Alloys by Arnold
Elizabeth Arnold
"I like to focus on three things as a jewelry maker: That the jewelry be satisfying to make, that it looks good, and that it feels good.
Satisfying jewelry is jewelry I’m exci...ted to make- and I think that joy lives on in the completed jewelry. The second is about the piece of jewelry itself: the design should be interesting, unexpected even, but also clean and deliberate. The last one is all about you: a particular piece of jewelry may be the shiniest, cleverest, most fashionable thing, but that's the less important part of the job. It also has to be physically comfortable to wear and help you be seen in the way you want to be seen. "Elizabeth is a graduate of Oberlin College, where along with a studio art degree she picked up the rudiments of making chainmail-based jewelry designs. After designing and selling chainmail jewelry for several years, she expanded her jewelry making skills into goldsmithing with a degree from North Bennet Street School, and worked as a bench jeweler for three years with Melanie Casey Jewelry. Now she is building her own jewelry fabrication and design business Alloys by Arnold. Alloys by Arnold supplies necklaces, bracelets, rings, and custom-fit unpierced earrings in original and customer-commissioned designs to those who enjoy jewelry with an organic modern aesthetic and classic quality.
Ann's Pottery
Ann Schunior
"My pots are contemporary; the designs I use are ancient. I've devoured books, hung out in museums and traveled the world in search of indigenous designs, particularly animal imager...y. I work in a funky, old building behind my home in Randolph, MA, firing in a gas kiln. To make my pots look as time-worn as the petroglyphs that inspire them, I sometimes pile them with leaves and ash before placing them in the kiln. As I work, I'm engaged in conversations that span millennia, allowing myself to listen and respond to the work of artisans that lived in the distant past."Living in North Carolina in 1966 with no particular interest in pottery, Ann Schunior visited Seagrove, N.C., a home Jugtown Pottery and generations of country potters. Seeing the growth of a pot from a lump of clay to a large urn sparked her imagination. She sees herself as a craftsperson more than an artist, making objects to be used and enjoyed everyday in the home.
Ann has traveled extensively in Africa, Central and South America and Central Asia, meeting traditional potters and weavers. As an outgrowth of this, she has supported the work of potters from Uzbekistan and South Africa through the Cultural Survival Bazaars and the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe. She has written about traditional potters and weavers worldwide and has published in Studio Potter, HandEye Magazine and the newsletter for Weave A Real Peace (WARP).
Baby Sweaters by L'Agneau
Gaylene Heppe
"I believe in the artistry of hand knitting. My craft allows me the creativity of pattern, texture, and design. My Hand-knit items are made to withstand the test of time, and my ori...ginal designs draw upon generations of classic style interpreted with timeless combinations of patterns. These sweaters are created to fit little bodies and allow for growth. I use only the finest quality natural fiber yarns that are resilient, warm, and washable. Each little sweater is a work of art but don't be fooled, each one will withstand your child's rough and tumble play and survive to be passed along to siblings."Following a rewarding career as an Elementary School Principal, this teacher, Mom, and Nana, built her website and business practicing a craft she learned when she was 10 years old. Gaylene Heppe finds creating and designing baby sweaters both challenging and rewarding. She hand-knits each sweater with attention to detail, style, and fit, so that the Baby Sweaters by L'Agneau label assures finely crafted quality. Gaylene personally hand-knits each sweater with the finest quality natural fiber yarn at her home on Cape Cod.
Berri Kramer Textiles
Berri Kramer
"As a quiltmaker for many years I celebrate the thought that “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” A love of textiles, construction, and function make time in the te...xtile studio a joyful pursuit. I work on a vintage Featherweight sewing machine, a beautiful tool made of metal, not plastic. There is great satisfaction in working with simple, well-made tools.
