Mixing with the Makers in Baltimore

Day two and after a dose of rest I hurried back to the convention center, thanks in part to a stiff wind carrying me along, for another look at the fantastic work on display at the American Craft Council's show. After 33 years, word gets around and once again, the crowds showed up, keen to see more high-end craft. The weekend seemed to draw more people so it was a bit of a challenge to navigate through the aisles but the anticipation of meeting and speaking with the artists spurred me on. Without further ado, here's more on some of the sights and happenings.

On Friday, Awards of Excellence were presented to six artists for the overall quality of their work and two artists for "Best Booth Design." The guest jurors were Elizabeth Agro, Associate Curator of American Modern and Contemporary Craft and Decorative Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art and Jacqueline T. Copeland, Director of Education and Public Programs, the Walters Art Museum. There were several first time exhibitors selected, a warm welcome for them into the wide world of crafts. I'd like to share with you a little about the artists and their work.

Jacob Albee (Booth 520) a goldsmith from Burlington, Vermont, works primarily in 18 karat gold mingled with meteorite and accented with white and canary diamonds with one especially striking piece featuring a rhodalite garnet. His pieces are at once classic and contemporary and as Albee notes "often described as pretty masculine." Raised in the woods of Vermont and originally on track to be a raptor biologist, he takes inspiration from wildlife since "nature is the closest thing to divine inspiration." In a different vein, his jewelry made from neoprene rubber, the stuff of wet suits, is entirely pliable and can be manipulated to conform to the wearer, clasped together either with 22 karat gold and sterling silver or meteorite and color diamonds. Having had the benefit of working in a gallery that sold many of the Baltimore exhibitors' work (Grannis Gallery), he expressed his deep gratitude to the many, too numerous to name here, who have nurtured and supported him on his creative path.

Previously making home accessories from the same three materials he now employs-wood, metal and concrete- Peter Harrison of Middle Grove, New York (Booth 625), constructs unique furniture that is "bold from across the room with more to see close up." Interested in subtleties, Harrison draws pencil lines on his "Carbon" hall table of mahogany wood underneath the finish, creating a harmonious blend of the unexpected with a very familiar material. His new work, "Slab Sofa Table," is mahogany atop concrete that's based on and anchored together with metal. Now trendy, until a few years ago, if anyone thought much about concrete it was associated with pavements, buildings and the like, but Harrison's designs and unusual combination of elements seamlessly intersect in furniture that is clean and modern, transcending materials.

Jeweler Emanuela Duca of New York City (Booth 609) is keeping the American dream alive. She arrived from Rome, Italy, 11 years ago with only her dog, not speaking a word of English and no contacts in the States. Duca's early pieces with high polish surfaces were influenced by the rich heritage of Italian jewelry design but to break free of the constraints of classical Italian forms she came to America to "grow as a person." Her latest collection of oxidized silver with small diamonds, titled "Sand," is highly textural, illustrating her evolution into three-dimensional surfaces.

Another first-time exhibitor and award recipient, ceramist Ani Kasten (Booth 1222), enjoys joining different clays together in her large-scale sculptural pieces. In her astounding "Glacier" series, seemingly fragile and pure white pieces of porcelain rim vessels of gritty, earthy black stoneware, creating the allusion of ice breaking apart and drifting. Kasten embraces the inevitable imperfections and cracks that occur during production, lending an appealing, spontaneous quality to her work. She also brought along some smaller scale functional pieces, my favorite being her candleholders made of basalt she carries away in buckets from the Vulcan Mines in Warrenton, Virginia. They look heavy but are unpredictably lightweight. Vulcan Mines? Curiously, Kasten told me her candleholders are part of actor Leonard Nimoy's collection. Beam me up Scotty!

"Way up there in the mountains" between Asheville and Boone, North Carolina, is where you can normally find first-time exhibitor and award winner Ian Kessler-Gowell (Booth 1412), who is half-way through a three-year residency at the EnergyXchange, a renewable energy center that turns trash into treasure in Burnsville. Kessler-Gowell makes glass that will grace any home and "works in all directions-functional and decorative". Some of his strongest forms include his sturdy, footed bowls with vibrant interior colors. Biomorphic and whimsical, I was charmed with his pitchers (aka watering containers) that are simultaneously functional and decorative.

Another new artist, ceramist Justin Rothshank (Booth 1506), from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also won an Award of Excellence. Rothshank is a cofounder of the Pittsburgh-based Union Project, a nonprofit job training for youth and community educational program center. Occupying 15,000 square feet of an old church building he helped renovate, the center operates a cooperative and houses a clay studio where Rothshank and his colleague, Saeeda Brown, produce pieces for sale. Rothshank is currently combining laser transfer techniques with the old ceramic decal process, adding dimension to his work, largely cups and plates, whose contents are equal parts playful and political. From flower and fauna to Lincoln and Obama, all his pieces are functional with interesting and engaging patterns. I especially liked his eye-catching Obama plate with a laser transfer portrait entirely surrounded by a popping gold pattern of decals.

After catching up with six of the award winners, I rediscovered some of the searchlight artists in their expansive, homey atmosphere designed by Amy Shaw of Greenjeans.

Stacey Lee Webber's one-of-a-kind "Fancy Work Series" of jeweler's tools are replicas in twisted wire, including pliers that while fragile, actually function. Through her new work-transforming American coins into intriguing jewelry and sculpture-Webber hopes to illustrate the value of labor, a poignant topic considering the current economic news.

Interested in the material of fiber and its meaning, Annica Leah Cuppetelli creates installations where the viewer can interact with the fabric by walking through her creations or by being surrounded by the material. Usually unseen in quilts and pillows, who knew that when exposed and in the hands of a skilled artist, polyester batting could be the stuff of such impressive sculptures!

Jeweler and metal sculptor Maya Kini enjoys exploring materials that always seem to be in flux. Her "Golden Funnel," is a good example since it started from a coin that was melted down, became something else, and could conceivably be "funneled" into another incarnation, perhaps as a tooth!

Richard Saja hand embroiders patchworks onto old, high-end French toiles, referencing historical stitching styles-maritime crochet or cross-stitch-juxtaposed with contemporary iconography. "Basically," says Saja, "I like to use scraps and hate to throw anything away." The results are a fascinating and strange hybrid.

Influenced by modern interior design and architecture, the simple lines and muted colors of Hiroe Hanazono's slip-cast porcelain serving dishes, cups, plates and bowls serve as a pedestal for food, transcending a visual aesthetic to highlight the significance of objects used in daily life.

Did I mention food? Hmmm, it's been a long, exciting day but before things take a turn for the worse I believe it's time for dinner!

But wait, tomorrow is another day. Stay tuned for more news and views from the convention floor.