Interviews

Lena Olson: Close to Me

Lena OlsonLena Olson has been an independent jewelry artist since graduating from HDK School of Design and Crafts in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1996, working with wood as her primary material. Her current show, Close To Me, at Platina in Stockholm, Sweden, is the result of a year-long research project where she examined the placement of jewelry on the body as a physical place and the personal relationship we have with the pieces of jewelry we choose to wear. Here she talks with Bonnie Levine about the show and her life as maker, teacher, and original collaborator behind the Hnoss Initiative in Sweden.

Bonnie Levine: Tell me about your background. How did you become interested in making jewelry?

Lena Olson: I always wanted to be an artist, and enjoy working in three dimensions and with tools. Hard materials and small things were also attractive, so jewelry just seemed natural. I was lucky to have an encouraging teacher who knew about HDK, the School of Design and Crafts in Gothenburg. Since about the age of 12 my goal was to be accepted there at the metal department. After some years in different preparatory art schools, I was actually more into sculpturing, so it was a rather crucial choice to make. I am happy I saw the possibilities of jewelry as sculptures connected to the body even then. 

 

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Deedie Rose

Sally Marsland, Necklace, 2013, polyurethane resin, 457.2 x 101.6 x 25.4 mm, photo: Jeremy Dillon Susan Cummins: Deedie, I understand that you’re part of a group of collectors that are coordinating efforts to build a strong contemporary art collection for the Dallas Museum of Art. Can you describe how that got started and how that

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30 Years West: Sandra Enterline and Valerie Mitchell

Sandra Enterline and Valerie MitchellSandra Enterline and Valerie Mitchell are old friends. Both attended Rhode Island School of Design and drove across the country together after graduation. They stayed in California and so called this show 30 Years West. For the past 30 years, they have shown together, vacationed together, exchanged ideas, and generally remained an important element in each other’s lives. Their show at Gravers Lane Gallery in Philadelphia seemed like a good time to catch up with both of them.

Susan Cummins: Did you discover you were a jeweler while you were attending Rhode Island School of Design, or did you know before that? Please tell the story of how you became a jeweler. Did you grow up on the east coast? Where?

Valerie Mitchell: I was born in Hollywood, California, where my dad Victor was shop foreman at the established Allan Adler Silversmiths. At age six, we moved east by train, and I grew up in Bristol, Connecticut. My genetic influence was increased by the curiosity of odd jewelry parts, stones, and hand tools stored in an old workbench in our basement my dad infrequently used. My first jewelry lesson was the summer after receiving my BFA, followed by other area workshops. In 1977, I moved to the Hartford, Connecticut art community, where I developed as an artist, utilizing jewelry as a sculptural, wearable expression while a member of Artworks Gallery. I had a one-person show titled Jewelry from my Environment at the nonprofit downtown space and also a four-person exhibition called City Limits of work inspired by visuals from my urban environ at the Old State House Gallery. My training was minimal but my artistic energy strong. Five years later, I decided to be serious about my training as an artist and craftsperson and chose RISD and Providence for my MFA in light metals.  

 

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Peter Hoogeboom and Shu-Lin Wu: Greenware, Crockery, Chinawear

Peter HoogeboomPeter Hoogeboom and Shu-Lin Wu have collaborated on an exhibition at Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h in Montreal, Canada. They both work with ceramics and participated in the Un Peu de Terre sur la Peau, where they met. The rest is history and a fascinating one at that.

This show will travel on to venues in the US, Thailand, China, and the Netherlands.

Susan Cummins: When did you two meet?

Peter Hoogeboom: We met some years ago in France, when the first edition of the exhibition Un Peu de Terre sur la Peau was shown in Limoges. We stayed in the same hotel there, so we talked at breakfast and also did things together during the days, apart from the exhibition things. For instance, we went to a cemetery known for its porcelain decorations and plaques on the graves. (Limoges is the porcelain city of France.) Shu-Lin decided to visit me after I returned home, so a few days later I showed her around in Amsterdam. When the show went to Taiwan at the end of 2011, Katja Prins and I were invited to attend, and Shu-Lin showed us around in Taipei.

 

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Bruno Martinazzi: Vivere Essere Volere Bene

Bruno MartinazziEllen Maurer Zilioli has curated a show of the work of Bruno Martinazzi called Vivere Essere Volere Bene, which translates to something like “To Live, To exist, To Love: for the Pinacoteca Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin. This city has been Martinazzi’s home base for most of his life, so at 90-years-old, they are celebrating him. Martinazzi is a unique figure in the art world and one with a philosophical bent. I was very pleased to have his answers to some of my questions.

Susan Cummins: You are now 90-years-old, and you have accomplished many things in your lifetime. What are you most proud of?