From repurposed vintage Japanese cottons and silk, I create ”Komebukuro.” These traditional offering bags were once carried to the temples filled with rice. I practice “Mottainai” (meaning: too good to waste) in that I use every scrap left on the cutting table. Often these tiny pieces find their way into a wall piece where even the smallest of snippets can be appreciated. In deconstructing damaged kimonos, futon covers, and furoshiki, the steam of my iron releases a whiff of foreign aromas. Traces of flowers, cedar, or incense add an unseen and timeless element to the process. My goal is to design not only functional work, but pieces that can hang as engaging compositions, in honor of the centuries-old dyeing and weaving techniques, now virtually lost."Berri Kramer grew up in Lincoln, Massachusetts and was greatly influenced by classes at the DeCordova Museum. She earned a BFA in Design and Crafts from Kent State University in Ohio and a Masters in Fiber Exploration from Lesley University in Boston. Berri learned how to express stories in clay, metal, and color, but most importantly, she observed people making their way in the world as artists. Her art career began as a designer for Better Homes and Gardens and lasted lasted over 20 years. That venture became not only an opportunity to discover new materials and techniques, but one that involved continuous creative problem solving. She founded Heartwood College of Art in Maine, and for the past 25 years she has been its President. Berri also taught Color and Design, Exploration of Crafts, and Service to Humanity at Heartwood.
Beyond the Fringes: Blankets, Throws and Tableware
Debra Stewart
"Each day I am drawn to my loom with the challenge of creating combinations of traditional and unique materials. Bits of gold, paper linen yarn with a stainless steel core, silk, le...ather, or copper provide texture which make tableware not only functional, but unique and distinctive. I have been developing luxury handwovens utilizing blends of exotic materials from around the world to create textures for your table; a spectacular venue that begs flowers and your loveliest and favorite vase. These mats and table runners are both washable and sustainable. Wedding blankets and bed runners, both boho and traditional, are created to provoke a dramatic emotion of warmth and invitation. Your most personal space. I chose weaving to help me inspire you to create special personal spaces whether they be industrial or classic. "Beyond the Fringes is a Boston-based handweaving studio specializing in high-end luxury textiles. Master weaver Debra Stewart has produced fabrics for department stores, design houses, and private clients, working in silk, angora, alpaca, mohair, and exotic fibers including leather, paper, and gold.
Debra’s life as a weaver began during her studies at Emerson College, when she rescued an old handloom from an attic in Vermont and restored it to working condition. Experimenting on that small loom, she fell in love with the art of textile design. Her passion for weaving was further inspired by her experience studying with master textile craftsmen in British Columbia. She founded Beyond the Fringes as a line of elevated handwoven accessories and materials for the home.
Beyond the Fringes offers a full range of interior fabrics, from Moroccan-inspired wedding blankets, pillows, and brushed mohair throws, to luxe tableware. The new collection of oversized placemats, crossmats, and table runners offers contemporary statement pieces inspired by classic handloom patterns.
Arielle Brackett
"My coral series is a body of work that I created with bronze, sterling silver, nickel and powdercoating. I am interested in the idea of making work that represents ocean corals tha...t I have imagined. I use a technique called cuttlebone casting to create the majority of the texture. Cuttlebone casting is a meditative process for me. I carve into the bone of a cuttlefish and each layer reveals the texture beneath. Once I have my desired form, I make a mold and pour molten metal directly into the bone. As a result, a beautiful and repetitive texture is created. Afterwards, I pierce away parts of the metal to create patterns. The strongest forms are then molded and reproduced in lost wax castings. I then manipulate, form and combine the castings together. Lastly, I sift or electrically bond durable powder coated colors to the surface of the castings. The bright and vibrant colors create more depth to the beautiful motifs inspired by imagined coral."Arielle Brackett is a metalsmith and educator based in Portland, Oregon. She received her BFA in metals at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2017. She has shown nationally and internationally, including Canada, Romania and Russia. Brackett was awarded best in metals at the Colorado Gallery of the Arts and the Art Center of Estes Park and Juror’s Choice Award in Jewelry from CraftForms 2021. She received two scholarships to paint in Le Barroux, France and Grand Junction, Colorado. In May 2016, Brackett was granted a full ride scholarship to attend a two-week glass workshop at the Penland School of Craft. Brackett is published in Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG), Jams 2018 and How Art Heals, by Andra Stanton. In 2019, she had a piece in a runway show, Shift in Portland, Oregon. Brackett showed work in SNAG’s Exhibition in Motion in 2019 and 2021.
