Joan Tenenbaum
website: www.joantenenbaum.com
email: merlin059@centurytel.ne
Stonington Gallery
119 South Jackson Street
Seattle WA 98104
206-405-4040
Links to other websites:
www.stoningtongallery.com
www.arcticartistry.com
www.imagesnorth.com
Seafoam: Tidelands Necklace IV
2003
18 and 14K Gold, 18K/Palladium Mokume
Gane, Diamonds, Ruby, Pearls
Photo: Doug Yaple
A linguist, an anthropologist, an award-winning jeweler, an artist and a poet—Joan Tenenbaum fuses her technical, intellectual and creative abilities into jewelry that is imbued with beauty, spirituality and mystery.
Delta View: Tidelands Brooch IV
2003
18K Gold, Sterling, Sterling/Copper
Mokume Gane
Photo: Doug Yaple
From the age of 13 Joan's first love was always making jewelry. However, her path led at first to an academic life. Joan received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Research for her dissertation took her to a tiny village in Alaska where she lived with Athabaskan Indians and wrote a grammar and dictionary of their language. She also compiled 24 stories for her book Dena'ina Sukdu'a: Traditional Stories of the Tanaina Athabaskans. She later lived with Yup'ik and Iñupiaq Eskimos in several other villages, teaching and coordinating programs for the University of Alaska. During all these years, she continued to make jewelry and never gave up her dream to one day be a full time artist. In 1990 Joan moved to Washington State, where she now focuses on her jewelry and teaching.
Joan was already winning awards for her jewelry when she was in high school in Detroit, Michigan. She has continued to add to her knowledge and skills, studying in such varied places as the University of Mexico, the Craft Students League in New York, the University of Alaska and in Portland, Oregon with a private mentor. She has shared her knowledge by teaching jewelry at the University of Alaska in Anchorage and with many private students.
Headlands in Moonlight III
2000
18K Gold, Sterling, 22K/Sterling
Mokume Gane, Ruby, Sapphire
Photo: Doug Yaple
Joan's work consists of detailed, culture and nature-inspired wearable pieces that are hand fabricated using precious metals and gemstones. She uses such techniques as engraving, roller printing, fold forming, granulation and stone setting to create the interesting textures, colors and contrasts that fascinate her. Many of these pieces are part of a series exploring a theme, and each is individually hand made. Her native-inspired pieces frequently take the form of a mask or human figure, symbols of the spirituality in the cultures in which she lived, or are translations of ancient artifacts. In these pieces she pays homage to some of the last remaining hunting societies, which she feels have been kept alive by their deep connection with the Arctic land and animals that support them. Her pieces that speak of landscape and animals carry environmental messages. In all her work she is able to convey the interplay of delicacy and vastness that she observes.
"I experienced first hand the three things that are the most important to the people—the land, getting food, and their families. The anthropologist's job is to live with the people, understand their culture and interpret it to the world. Usually this is done through books, but I'm doing it through jewelry."
Joan's work is shown in galleries nationwide and has been featured in Ornament, Lapidary Journal, American Craft and Metalsmith magazines. Her work can be seen in Seattle at the Stonington Gallery, 119 South Jackson St. in Pioneer Square.