About a year ago the editor of Metalsmith reached out about doing an article on pewter. There seemed to be an uptick in the creative use of this metal. It sounded like a fun project so I agreed to write an article. I did research, I asked around, I networked. Many talented people were generous with their time. I also did a ton of historical research. At the end of the day I had to cut over half of it out and we still went over the proscribed word count. But I am happy with what remained as a snapshot of this metal and the contemporary attitudes that surround it.
Everybody's Bolos in the news
I have been so pleased at the reception of this exhibition which I co-curated with Brian Fleetwood and Hannah Toussaint. Ashley Callahan wrote a lovely article about the Everybody’s Bolos exhibition that made the cover of Ornament magazine. I also had the pleasure of working with Veronika Muráriková who created a colorful overview of the show for Current Obsession. We even got picked as ‘Required Reading’ for Hyperallergic! The show is up through May 10th at UNT. After that, you will have to wait until January 2025 to see it at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts or July 2025 where the work will be for sale at Hecho a Mano in Santa Fe, New Mexico..
Photograph by Dasha Wright
A little SMITTEN
Over the New Year transition from 2019 to 2020, about two months before the world shut down for COVID, I had a lovely adventure. I was invited by Marissa Saneholtz and Sara Brown to participate in the Smitten Forum at Pocosin. I had a great time, got a lot of work made and got to hang out with some very cool people. It was a magical week made more so in hindsight due to the separation from the maker community which necessarily followed.
Recently, these two purveyors of opportunity reached out with an invitation to get our work together for an exhibition at the ECU Symposium. While I would rather be there in person, sending my brain children to hang out with theirs seems good too. So if you find yourself in Greenville, North Carolina in the coming month, please have a look.
Louver with Mask, 2022, Enameling iron, stainless steel mesh, vitreous enamel, 5 x 14 x 0.25 in
Monel Metal in Metalsmith Magazine (…say that five times fast! )
An article I wrote for Metalsmith magazine just came to my email inbox today and it looks great! Monel is not well known now, but it has been used in extraordinary ways and essentially created the market for stainless steel in the first half of the twentieth century. I was made aware of the alloy by Warren Holzman, who gave a presentation about its use in the Bryn Athyn Cathedral in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, at a SNAG conference. Later, when I was invited to speak at the 2019 Looking Forward Iron Symposium, I decided to explore the history of this material. I am grateful to Warren, John Rais, and Mike Rossi for their initial support of the research. I am also indebted to Archivist Gregory A. Jackson and Historic Buildings Project Manager Drew Nehlig of Bryn Athyn for their help, as well as Carlier Makigawa, Simon Cottrell, Michael Bondi and Glenn Gilmore who took the time to speak with me about their experiences with the metal.
Forging Community… a year ago
Last March I had the privilege to attend the Austin Forging Competition at Mobile Loaves and Fishes’ Community First! Village. It was about a week before the world closed and life as I know it changed. I drove to a different town. I stayed in a hotel and ate in a restaurant. I think I even hugged people outside my family. Weird. The brief article about the competition that I wrote for Metalsmith Tech came out a few weeks ago. It’s a great reminder of what some seriously talented people can do with three hours.
Fewer Better Things review is out
I am pleased to announce that my review of Glenn Adamson’s Fewer Better Things is out in the newest edition of Metalsmith Magazine!
Texas Metalsmiths Exhibition
I am very pleased to be having an exhibition with my colleague Harlan Butt. It opens this Saturday and we are both giving talks on Sunday. The crew there have been super nice and I love the advertisements they made.
Wittgenstein Vitrine Review
This summer's Metalsmith Magazine includes my review of "Modern Opulence in Vienna: The Wittgenstein Vittrine" which was acquired by the Dallas Museum of Art. It is a breathtaking piece of silverwork by the Weiner Werkstatte (Vienna Workshops) and it was an absolute pleasure to share some information about it with the world.
Metalsmith Magazine Article
Volume 33 number 3 of Metalsmith magazine just arrived in my mailbox. It contains an article I wrote on the history of women blacksmiths in America, "Forging On." I am grateful to the following people for their help with the project:
Maria Cristalli, Maegan Crowley, Lisa Elias, Roberta Elliot, April Franklin, Mindy Gardner, Lisa Geersten, Alice James, Shawn Lovell, Corrina Sephora Mensoff, Rachel Miller, Darryl Nelson, Lorelei Sims, Dorothy Stiegler, Marsha Trattner, Jill Turman, Andrea Lisch of the Northwest Blacksmithing Association, JoAnn Bentley at ABANA, and Stacy Cantrell for her image research.
Metalsmith Magazine Article
Volume 33 number 3 of Metalsmith magazine just arrived in my mailbox. It contains an article I wrote on the history of women blacksmiths in America, "Forging On." I am grateful to the following people for their help with the project:
Maria Cristalli, Maegan Crowley, Lisa Elias, Roberta Elliot, April Franklin, Mindy Gardner, Lisa Geersten, Alice James, Shawn Lovell, Corrina Sephora Mensoff, Rachel Miller, Darryl Nelson, Lorelei Sims, Dorothy Stiegler, Marsha Trattner, Jill Turman, Andrea Lisch of the Northwest Blacksmithing Association, JoAnn Bentley at ABANA, and Stacy Cantrell for her image research.