Cindy Liebel Jewelry
Cindy Liebel
"My work reflects an attention to detail, combining bold contrasting textures and shapes, creating repetition in geometric forms. My designs are hand-fabricated from start to finish... using sustainable precious metals. Every element of design starts with a sketch, then translated into printed paper componenents. I use this visual design process to gather ideas of size and composition. I create jewelry that combines the relationship between contemporary and mid-century design, with a focus on simplicity and everyday adornment. "CLJ is jewelry for the individual, the ever-curious collector who actively engages with the world and thrives on exploration. For every empowered individual, each piece is made to feel effortlessly comfortable, making style easy and timeless. You'll always find a diverse assortment of styles, crafted to outlast trends, gift-giving, and for regular enjoyment, from leisure to your next noteworthy event. I draw inspiration from features of Scandinavian design aesthetics, contemporary architecture, and Art Deco, including geometric patterns and abstract line art. "I find joy in manipulating precious metals and forming intricately seamless designs showcasing clean, geometric lines, soft angles, and refined textures. I love creating an assortment of jewelry one can easily adorn without a fuss and is complementary to your own style. I want to encourage you to exercise your creativity while playfully remixing styles in a way that speaks to you and feels confidently beautiful in the process."
Dawn Lombard - Glass & Metal
Dawn Lombard
"I am fascinated by the beauty that can come from chaos, whether it is the creative storm in my head or a simple piece of scrap metal with a jumble of glass waiting to be transforme...d. My creativity is only limited by what I have yet to try. Failure is expected for my design phase as I strive to let my hands transform my thoughts until they work as one and a new piece of art comes to life."Dawn worked in the corporate world for over twenty-five years while her heart dreamed of another path. In 2015, Dawn broke the shackles of the 9-to-5 grind to release the artist inside and embraced the liberation of whimsical design using colorful glass and metal. Inspired by the unexpected, Dawn doesn't plan her designs; she never knows where her freedom and mind will lead her.
Dawna Gillespie Adornments
Dawna Gillespie
"Make a statement and start a conversation with Dawna Gillespie Adornments!
Transcending the allure of simply adorning the body, my artwork consciously explores the illumination o...f personal presentation and facilitates an individual expression. I hand fabricate never-reproduced adornments to defy a world inundated with mass-produced accessories. Beginning with a sketch and a personal narrative, adornments take shape using raw copper, brass, a jeweler's saw and techniques such as: sawing, piercing, ammonia/rock salt patina, torch-fired heat patina, oxidation, ferric chloride etching, sgraffito, hammering, forming, forging, stamping, and cold-connecting with hand fabricated rivets. Textures and hand drawn motifs symbolize and examine the theories of femininity, fertility, domesticity, marriage, and sexuality. With an unwavering purpose to restore and reunite: individuality, reverence to craftsmanship, and the world's intrinsic beauty; I am connecting never-reproduced adornments and beautiful souls together, one at a time.
Breathe life back into your wardrobe and home by choosing adornments that say something extraordinary!
"From the Soul ~ For the Soul""Dawna Gillespie is a metalsmith and jewelry designer from Lubbock, Texas. She holds a BFA in Visual Studies from Texas Tech University and has since found success as a, nationally recognized and published, professional metalsmith. Her wearable artworks and adornments for the home have been exhibited all across the country.
Dawna has been included in the following exhibitions: International Metal Jewelry Artistry Awards (juried by James Carter and Michael Sturlin); Cold Connections; VisionMakers2018 (juried by Emily Zilber); Hidden Treasures: Enveloped Metalwork (juried by Don Friedlich); Celebrating American Craft; Jewelry ~ Curated by Sydney Lynch; CraftBoston Studs+Drops; and Sawed, Soldered, and Constructed.
Gillespie has been published in the following: 10-page spread in Belle Armoire Jewelry, national publication, as the “Designer Collection”; featured on Texas Country Reporter; 1 of 3 Semi-Finalists in the “Fashion & Style” category for the Texas Works Awards; and featured in New South Finds by Linda Jerkins.
