The Thirteenth Annual Pacific Northwest Jewelry and Metals Symposium 2008
Reserve the date and tell your friends about Symposium'08 happening all day Saturday, October 18, at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) at the scenic Montlake Cut on Lake Washington. Whether one pays by credit card or check, a registration form either must be mailed to arrive at the Guild address by October 14 or brought to the door of the event October 18, 2008. Doors open at 8:00am for registration and coffee, presentations begin at 9:00am. Please see the details on the registration form below.
Our five speakers:
- Gary Griffin, El Rito, NM – “A Metalsmith’s Life in Art and Teaching”
- Harriete Estel Berman, San Mateo, CA – “Crafting Identity”
- Susie Ganch, Richmond, VA – “Bits and Pieces”
- Kristin Mitsu Shiga, Portland, OR – “Inspired by Actual Events”
- Fred Fenster, Sun Prairie, WI – “Contemporary Pewter”
And three fantastic workshops:
- Harriete Estel Berman – “Recipe for Success”
- Fred Fenster – “Pewter for the Table”
- Gary Griffin – “The Dimensional Model: Imaging In Scale”
Gary Griffin – El Rito, NM
A Metalsmith’s Life in Art and Teaching
Now a practicing professional metalsmith in New Mexico, Gary Griffin has retired from 32 years of post graduate teaching as Artist in Residence and Head of the Metalsmithing Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan (1984-2006) and at the School for American Craftsmen, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York (1974-1984). Griffin was the recipient of two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, was elected to the American Crafts Council College of Fellows, was given the Master Metalsmith award by the National Ornamental Museum in Tennessee and has exhibited extensively in the United States, Mexico, South America, Japan and Europe.
After a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University and a Masters from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Griffin has gone on for three decades to place works in countless touring craft shows and in significant museum exhibitions, author catalog essays, critical reviews and articles, act as juror of works submitted to numerous exhibitions and granting programs, and to lecture on his work extensively throughout the United States. One of his many unique experiences was in 2007 as a resident artist in the John Michael Kohler Co. Arts and Industry program which will be featured in a portion of his presentation for Symposium’08.
Since 1983 Griffin’s work has focused largely on utilitarian items for residences including lighting fixtures, doors and hardware, tables, sideboards, fireplace screens and tools, gates and fences, with some commissioned works varying in size from door handles to tall fences up to 90 feet long. Not only does his stellar career make him a prestigious speaker for Symposium’08 but also the diverse sizes of his art make his experiences applicable to metalsmiths working in either jewelry or skyscraper dimensions. Griffin has graciously agreed to conduct a workshop that brings this important skill to others, ‘The Dimensional Model: Imagining in Scale.’ More information about his workshop offered in Seattle a week after Symposium’08 will be posted on the Guild website. For more information about Griffin please enter ‘Gary S. Griffin Critical Mass’ in a computer’s search engine, like ‘Google.’
Gary Griffin's Workshop Information
Harriete Estel Berman – San Mateo, CA
Crafting Identity
Coming to us from San Mateo,California is Harriete Estel Berman, an artist whose interests range from jewelry and Judaica through hollowware, sculpture and installations. She is perhaps best recognized for her work in salvaged materials – primarily recycled tin and painted steel containers – that provide sharp and often humorous social commentary on the excesses and peculiarities of contemporary consumer society. Her work can be found in the permanent collections of The Jewish Museum, NY, Jüdisches Museum in Berlin, Germany, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Columbus Museum of Art, and the Oakland Museum of California and in publications that include The Fine Art of The Tin Can, 500 Necklaces, 500 Bracelets, TEAPOTS--Makers and Collectors, Metalsmith Magazine, American Craft, and Art Jewelry Magazine.
An energetic and entertaining speaker, Berman has also become known as an advocate for artists and craftspeople through her work as the originator of The Professional Guidelines series of informational documents, as an organizational committee member of The Professional Development Seminar (a day of concentrated presentations that runs in conjunction with the annual conference of the Society of North American Goldsmiths) as well as for the interactive ‘Ask Harriete’ column featured on her website. Berman will speak about her work and career.
To learn more please visit: www.harriete-estel-berman.info, also view the ‘Professional Guidelines’ at: www.snagmetalsmith.org/Publications/Professional_Guidelines/.
Harriete Estel Berman's Workshop Information
Susie Ganch – Richmond, VA
Bits and Pieces
It is a real pleasure to introduce Susie Ganch to the Seattle art-metals community. As an artist working primarily in sterling, copper, steel, enamel and found objects, her presentation will explore how jewelry extends beyond the plane of the physical body, and its connection with our personal space. The artist statement she has provided says it so nicely:
My work explores permeability and interconnectedness. In particular, the question of objects and their energy, within and surrounding them: does an object end at its visual endpoint, or does it project infinitely into space?
I extend the physical boundary of objects to show that what we see is not fixed. In fact the eye offers us a perspective that is both incomplete and subjective. From a distance some of my work looks solid while some disappears. Up close, however, the grid structure and “molecules” are see-through, multi-layered, and interdependent.
