in the studio

for a perfect study women, children, toys, fruit, company Harriete in contrasts, consider the brands, and UPC codes. During my visit, Estel Berman home and studio of Harriete Berman and her part-time assistant, jeweler Estel Berman. Picture an Emiko Oye, were sorting through hundreds A colorful attractive house on a tidy of them in search of some artistic matches. hillside cul-de sac in San It was hard to keep away, despite Berman’s visit with Mateo, California. It differs warning to avoid the razor-sharp edges. the reigning from its neighbors with Individual tins of course must be its manicured miniature disassembled, which is harder than it looks, empress of tin Japanese garden in the requiring considerable hand strength, by jennifer cross gans front, and a second in back, sharp cutters, and heavy-duty pinking cultivated by Berman when shears. Cutting circles is particularly tricky. she needs relaxation and Die-forming and bending tin is also dif- contemplation. Propped at the front door is ficult, and as many as 50 percent of pieces a mammoth color pencil, a trailer for her split or crack in the process. Handling the latest artistic project. material is punishing, and usually requires Her studio, which occupies the garage, gloves. Fortunately, Berman is extremely is something else entirely. At first sight it well trained, with a BFA at Syracuse Uni- is the most cluttered, colorful, delightful, versity, an MFA in metalworking from the and potentially hazardous place I have ever Tyler School of Art, and more than seven encountered. Berman, an years as a bench jeweler, doing design and artist of many talents, is repair work. She knows from the inside out currently empress of tin. both how jewelry is made and how it can Several benches are fes- be deconstructed, and has both confidence tooned with bits and pieces in her abilities, and the courage to ”wing it.” of work in progress, and Tin is a ready-made medium for Ber- swathes of bright tin tops man, who combines technical skills and await sorting. Hanging from an artist’s eye with a well developed social the rafters are upside-down conscience. As a young woman she be- vintage tin doll houses. came—and still is—an outspoken feminist, Packed in between are the expressing her anger at women’s traditional usual tools of the jeweler’s roles in an outstanding series of handmade trade, including a soldering miniature, multi-media domestic appli- station; a long rack of pliers, ances. Today she is more sophisticated and snips, and pinking shears; cynical, but also more fun-loving. and a rolling mill, shear, One delicately critical masterpiece is and bending brake. a leaning stack of teacups, the kind your Berman has rarely met great-grandmother might have used for a piece of decorated tin afternoon tea, maybe cocking her little fin- she doesn’t like, and never ger. Overall, Berman has made more than one she can’t find a use for. 200 individual cups, not to mention teapots Harriete Estel Berman (left) “I’ve been working with tin for more than and other domestic items. This pile looks and assistant Emiko Oye sorting 20 years,” she says. “I may not like it, but wonkier than the leaning tower of Pisa, but tin pieces in her San Mateo, California studio. I keep everything because I may need it is firmly attached with rods or magnets. later.” She doesn’t buy sheets of preprinted Is it a riff on older traditions of femininity? material, but is not above scrounging for it, An outtake from Alice in Wonderland? Or like the time she wangled more than 100 a reflection of the fragile and outrageous free boxes of Penguin Caffeinated Mints. balance of our consumerist society, head She also has some 50 family members and over heels in love with “lifestyle”? Next to friends making donations of empty cookie, it are two oversize mugs filled with what candy, and other tins. appears to be foaming hot chocolate, both Despite what looks like clutter, Berman’s studio is extremely well organized. The Tin is a ready-made medium for larger flat sheets are carefully stored in Berman, who combines technical vertical racks. Later these are cut, sorted, skills and an artist’s eye with a and filed by color or subject, including men, well developed social conscience.

18 metalsmith | vol29 | no1 exuding “drink me!” but in fact filled with an experimental plaster and plastic mix concocted by Berman and Oye. Poking fun at national brands is a favor- ite pastime. Some of the more colorful ads show up in mini-sculptures, wall plaques, and picture frames, in the kids’ lunchboxes that Berman uses as purses, oversize beads, and her liberal use of manufacturers’ UPC codes. A series she is currently designing shows California brands, transformed into huge, often juicy bracelets. These will be marketed in miniature wooden crates, labeled with her personal brand, Bermaid. Another longtime passion of Berman’s is recycling. Early projects included tin bird houses, which she gave to friends and family. When she became dismayed at the amount of water her neighbors splashed on their lawns, she made table-sized lawn sculptures out of tin. These led to her recruiting three assistants (plus volunteers) to make a nine-foot-square “lawn” from 18-inch-square panels. The whole project comprised 32,000 tin grass blades, each mounted on an individual slit in the base, and took a year to finish. “A part of me can’t dispense with social accountability,” Berman admitted. When her son, now in college, had troubles in school, rebelling against standardized teaching and testing, she turned her laser beam eyes on the educational system. Her first shot was an installation called Measur- ing Compliance. Facing the corner was a work is amply documented on the web, in An assortment of tin boxes small desk and a third-grade chair covered handsome brochures, and the occasional awaiting dissection, along one wall of Berman’s studio. with a child-sized straitjacket. The floor was video. She’s also hoping to recruit other composed of used rulers, yardsticks, and jewelers interested in using the online craft recycled wood labeled with such dictatorial boutique etsy.com and is measuring its messages as “sit in your seat and be quiet,” effectiveness as a sales tool. She’s making a and a tin spelling list saying “Compete,” new, lower cost line for sale there, starting “Comprehend,” and “Compulsory.” with recycled tin earrings. Berman’s current project is even more To help her achieve mental and physical ambitious. She’s trying to collect 100,000 balance, Berman teaches an exercise class pencils, each of which will be hand drilled six times a week, tends her Japanese to make a 12-foot-wide x 25- to 30-foot-long gardens, and cooks gourmet meals. She is woven bell curve. “Testing is only one also reveling in the freedom that comes measure of performance,” said Berman. “It from sending two children off to college. affects all aspects of teaching, and it’s so For all her feminist attitudes, she played myopic. Why not see what kind of learners the major part in raising her son and the students are?” daughter. She also worked in her studio Berman is a relentless organizer. Though throughout their childhood. “When my assertive and on occasions sharp-tongued, son was only three months old I announced harriete estel berman she’s also a good role model, encouraging I needed a bending brake,” she recalled, “Williams Sonoma” bracelet, 2007 recycled tin cans, 10k gold rivets, to younger artists who admire her skill, forecasting her future career merging Plexiglas persistence, and marketing ability. Her motherhood, metal, and message. 5 1⁄2 x 4 1⁄2 x 1"

vol.29 | no.1 | metalsmith 19