Designer Glass Studio
Eiko Emori
"I am fascinated by the way translucent light is transmitted through glass made with the pâte-de-verre method. What is interesting is the transformation of a cold industrial materi...al, glass, into objects with a fourth dimension: changing colors, moving forms and shifting lights.
Pâte de verre is a labor intensive process. At the Corning Museum of Glass, I came across a tiny Egyptian vial that contained the remains of fired plaster. I commiserated with the ancient craftsman who labored to create a beautiful glass piece using the same process.
I grew up in a big garden by the sea. In the 13th century, there was an outstanding poet who was, at the same time, the ruler of Japan. I love reading and re-reading his powerful poems of the sea. The rhythmic, dancing, joyous movement of waves resonates not only in me but is translated into the glass pieces I have created.
"
Eiko Emori studied art at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, England, the Académie Grand Chaumière in Paris, France, and received a Master of Fine Arts degree at Yale University. She is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and a Fellow of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada. Eiko is considered to be a most accomplished female graphic designer representing Canada. Eiko received the Pattie Walker Memorial Award recognizing excellence in Architectural Glass from Crafts Ontario in 2021.
Eiko now works as a glassmaker focusing on the pâte-de-verre technique. She describes the first part of the pâte de verre process as similar to the labor intensive preparation for bronze sculpture. First she makes a wax form, to produce a sculpture. She prepares a high-temperature plaster using a recipe that she developed through many iterations. The mold must be strong enough to tolerate the high temperatures needed to melt the glass. The plaster is invested over the wax form. The resultant mold is heated to extract the wax and the cavities are charged with the glass frits that she has chosen for her color palette and flow. Then the mold is fired in a kiln to the temperature required for glass. After three or more days of slow cooling, she will crumble the plaster mold gently with her fingers so as not to damage the glass inside. The last stage is to clean and polish the glass piece that emerges. She sees glass as her partner and is always excited to see the piece emerge from its cocoon more beautiful than expected.
Jeffrey Lloyd Dever
"All my works are sculptural studies – explorations of where the material world of my daily life intersects my naturalistic musings. From the early days of my childhood, the hills..., orchards, streams, and woodlands of my small New England home infused my aesthetics. It is to that natural world that I retreat when I seek inspiration. In those still, quiet moments, my mind takes wing and soars as I dialogue with my Creator.
"Jeffrey Lloyd Dever holds a BS degree in Fine Art from Atlantic Union College, 1976. He is a founding partner and creative director of Dever Designs in Silver Spring, MD. He served on the contract/adjunct faculty of Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland for 20 years, where he taught illustration and graphic design. Sought after as an instructor, he has taught classes across North America and in Europe. He enjoys sharing his pioneering techniques with others as often as his schedule allows. Mr. Dever's polymer vessels, jewelry, and sculptural objects have been shown in many national and international invitational exhibitions, and his works are represented in numerous private collections, galleries, and museums.
Eric Reeves, Woodturner
"As a woodturner, I’m continually seeking the perfect balance between the form I create and the natural beauty of the wood itself. Because all my profits go to humanitarian organi...zations, I always feel that the more perfect a woodturning, the more beautiful, the more I’ll be able to alleviate suffering with my contributions.
I turn wood because I believe it is the most beautiful way to let wood express itself, even while I am ultimately imposing a form that is fully and consciously designed. A perfectionist, I find the tantalizing possibility of perfection in woodturning elusive, but at the same time yielding beautiful work that has been taken as far as I can in any given woodturning.
I move in smaller dimensions than many turners, but these dimensions permit unusual techniques, including true inlaying of wood and metal in turnings, detailed lamination of woods, delicate finial designs, and hollow-form turning requiring only the smallest of openings.
"Eric has been turning wood professionally for over 25 years, with a continually-evolving aesthetic and range of technical skills. His work has been featured in some of the finest art and craft galleries in the country. He regularly exhibits in juried shows including CraftBoston.
His newest work features many turnings from two extraordinary woods: Buckeye Burl and Australian Burl caps, with their eye-catching natural edges. He has also begun creating mobiles turned from Buckeye spheroids—exceedingly time-consuming to make, but yielding fascinating woodturning in motion.
