Tributaries: Chris Irick (Feb 24-April 29, 2012)
Chris Irick was born in 1970 in Santa Maria, California. She has both a BFA and MFA in jewelry and metalsmithing from Texas Tech University and UMASS Dartmouth, respectively. She has taught jewelry for many years in both college and adult education programs. She is currently an Associate Professor and the head of the jewelry program at Pratt MWP in Utica, New York. Her work has been featured in numerous publications including Metalsmith and American Craft magazines, as well as The Metalsmith’s Book of Boxes and Lockets, 500 Pendants & Lockets, 500 Brooches, 500 Bracelets, The Art and Craft of Making Jewelry, and The Penland Book of Jewelry. Her work has been exhibited nationally and is included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Alchemy (March 9-June 3, 2012)
Alchemy, a term that refers to a seemingly magical power of transmutation as well as the ancient chemical philosophy of turning base metal into gold or silver, can apply to enamel as it is magically transformed by heat. The 13th BiennialInternational Juried Enamel Exhibition and 9th International Juried Student Enamel Exhibition, sponsored by The Enamelist Society, highlights the best in contemporary enamels produced in the last 2 years. The International Juried Exhibition showcases the work of enamelists that demonstrate aesthetic and technical expertise.
Tributaries: Lauren Kalman (May 4-June 24, 2012)
Lauren Kalman is a visual artist whose practice is invested in installation, video, photography and performance. Through her work she investigates perspectives of beauty, body image, value, and consumer culture. Raised in the Midwest, Kalman completed her MFA in Art from the Ohio State University and earned a BFA with a focus in metals from the Massachusetts College of Art. She exhibits and lectures internationally, currently teaching as an adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI.
Virgil England (June 8-Sept 2, 2012)
The knife-designer and artist Virgil England, who lives in Anchorage/Alaska, is a visionary in several respects. As a talented artisan and smith he creates unique knife-and weapon objects which, at the same time, are perfectly interwoven with figurative allusions and details. All his works are part of the environment of a fantastic place which he calls “Het Lands”, a place sometime in the universe where an archaic civilisation is confronted with the apparition of the “Seth Daemon”. But also actual antique eras inspired him to these fantastic ideas and to exactly these pieces of work. In 2004, he designed the “Empire Sword”, a series of Yatagan swords with reference to the powerful ancient Iranian kingdom of the Achaemenidic kings Cyrus and Darius, approximately 2600 years ago. Since the 1970s, Virgil England worked as a knife maker and started to increase his interest in intricate, multipartited projects of art. However, he never abandoned the knife blade.
Harlan Butt (June 8-Sept 2, 2012)
Harlan W. Butt is a Regents Professor of Art at the University of North Texas where he has taught since 1976. He is President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths, past President of the Enamelist Society and a Fellow of the American Crafts Council. His work has been exhibited in Australia, Canada, England, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and throughout the United States. His solo exhibition at the Metal Museum will feature works form his National Parks Series. Butt was the 2002 Master Metalsmith.
Tributaries:Marlene True (June 29-Aug 26, 2012)
Marlene received her B.F.A from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and M.F.A. in metals from East Carolina University. She is currently Program Director for Pocosin Arts' Metal Arts Business Program in Columbia, NC. She has taught workshops and given lectures at colleges, universities and art centers including Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and Craft Alliance in St. Louis. Her work is in various collections throughout the US and most recently the Museum of Arts and Design in New York the Enamel Arts Foundation in Los Angeles, CA and The Racine Museum of Art in Racine Wisconsin.
Master Metalsmith: Eleanor Moty (Sept 7-Dec 2, 2012)
Eleanor Moty is best-known for bringing the photoetching process into the field of metalsmithing and integrating the process into her work. Moty was drawn to jewelry and metalsmithing as an undergraduate and University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana. She completed her graduate work at Tyler School of Art. Moty is he recipient of numerous grants and in 1975 the National Endowment for the Arts Craftsman Fellowship. Moty is a distinguished member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and the American Craft Council. Her exhibition record includes over one hundred solo, group, international and national exhibitions.