In November 2007, the AJF Board (then Jo Lauria, Rika Mouw, Elizabeth Shypertt, and Pat Rodimer) agreed to award a $1500 grant to the U. of Wisconsin-Whitewater. This grant will support jewelry artist Eleanor Moty’s participation in a special survey of women jewelers and metalsmiths with a professional and educational relationship to Wisconsin—some participants graduated from Wisconsin; some did not; all, however, taught at Wisconsin.
The Women of Metal project features a wide range of activities with goals to:
• Celebrate the artwork of women jewelers and metalsmiths in Wisconsin;
• Examine their work and its evolution and influence;
• Consider the role of education and mentorship in their professional development;
• Increase public awareness of their contributions; and
• Inspire further scholarship into the lives and work of these pioneering artists.
Central to this project will be the Women of Metal exhibition opening in September 2008. Project co-curators Teresa Faris and Susan Messer also plan a week of public events at the same time, including a visiting artists panel (which Eleanor Moty will participate in; her work will also be featured in the exhibition), an illustrated lecture by American Craft Council Fellow and UW-Whitewater Professor Emeritus Linda Threadgill, and a two-day studio workshop conducted by Marcia Lewis, now a California-based artist, author, and professor who previously led the UW-Whitewater metals program.
In addition, the project will feature two permanent records: a comprehensive exhibition catalog and an oral history archive that will be housed in the University library.
SNAG’s 37th Annual Conference, “Crosscurrents: Diverse Solutions in a Global Environment,” March 5-8 in Savannah, GA, is hosted by Savannah College of Art & Design.
Register at www.snagmetalsmith.org.
The Conference Registration Book is immediately available online on the Current Conference section of SNAG’s website.
Presenters include: Bruce Metcalf and Andrew Wagner discussion the evolution of craft, German artist Iris Eichenberg discussing her own work, Australian artist Carlier Makigawa; British jeweler Norman Cherry; Deb Todd Wheeler; and Richard Nelipovich. Keynote address will be internationally acclaimed fiber artist Sheila Hicks.
Among the ten juried and curated exhibitions open concurrently with the conference are: The Ring Show: Then and Now, curated by Robert Jackson and Mary Hallan Pearse, Overflow, juried by Leonard Urso, and Art/Industry, curated by Donald Friedlich.
Eight good reasons to attend:
- Witness the field at its source, a rare once-a-year opportunity.
- Educate your eye by viewing a multitude of metal exhibits.
- Expand your mind by attending lectures and panels.
- Hear what inspires the makers and content providers of your passion.
- Share your passion with other collectors and curators.
- Put a “face” on the work you collect.
- Make informed purchases.
- Revel in creative energy.
– Jan Yager, artist
Another Point of View:
SNAG Conferences provide a formal setting– the lectures are invaluable to ALL non makers as well as the field–to deepen our understanding as a more-educated audience, no matter what our level of experience. We can learn about things we never considered, correct misinformation we may have and get fired up even hotter in our enthusiasms about human imagination, artistry, craftsmanship and individuality!
Most of the lectures are non-technical– they are aesthetic, contextual and historic. They add to our personal grasp of the bigger ‘picture.’ SNAG is a unique opportunity to begin and continue (casual) personal dialogues with artists/makers/jewelers of all levels of experience. Artists need these contacts with the outside world; we EACH benefit in matters of enhanced sensitivity with each of these possible conversations.
Collectors who come to SNAG should consider “unsewing themselves from each other and reaching out to the artists.” There really IS more to supporting contemporary jewelry and metals than purchasing it. Collectors grow and blossom into an even more inspired, sensitized audience.
– Gail Brown, collector, independent curator
Mar. 11, 7 p.m. at the Montclair Art Museum
(sponsored by Montclair State University and the Montclair Art Museum)
$10 members, $15 non members, Free for MSU staff and students
A dialogue on the materials, artistic content, and meaning of art and craft with Arthur Danto, American art critic, author, and Columbia University professor; and Ulysses Dietz, The Newark Museum’s curator of decorative arts. See www.montclairartmuseum.org.