His finishes are a source of special pride, and after sealing woods that require it, his finish is a mixture of beeswax and carnauba wax, mixed in a very gentle solvent. The result is a lustrous but fully transparent finish, soft and pleasing to the touch.
Genevieve Flynn Studio
Genevieve Flynn
"The fluid lines and sensuous feel of the Art Nouveau era along with the beauty of nature is reflected in my work. Using nature as my inspiration, I endeavor to create expertly cra...fted heirloom jewelry and vessels. As an artist I receive gratification from working in noble metals that someday will be owned, displayed, utilized or worn by clients in their everyday life. I hope to have my artwork passed down from generation to generation. Over my 45-year career I have worked in gold, sterling silver, Argentium silver, precious stones and copper. I fabricate all of my work and use ancient metal techniques such as repoussé, granulation (a process that fuses gold to silver), saw piercing, Keum-boo a gold leaf application and many others are incorporated to add detail, interest and beauty.
I am a self taught silversmith continually striving to learn and hone my techniques and skills. I was trained as a goldsmith and moved into designing and creating my work in silver and gold in the late 1980's. I have particiapted in the American Craft Council shows as well as coordinated a national craft show in the Baltimore area for 10 years. My studio allows me to teach silversmithing workshops as well as bring national and international instructors in to offer workshops in their specialty of metals."Award winning silversmith, Genevieve Flynn, has been working in precious metals for 45 years creating hollowware and art jewelry family heirlooms. Flynn has been invited to create numerous private commissions, including an intricately repoussé hand mirror presented to music industry personality, Paula Abdul and a commemorative 1985 World Series pin for the late Ewing Kauffman, of the Kansas City Royals.
During her seven year employment as a bench jeweler she perfected her construction skills and went on to study the repoussé art form working under the Italian master instructor, Fabrizio Acquafresca and Valentin Yotkov, top artists in their field.
Genevieve has won many awards including a Saul Bell International Design Award in Hollowware/Art Objects as well as exhibiting her work across the world.
As a master chaser and silversmith, Flynn has dedicated a major portion of her career to teaching students the technical intricacies of working with precious metals.
Hetty Friedman Designs
Hetty Friedman
"It all started at age 13 when I took a weaving class at summer camp. It was like a miracle to me - you put gorgeous colored yarns on the loom and pull off a gorgeous piece of fabri...c. I am continually in awe of the process.
The surprises that emerge from combining different types of fibers and colors into one warp always amaze me. The simplicity of the grid combined with the limitlessness of the textures and hues keep seducing me to design my pieces.
I work mainly with bamboo, rayon and Tencel fibers. They weave into fabric that has a wonderful "hand," great drape, and resiliency. I often add unusual novelty yarns as supplemental warps.
Hand-painting warps allows me to create unique pieces in a limitless variety of colors. The warp threads are my canvas. While the warp and weft are at right angles, the applied dyes can flow and meld."Hetty fell in love with weaving at a Connecticut arts camp in 1966 and has never looked back. It has taken her through a degree in Visual Design (MFA), study and work in inventory control management (MBA), and a successful 30-year management career in the garment industry.
Utilizing her business savvy in a partnership with a Fair Trade weaver’s cooperative, she travels many times a year to Guatemala to teach Mayan back-strap weavers new techniques and to design products.
Hetty Friedman Designs was founded in 2009. Hetty's designs are sold in museum shops, boutiques, art events, and online.
Hetty’s main inspirations are the Bauhaus artists, Guatemalan indigenous weavers, Matisse, and Picasso. She often hand-paints her yarn, combining strong and unusual colors. Hetty weaves on a 36-inch 4 harness Le Clerc loom and an 8 harness Macomber loom which dominate the third floor studio in her Newton, Massachusetts home.
Hokanson Dix Glass
Bengt Hokanson & Trefny Dix
"Our sculptural forms incorporate vibrant color washes and vivid murrini patterns, making our minimal forms come alive. The colors, patterns and surface textures play off each other... creating a dynamic sense of movement. We often apply murrinis and cane to the surface of the form creating texture and light refraction. This refraction creates colorful patterns and reflections on the surfaces surrounding the piece, expanding its presence.
