Table Of ContentCONTEMPORARY
AMERICAN
JEWELRY
DESIGN
CONTEMPORARY
AMERICAN
JEWELRY
DESIGN
Ettagale Blauer
~ SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC
To Toby Davis, who showed me the way to Rhinebeck.
Copyright © 1991 by Ettangale Blauer
Originally published by Van Nostrand Reinhold in 1991
Softcover reprint of the hardcover Ist edition 1991
Library ofCongress Catalog Card Number 90-44214
ISBN 978-1-4757-4856-7 ISBN 978-1-4757-4854-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-4854-3
AII rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be
reproduced or used in any form by any means-graphic, electronic, or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems
-without written permis sion ofthe publisher.
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blauer, Ettagale.
Contemporary American jewelry design / Ettagale Blauer.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4757-4856-7
1. Jewelry-United States-History-20th century. I. Title.
NK7312.B5 1991
739.27'0973'09045-dc20 90-44214
CIP
The cover shows the work of Tony Papp (p. 42), Mary Lee Hu (p. 54), Harold O'Connor
(p. 61), Carrie AdelI (p. 83), Eric RusselI (p. 108), Caroline Strieb (p. 108), Vicki Eisenfeld
(p. 147), and Mame Ryan (p. 162).
Contents
Preface: The Phenomenon of Studio Goldsmithing IX
Introduction: Studio Goldsmithing Today l
Defining the Medium 1
Period Design? 3
Pushing the Medium 4
Person to Person 6
Chapter l: Craft Shows 9
Origins of the Craft Shows 9
On the Road to Rhinebeck 12
Rhinebeck 12
Across the Road 15
Thumbs Up? 16
"The Big E": West Springfield 16
Baltimore 17
Feedback 18
Buyers' Market Shows 21
The New York Armory Show 24
Upscale Marketing: The New Art Forms Show 26
Eye, the Jury 27
A Change in Attitude 31
Chapter 2: Craft Galleries 33
Aaron Faber Gallery 35
Sculpture to Wear and Artwear 37
Concepts 40
Other Notable Galleries 41
v
vi Contents
Chapter 3: Teachers 45
Earl Pardon 46
Robert Ebendorf 51
Mary Lee Hu 54
Arline Fisch 58
Harold O'Connor 61
The Diversity of Approaches 62
Chapter 4: Craft and Commercial 65
Paul Morelli 68
Whitney Boin 70
Alan Revere 71
Chapter 5: Studio Goldsmithing 75
The Pioneers 75
Who's In, Who's Not 76
The Contemporary American Jeweler 76
Charles Loloma 77
Michael Good 79
Carrie Adell 83
Stuart Golder 88
Luna Felix 93
Richard Kimball 97
Glenda Arentz en 103
Eric Russell and Caroline Strieb 108
Donald Friedlich 114
Chapter 6: Cloisonne-Painting Pictures with Enamel 119
Connie Brauer 120
Merry Lee Rae 123
Kathryn Regier Gough 126
Sydney Jo Scherr 128
Thomas Farrell 132
Chapter 7: Granulation 135
Robert Kulicke 136
Joseph English 139
Cecilia Bauer 140
Susan Reinstein 142
Chapter 8: High-Karat Gold 147
Vicki Eisenfeld 14 7
Ross Coppelman 150
Lilly Fitzgerald 153
Judith Kaufman 154
Contents vii
Chapter 9: Surfaces 157
Barbara Heinrich 159
Marne Ryan 162
Tami Dean 164
Jan Yager 166
Chapter 10: Patterns 169
Terri Foltz-Fox 171
Patricia Daunis 174
Jane Martin 178
Micki Lippe 181
Epilogue: Jewel Box 185
Appendix 1: Craft Galleries 187
Appendix 2: Schools and Workshops 189
Appendix 3: Organizations 191
Appendix 4: Craft Shows 193
Appendix 5: Publications 195
Index 197
Preface
The Phenomenon of Studio
Goldsmithing
When the history of art in the 1980s is written, much of it will be etched
in gold. This is the time of the contemporary goldsmith, an artist who
chooses to work in precious metals rather than oils or marble.
The contemporary jeweler-as-artist has only recently become a re
cognized force. With rare exceptions, the whole field is little more than
thirty years old. But it is only within the past fifteen years that these
jewelers have entered the jewelry mainstream.
The phenomenon of contemporary goldsmithing embraces an
eclectic group of artists, each with a unique vision, each taking a per
sonal path to jewelry producing. They have as little relationship to the
typical, mass-produced jewelry as a champagne maker has to a bottler
of orange soda. They approach a piece of art, not a piece of metal. The
work is personal and a perfect expression of the "back to the land"
movement that spawned it. Many of these goldsmiths were looking not
merely for a way to make a living but for a way to make a life that was
worthy of living.
Running a business while trying to remain a creative metalsmith
at the same time is the ongoing challenge. The jeweler-artists have
solved or resolved these often conflicting needs in slightly different
ways and in a beautiful variety of techniques and styles. Their meth
ods, their growth, and their work are discussed here.
When I first began covering jewelry in 1972, the presence of these
jewelers was a delightful surprise to me. Until then, I thought jewelry
Facing page:
was all circle pins, class rings, and strands of graduated pearls. This Stuart Golder at his loom
is a personal book; I know these people, some for more than fifteen in Cincinnati, Ohio.
ix
Introduction
Studio Goldsmithing Today
DEFINING THE MEDIUM
What is contemporary American jewelry? Does it fall comfortably into
a "period" description such as Art Deco or Edwardian? Is it what you
see when you walk into a jewelry store?
For the most part, the answers are "no," and "no." There is no one
style to contemporary jewelry. It may be geometric or organic, spare or
ornate, Bauhaus or Baroque. And as for jewelry stores, they are more
often marked by the absence of contemporary American jewelry, which
is found most often in craft galleries or specialty retail shops.
Some call it "studio goldsmithing." That's a good start on a defini
tion for it implies, correctly, that this work is created in an individual
jeweler's workplace. Ironically, the term it really deserves, designer
jewelry, has been co-opted. In the world of American marketing, de
signer is synonymous with signature. Mention contemporary jewelry
to anyone not familiar with the work shown here and the response is,
"Oh, you mean like (insert any well-advertised designer name)." De
signer-name jewelry is available through major retailers; it has as
much to do with design as Bill Blass has to do with the chocolates sold
under his name. It is, rather, a convenient marketing method aimed at
making one product stand out from myriad others that look just like it.
This has become necessary in fields where all the products have the
same ingredients, look alike, and do their job equally well.
In the American jewelry world, from the individual studio gold
smith to the biggest of the mass producers, the raw materials are the
same, principally gold and silver. It is how those raw materials are
used that spells the difference in the product.
The typical manufacturer is selling a commodity with a certain
intrinsic value. The lowest expression of this thinking is the chain
1
Description:The Phenomenon of Studio Goldsmithing When the history of art in the 1980s is written, much of it will be etched in gold. This is the time of the contemporary goldsmith, an artist who chooses to work in precious metals rather than oils or marble. The contemporary jeweler-as-artist has only recently