We fondly recall the first time we saw Ganch working in her studio at Penland. From her methodical yet always careful execution, in a neat and organized space, came pieces that seemed amazing. Perhaps it is her background in geology that also subtly lends itself to her designs. Her attention to pattern and repetition with the organic nature of her pieces has made her an online favorite, as well as earning her dozens of awards for her work.
Susie is a recent recipient of a VCU Faculty Research Grant and received the 2007 Educator of the Year award sponsored by Niche Magazine and the Rosen Group. Selected publications include: Metalsmith Magazine (2008, volume 28, no. 3), and Bijoux. Illustration et Design by Maomao Publications. Susie Ganch is represented by Sienna Gallery, Lenox, MA, the Velvet da Vinci in San Francisco, Snyderman Works Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, and Quirk Gallery in Richmond, VA. Her work can be found on the web at Klimt02.net and susieganch.com.
Susie is currently Assistant Professor and Head of the Metals Program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia. Exhibitions include: The Japan Jewelry Art Competition 2008, The 5th Cheongju Biennale (Korea)(Honorable Mention Award), 11th Biennial International Juried Enamel Exhibition (Columbus, OH) (Juror’s Award), Chazen Museum (Madison, WI), SOFA Chicago and NYC, Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston, MA), John Michael Kohler Art Center (Sheboygan, WI) and The Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC).
Kristin Mitsu Shiga – Portland, OR
Inspired by Actual Events
One key phrase in describing this stimulating speaker from Portland, Oregon, is that she “lives and works in the arts.” Her various professional roles have included Conference Director for the Society of North American Goldsmiths, Lead Armaturist for Bent Image Labs animation studios and sole proprietor of her own jewelry business. All this sounds pretty serious so we’re not surprised when on the phone one hears the expected smooth, clear tonal voice, befitting a professional. Then we were disarmed as she rapidly merged widely diverse ideas that were quite hilarious, so from the first chat we were very intrigued.
Though her occupation has been creating jewelry for many years, Kristin Mitsu Shiga has also evolved the art of making a living in craft from several angles. She says she has chosen the path of the ‘tinker’- a traveling craftsperson whose role is to “put things together.” While using her own circuitous professional path as a framework, Shiga’s presentation for us at Symposium’08 will share the perspective gained from her various roles in the crafts world and will pass on insights that can be applied to the career of any metalsmith. We’ll also get a behind-the-scenes look at her part in the re-imagining of The Gallery at Portland’s Museum of Contemporary Craft. From the unorthodox way she went [and continues to go] about her education, to the things she has learned about producing and selling jewelry and metalwork at traditional and alternative venues, her path is rich with inspirations to be revealed in her presentation.
Kristin Mitsu Shiga is currently Extension Program Director at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, has been teaching jewelry making and metalsmithing since 1992 throughout North America, has established successful jewelry programs in Portland and New York and is known by her business name “Shag Shaggy Chug.” For the story about where this unique name came from and to look at her work over the last fifteen years, visit www.kristinmitsushiga.com
Fred Fenster – Sun Prairie, WI
Contemporary Pewter
For most of us in the metalsmithing community Fred Fenster needs no introduction. He has been an icon in our field for over four decades and has inspired us with his art and through his teaching.
Fred was born in the Bronx, N.Y. in 1934. He received a BA in Education from City College New York in 1956 and taught in the New York City public school system for a year and a half. He later returned to graduate school and in 1960 received an MFA in metalsmithing from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. In 1962 he was hired by the University of Wisconsin at Madison to teach design, jewelry and craft classes, which included metals, textiles and woodworking. Eventually Fred shared the responsibilities of the metals studio with Eleanor Moty who focused on jewelry while Fred concentrated on hollowware. He retired from the UW at Madison in 2005 where he is now Professor Emeritus.
Fred has also been very active over the years teaching workshops in jewelry and metalsmithing at Penland, Haystack, Peter’s Valley and Arrowmont.
Susie Ganch, one of Fred’s students at UW, Madison, reflects on his teaching style in Metalsmiths and Mentors; “In a sense, Fenster made himself into the kind of teacher he wished for as a young man: a master of technique who demonstrates every step, an artist fully engaged with his work, and a role model dedicated to his students’ advancement.”
Fred’s work is in numerous private and public collections including the Milwaukee Art Institute, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, Detroit Art Institute, Yale University Art Museum, the Skirball Museum of Judaica in Cincinnati, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, Korea, to name just a few.
Fred was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 1995 and received the Hans Christiansen Memorial Silversmithing Award in 2002. In 2004 he was awarded the Award for Excellence in Teaching from the James Renwick Alliance and in 2006 he received a gold medal from the American Crafts Council for craftsmanship and service to the field.
We are very fortunate to have Fred as our guest this year.
Fred Fenster's Workshop Information
Surrounding “Symposium Saturday” will be a variety of special events scheduled to delight and educate our event attendees.
- Friday, October 17, 5-7pm: A RECEPTION at Facere Jewelry Art Gallery in the City Center building in downtown Seattle. This
event is a chance to meet speakers and your friends the evening before the event.
- Saturday, October 18, all day at MOHAI: SMG's annual SWAP MEET has been rescheduled. Details coming soon...