Our work is influenced by natural landscapes, marine life, modern painters like Rothko, Kandinsky, and Hodgkins, urban graffiti, world textiles, and patterns in nature.
"Bengt Hokanson graduated from Tulane University with a B.A. in Anthropology and a minor in Glassblowing. Trefny Dix graduated from Indiana University Bloomington with a B.F.A. in Sculpture and a B.A. in Art History. They met while working together at Studio Inferno, New Orleans, LA.
In 1996 they opened their first glass studio in Greenport, NY. After living and working in NC and CO, they now reside in East Hampton, NY.
Bengt and Trefny have exhibited their work at museums, galleries, and juried art shows nationally and regionally. Their work is included in many public and private collections across the US, Canada and Europe.
J Shannon Floyd Glass
J Shannon Floyd
"My hand-blown glass forms are simple, clean, and elegant. I draw inspiration from Scandinavian and Mid-Century Modern Design to create work meant to enhance your home and your life...style."J Shannon Floyd is a Boston based glass artist and a 2015 graduate from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She has spent the past five years working in a variety of glass studios in the Boston area while also traveling to work with glass artists around the country. She has received scholarships to take classes at Pilchuck Glass School, Penland, Haystack, and the Corning Museum of Glass. Additionally, she has been awarded the Rosenberg Residency for emerging glass artists at Salem State University. In the past year she has settled down to focus on developing and marketing a production line of hand blown glass pieces that range from functional to decorative at her studio in Cambridge MA.
Kent Oaks Pottery
Pam Berry
"Polka dots, stripes and curves. Earth, energy, and color. Most of my current work is influenced by modern artists from the 20th century. From Gene Davis’s stripes to the geometri...c forms of Bauhaus and Suprematism artists, I seek to embrace this aesthetic in functional pottery. Most of my work is slab built using a tan speckled stoneware. Many of the pieces are hand painted with underglazes, so that each kiln opening is filled with an abundance of color. Trying to enhance everyday with something useful and beautiful guides my work and hopefully brings joy to others."Pam took her first pottery class in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1979. Over the years, wherever she lived and worked, she sought out a local pottery studio so that she could continue to learn and create pots. Now, she is fortunate to spend many uninterrupted hours working in her home studio. Her work is sold in a number of galleries throughout the United States. She participates in a variety of national, regional and local shows, including most recently the American Craft Council Baltimore Show.
Meg Black Studio
Meg Black
"The subject of my art is nature. I am drawn to the colors and textures of the New England landscape, fields of wildflowers, rolling hills of golden rod, and in particular the primo...rdial pull of the sea. Not just any seashore, but the North Atlantic, with its harsh terrain, ice-cold water, and thunderous crashing waves. Here, rocks are thrown to the shore by an unrelenting tide. The metaphor of life is in this imagery-the rocks are harder than the water, but the water can be fiercer and can move the rocks at will. This is for me the metaphor for life, we long for the smoothness of the water, but are shaped by the steeliness of the rocks.
Using abaca (a plant fiber) and cotton pulp that I beat in my Hollander beater, combined with pure pigments, commercial paint, and pearlescent pigments, I create an array of textures and colors that imitates those found along the shoreline. In this way, I attempt to depict the emotional pull of the sea and to tell my story using simple materials much like a poet uses words. "Meg Black has been a practicing artist working with natural fibers for over thirty years. Her focus on nature’s palette, detailed compositions, and atmospheric perspective yield stunning landscapes, seascapes, and garden views. Her paintings are acclaimed for their textured surface and colorful luminosity.
Meg received a PhD. in Education from Lesley University, an MFA in Studio Art from the Massachusetts College of Art, and a BFA from the State University of New York, Oswego. She has extensive teaching experience. Currently, she is the Coordinator of Art Education at Salem State University.
Meg’s work has been included in multiple group and solo exhibitions and has been acquisitioned into private, corporate, healthcare, and public collections. Collectors of her work live as far away as Venice, Italy to the remote corners of northern Alaska.
As a widely acclaimed artist, Meg has been asked to contribute to several art publications including The Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, Salem State University Sextant, and Hand Papermaking Magazine. She has appeared on New England Chronicle and Home and Garden TV. She currently calls Topsfield, MA. home where she spends long hours cocooned in her attached studio.
