. The first years it took place in Berlin. Then in 1947 it moved to Hamburg, because the Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst had to move out from Berlin. For the last 29 years, the meetings and presentations of the award have taken place in Hanau. See the list of Ehrenringträger (Carriers of the honorary ring) at the end of the interview.
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