Bruno Martinazzi: To get my ideas across, I cite Gianbattista Vico, an Italian philosopher and author of the volume Principi di Scienza Nuova, written between 1725 and 1744. In Volume 1, Part II, line 3, he writes, “First human beings hear without attention, then they keep attention with confused and touched souls, and finally, they reflect with pure minds.” From that principle, art and poems take form.

 

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Beth Ann Gerstein and Fabio J. Fernández

Fabio J. Fernández (left), Beth Ann Gerstein (right), photo: Céline Browning When I visited The Society of Arts and Crafts gallery space to interview Executive Director Beth Ann Gerstein and Exhibition Gallery Director Fabio J. Fernández, the comfortable, open three-room space looked like Christmas morning. Piles of discarded wrappings littered the floor and brightly colored

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Jorunn Veiteberg, Juror for Schmuck 2014

Exhibition view, Schmuck Sonderschau (special exhibition) 2014, curated by Jorunn Veiteberg, arranged by Alexandra Bahlmann, Handwerksmesse, Munich, photo: Eva Jünger, München The exhibition has long been considered to be the jewelry equivalent of Michelin stars. Clearly, the accolade signals a form of artistic excellence and sets a standard for the field on a global level.

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Kete with Dodd, Haydon and Wilkinson

Jane DoddCaroline Billing, owner of The National in New Zealand, participated in a fair with three of the artists she represents, and AJF took this opportunity to interview all of them about their work. They are articulate and smart. No wonder the New Zealand jewelers are making their mark internationally.

Susan Cummins: Can you describe the Kete fair and symposium event?

Caroline Billing: Kete was a four-day art fair and symposium that was recently held in Wellington, New Zealand. It is a new event (this was its second incarnation) and the first of its kind here for us. The concept is to bring together galleries to showcase their selected artists across different craft mediums. Talks around the subjects of collecting, artists’ practices, and current issues in craft were held, and it included keynote speakers during the daytime and evenings.

What part did you play?

Caroline Billing: I represented three of my jewelers at Kete with the aim of highlighting three distinct and successful current practices by New Zealanders in contemporary jewelry.

 

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Tania Patterson and Lisa West: Salty

Lisa WestTania PattersonTwo friends answered some questions about the show they arranged to have together and their lives as jewelers in wonderful and unassuming ways. Their exhibit called Salty at Quoil Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, is filled with references to nature and the place they come from.

Susan Cummins: Please tell the story of how you both decided to show together in the exhibition at Quoil?

Lisa West: We shared a workshop for years and we’re good friends, so it seems natural to me that I approach Tania about doing the occasional show together. We have shown together previously at Quoil. We often work independently on quite similar things without realizing it, so I think we make things that are quite cohesive when they’re displayed together.

Tania Patterson: Lisa and I are old friends. We have shown together in the past, and it seemed about time we did it again. We seem to work on similar themes, and our work sits well together. 

 

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Rutger Emmelkamp

In 2013, Rutger Emmelkamp took over the direction of the jewelry department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. The success of the academy’s alumni, on the one hand, and the glowing reputation of the department’s former directors—Ruudt Peters, Iris Eichenberg, Manon van Kouswijk, and Suska Mackert—on the other, has made the “succession” a matter of

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Lauren Kalman: But If the Crime Is Beautiful …

Lauren KalmanSienna Gallery is having a rather unusual show this month with a series of photographs by Lauren Kalman accompanied by a few objects used in them. The photos include a nude figure, ormamentation and mid-century furniture. Very strange and very beautiful but extremely mysterious. If you want to understand them you must read on.

Susan Cummins: Lauren, please tell the story of your background.

Lauren Kalman: Both of my parents were visual artists, and I think that had a huge influence on my development as an artist. My father is an industrial designer who is currently involved in designing and building his house, and my mother was a commercial photographer. They collected design and craft objects and were interested in architecture and design, so my aesthetic influences began very young. More specifically related to But If the Crime Is Beautiful … , we owned reproductions of the Eames recliner and Wassley chair, so Modern design was a part of my environment growing up. 

I majored in metals at Massachusetts College of Art, and following that, was accepted into the now-defunct apprenticeship program at the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture. There, I was trained in foundry with a focus in metal chasing and welding.

My MFA is in art and technology from The Ohio State University. This background includes exposure to conceptual practices, physical computing, digital imaging, and digital video, all of which play an important roll in my current practice.

 

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Klimt02

Klimt02 has both an online platform for the art jewelry community and a gallery located in Barcelona, Spain. It is owned by Amador Bertomeu and Leo Caballero and has become an influential and informative source of information for everyone interested in contemporary jewelry. In this interview, Amador and Leo, speaking as one, provide us with

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