ML Basket Designs
Marsha Leavitt
" I was originally attracted to basketry because I loved making a functional object that was beautiful. That was 35 years ago. I have made most of the kinds of baskets that people m...ake and used just about all the materials. I mostly worked with reed until about 6 years ago when I took a class in pine needle baskets. The freedom of form and beauty as well as the historical significance of pine needle coiling really inspired me to move more into the “art” of basketry. Many of my pieces are not technically “baskets” anymore. I am constantly discovering new ways to use shells, wood, old jewelry, stones, wire, gourds, resin, copper, clay, glass, sticks, fungus, iris and daylily leaves, walnut shells and other natural materials in my work. There just isn’t an end to the joy and inspiration I get from the creative process."Marsha retired in 2016 and made her 35-year hobby in basketmaking her full-time passion.
She has shown her work in several galleries, including Spectrum Art Gallery in Centerbrook, CT and Sawmill River Gallery in Montague, MA. Her work has also won several awards: 3rd place in the professional division of the Northeast Basketmakers Guild; 1st place in the mixed media category of the Arizona Gourd Society. One of her wall pieces is in the National Basketry Organization’s Every 1 show currently on-line.
Marsha is a long-time member of the National Basketry Organization and the Northeast Basketmakers Guild.
She served on the board of the Northeast Basketmakers Guild for 4 years and helped organized the annual gathering in 2019.
With a BA and MA in education, she is an excellent teacher. She has taught basket classes for Interterm at Smith College, for her guild retreat, at libraries and in her studio.
MyWorkshop
Steve Altman
"These small wooden boxes I make are a form of purposeful decoration - a bit of eye candy placed on a dresser, sitting on a desk, or perched on a table. Teasing the eye, they invite... a closer look, a glimpse of wood's infinite possibilities: sight and touch, color and shape, figure and texture, revealed aspects of natural wonder, a careful arrangement bound by art and simple human effort.
Plus, they hold things."Steven Altman has been working with wood for over 50 years - as an apprentice, cabinetmaker, studio furniture maker, project manager, owner of an interior design/build company in NYC, and for the last 20 years, making intricate, detailed boxes and cabinets out of unusual, exotic species.
He learned the craft by laboring in workshops, by heeding the instruction of experienced woodworkers who shared what they knew, and watching, from afar, the work of other expert workers who had no desire to share anything at all. He would haunt the stacks of NYC libraries to research old, dusty volumes of trade knowledge. He has never attended any design or art schools.
Steven has been featured in and on the cover of magazines, won prizes, and has work in collections across the USA.
And now his creations, small pieces of wood precisely fitted and joined and glued together, store tangible memories for those who find something like that appealing...
Naomi Grace McNeill Jewelry
Naomi Grace Mcneill
"Magic happens when design, fabrication, and efficiency meet and this is where I aim to mingle. I have been mildly obsessed with the hexagon shape for about 15 years. It is the most... structurally sound shape to build and the pattern possibilities are infinite. Even after all of this time, I still adore them."Naomi Grace McNeill is a designer and metalsmith in Portland Maine. She primarily works in gold, silver, platinum and copper. She earned a BFA in Metalsmithing and Jewelry from Maine College of Art in 2008. Naomi joined The Metals Collective in 2010 thru present and in 2016 her ‘Wasp Ring’ won a NICHE award.
Inspired by the delicate nature of honeycomb and an engineer at heart, she is captivated by the process of design and forming metal. Her work is fabricated using techniques such as forging, forming, filing and soldering. Her obsession with hexagons has become a framework within which she explores playful possibilities for the wearer and the viewer. This encourages a conversation about beauty, light, shadow, and movement: An elegant catalyst to inspire awareness of our effect on the world as we know it, the goal is to positively affect what it will become.
Sally Prangley
"Wire and paper— two materials I can’t get enough of! The wire serves as my outline, the paper as my illustration, filling in the details within the wire shapes. The titles of m...y artwork hint at the concepts behind them, most often life experiences, puns, or simply things I love. I use wire as fine as thread to as thick as rope. As for paper, if my scissors can cut it, I’ll use it. I appreciate the process of taking tightly coiled wire on a spool and combining it with flat paper and transforming these materials into unexpected 3-dimensional objects."Sally blends traditional basketry and wirework techniques to create her unusual wire objects. All work is done by hand, freeform, using only wire and whatever materials she includes in the construction, most often paper, found objects, or vintage beads.
Sally has drawn, painted, and created mixed-media art all her life and is largely self-taught. She minored in art history at Northwestern University and received her MBA in marketing from the George Washington University. Sally lives in her hometown of Seattle after many years on the east coast.
Emilie Pritchard
"I am fascinated by the possibilities of geometric form. Engineered structures and the forms of the microscopic world, including carbon nanotubes and molecular structures, provide i...nspiration. My primary material is metal tubes. I use tubes of sterling silver and 14 kt gold fill, handcutting them to the lengths I need to make the geometry work. I oxidize the silver tubes, because the dark metal enhances the bridge-truss-ish look of the jewelry. I join the tubes with a high-tech thread to build polygons, and build these into complex 3D structures. This technique produces pieces that hold their shape, but because they are not soldered into a single unit, they are not entirely rigid and can move with the body. The mathematical basis of the work provides clarity within complex designs, and it allows me to create pieces that enclose a large volume of space while remaining open and minimalist."Emilie Pritchard is a self-taught artist. Her academic training was as a lawyer but she spent 40 years in the sailboat business in Panama City, FL.
Her explorations into craft began with weaving. She focused on rugweaving, and began showing her geometric patterned rugs at art festivals, first around Florida but eventually at the Smithsonian Craft Show, Washington Fine Craft Show and other prestigious shows.
A magazine article about geometric beadwork started her on a new path. She began “playing” with beads, and found that, after years of flat geometric design she was fascinated by the possibilities in 3D geometry. She started with glass seed beads, but came to realize that longer, narrower beads showed off the structure of the work better. They kept getting longer and narrower, till now she cuts tubes of sterling silver, and builds chains of polyhedrons to form jewelry. She continues her explorations in that vein, pushing her limits and growing every day.
Jenne Rayburn
"As a goldsmith and enamel artist who studied interior design and architecture, I think of myself as both an artist and designer, however, design is my worldview; the lens through w...hich I view, evaluate and understand the world around me. Jewelry blends art and science, form and function, creativity and innovation. For me, the process of creation from researching to sketching, selecting materials and fabricating, is inspiring. Curiosity, problem solving, and my search for identity, motivates me to continually reimagine what is possible. I love to travel, meet people and hear their stories. I am passionate about history, and the connection I feel to past civilizations when using the ancient and revered techniques of enameling and metalwork. I am intrigued with the boundary between civilization and wildness. Mythology and folklore, mysticism and superstition, and the corresponding symbols, characters and stories that exist in every culture in every era, suggest the profound roots of our collective effort to come to terms with the world that surrounds us. My work combines drawing and painting with texturing and patterning, in a process of fusing thin coats of specially prepared ground glass to metal in a kiln, using high, controlled heat. I strive to create depth and luminosity with hand drawn designs and multilayered finishes that reveal different aspects of color and metal as they move. I also use three dimensionally formed metal, ink, luster, pencils, Limoges paints, mason stains and decals to achieve richly textured, curiously evocative and technically innovative contemporary work.
"Jenne Rayburn is a Boston-based goldsmith, enamelist and designer. She grew up in the farming country of southeastern Washington State, and studied art, interior design and architecture at the University of Washington and the University of Massachusetts. A lifelong artist and arts advocate, Jenne believes that the arts and crafts of our world are critical to the development of creative societies. History and tradition, vernacular design and indigenous peoples inspire Jenne's glass and metal work. Using traditional and innovative vitreous enamel techniques combined with steel, silver and copper, Jenne sees her work as narrative and she searches for meaning in the convergence of mythology, identity and ornament. She is fascinated with myths and folklore that recount heroic adventures and connect us to a larger purpose. These stories strive to express the mystery and complexity of the human experience and the relationships that influence and inspire us.
Thank you to our partners and sponsors:
