Seven Contemporary American Metalsmiths
April 12 - May 22, 1992
Johnson County Community College • Gallery of Art ChunghiChoo ''I believe that the sweeping movements Professional Experience: A.ttist-in Iowa City, Iowa of the bntsh in calligraphy have influ residence, head of metalsmithing, enced my work and give it a fl owing line Cranbrook Academy of Att, Bloomfield Born: Inchon, Korea, 1938 of energy. I like to see qualities of simplicity Hills, Mich., 1984-present Education : Bachelor of Fine Alts degree, and grace in my holloware. I like for each "Tbefield of meta/smithing is currently Ewha Women 's University, Seoul, Korea, piece to be used and thus to add pleasure extreme ly diverse. It encompasses people 1961; Master of Fine Alts degree, to daily life through heightened sensuous who are working f rom the holloware tra Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield ness and a feeling of celebration . " dition that deals with the vessel or an ori Hills, Mich., 1965 -Chunghi Choo entation toward volum e, to those who are Award/ Honor: National Endowment for dealing with architectural or environmen the Alts Fellowship , 1981 tal situati ons. I include myself in the latter Exhibitions: Tbe Mettle of Metal.-An group. Overview of Contemporary American "Tbe qualities in my work that I view as Meta/smithing , The Society of Arts and uniquely American are extremely impor Crafts, Boston , 1990; Craft Today USA, tant to me . Not only do I include the Europea n traveling exh ibition, organized American landscap e as subject matter, but by the A.tnerican Craft Museum, New York the work embraces the notion of fantasy , City, 1989-1992; Craft Today: Poetry of the of the tall tale, of playfulness. Though work Physical, traveling exhib ition, organ ized is designed, it is not an expression of by the A.tnerican Craft Museum, New York design concept. Rather, it reflects a less City, 1986-1988 rational approac h, a more fundamental sensibility such as, 'Hey, let's go build a Collections: A.tt Institute of Chicago; gate!"' Musee des Alts Decoratifs au Louvre, -Gary Griffin Paris, France; Museum of Modern Art, New York City; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City William Harper Tallahassee, Fla. Professiona l Experience: Professor and head of jewelry and metalsmithing area, Doors, Gary S. Griffin, 1989, stee l, Born: Bucyrus , Ohio, 1944 University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 81" x 66 11 x 2 1/2" , Cou1tesy of the artist Educat ion: Bachelor of Arts degree, 1968-present Master of Science degree, Western Gary S. Griffin Reserve Univers ity, Cleve land , 1966, Bloomfield Hills, Mich. 1967 Born: Wichita Falls, Texas, 1945 Awards/ Honors : National Endowment for Education: Bachelor of Alts degree , the Arts grant , 1974, 1978, 1979, 1980, California State University, Long Beac h, 1990 1968; Master of Fine Arts degree, Tyler Exhibitions: William Harper: Artist as School of A.tt, Temple University, Alchemist, traveling retrospective exh ibi Philade lphia, Penn ., 1974 tion, organized by the Orlando Museum of Awards/ Honors : National Endowmen t for A.tt, Orlando, Fla., 1989-1991; Craft Today: Poetry of the Physical, traveling exhib ition, the Arts grant, 1976; National Endowmen t organized by the American Craft Museum , for the Alts Fellowship, 1977 New York City, 1986-1988; Masterworks of Exhibitions: Explorations II, The New Contemporary American Jewelry: Sources Furni ture, American Craft Museum, New and Concepts, Victoria and Albert York City, 1991: Art Tbat Works, traveling Museum, London, England , 1985 exhibition, 1990-1993; Craft Today USA, Collections: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Europ ean traveling exh ibition, organized The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland; by the A.tnerican Craft Museum , 1989- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New 1992; Craft Today: Poetry of the Physical, York City; The Vatican Museum, Vatican traveling exhibition, organized by the A.tn erican Craft Museum , New York City, City, Italy; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London , England 1986-1988; Gary S. Griffin: Recent Works in Steel, Cranbrook Academy of Art Professiona l Experience: Professor, Florida Museum , Bloomfield Hills, Mich., 1985 State University, Tallahassee , Fla., Collections : New Mexico State University, 1974-1991 Las Cruces, N.M.; Robe1t L. Pfannebecker ''I hope to make techniques unimpor Collection, Lancaster, Penn .; Alfred and tant, unnoticed. I have to itse them, but I PeaceLily , Chun ghi Choo , 1982, silver-plated copper , Ma1y Shands, Louisville, Ky.; Tyler School don 't wish the viewer to wonde r how. I 23", Collection Mr. and Mrs. Milton H. Blakemo re of Att, Temple University, Philadelphia hope that then the idea, the conception , Lisa Norton Mesilla , N.M. Born: Cleve land, Ohio , 1962 Education: Bachelor of Fine Alts degree , Cleveland Institute of Att, Cleveland, 1985; Master of Fine Arts degree , Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfie ld Hills, Mich. , 1987 Awards/ Honors: Research Council Grant, New Mexico State University, 1990, 1991; Third Prize, Young Americans 1988, Atnerican Craft Museum , New York City Exhibitions: Talentborse Handwerk, International Handwerksmesse , Munich, Germany, 1992; Lisa Norton: Sculpture, Southeastern Center for Contempora1y Alt, Winston-Salem, N.C., 1991; Silver.· New Forms and Expressions Ill, Fo1tunoff, New York City, 1991; Ohio Perspectives, Akron Art Museum , Akron , Ohio , 1988 Choker # 78, Ma,y Lee Hu, 1991, 18-karat and 22-karat gold , 1 1/ 2" x 8 7/8" x 6 3/8", Cou11esy 1l1e Merrin Gallery, New York City Collections: Atnerican Craft Museum , New York City; Robe1t L. Pfannebecker can become fully realized , exposing a part Masterworks of Contemporary American Collection , Lancaster, Penn. of my inner mystery and spirit. I am an Jewelry: Sources and Concepts, Victoria assimilator. I borrow and change and and Albert Museum , London, England , Professional Experience: Faculty, New learn from past civilizations . I draw from 1985; Jewelry International 1900-1980 , Mexico State University, 1989-present the intimacy of Persian miniatures and House of Artists, Vienna, Austria, 1980; the complexity of their rugs, the power and Two-person Exhibition, Columbus magic of African assemblage sculpture, the Museum of Fine Alts, Ohio , 1977 delicacy of a Schwitters collage or cast-offs Collections : American Craft Museum , New of a Cornell construction , and the unnerv York City; Alt Institute of Chicago; ing achievements in gold and silverfrom Columbus Museum of Fine Arts, Ohio; countless past cultures. This is my heritage, Renwick Gallery , Smithsonian Institution, and I build on it. I want to give the viewer Washington, D.C.; Worshipful Company of so much to see that he becomes trapped by Goldsm iths, London , England his fascination with the object. The more you look, the more you see; the more you Professiona l Experience: President , Society see, the greater the desire to penetrate fur of North American Goldsmiths, 1977-1980; ther the trapped mysteries of the piece - a faculty, Univers ity of Washington, Seattle, labyrinth, a great complexity. " 1980-present - William Harper "For 25 years, I have been interested in the use of wires in processes usually associ Mary Lee Hu ated with the fibers field. Early on, I was enthralled with metal as a material, but Seattle , Wash. also liked small repetitive linear detail - Pray f or Rain, Lisa orton , 1989, blueprints , copper Born: Lakewood, Ohio, 1943 drawing with pen and ink rather than (41" x 55" x 55 1/ 2") Couttesy of the artist Education : Bachelor of Fine Arts degree , painting- and engraving or etching in "My works involve the parody of ordi Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfie ld printmaking. I loved metal, but not neces nary utilitarian objects. Thesefamiliar Hills, Mich., 1965; Master of Fine Arts sarily the smooth Scandinavian design memory triggers, artifacts of the low cul degree, Southern Illinoi s University, which was still popular when I started tural experience, are assigned a value dis Carbonda le, Ill., 1967 studying metal. When I took a fiber art proportionate to their intrinsic worth, due course for the first time in graduate school, to scarcity or impracticality . They embody Awards/ Honors: National Endowment for it occurred to me to do the intricate inter generic features which can allude to col the Alts Fellowship, 1976, 1984 lacing processes with wire. I could achieve lective or commonly held belief systems Exhibitions: Craft Today USA, European an even more crisp linear pattern with the and assumptions. Their ability to prompt traveling exhibition, organ ized by the hard-edge line of the wire than with yarns . nostalgic associations, the simultaneous Atnerican Craft Museum , 1989-1992; Craft I was not interested in color,just pattern , recognition of and disassociation from our Today: Poetry of the Physical, traveling and the play of light off the reflective sur collectivepast and present, interests me exhibition, organ ized by the American face. " most about these products. " Craft Museum, New York City, 1986-1988; -Mary Lee Hu -Lisa Norton house; in terms of mass and void, plane and volume, of open, welcoming shapes and of closed, protectiv e ones. I think about the transitions from inside to out side, about the shaping and enclosure of space itself A good bowl and a good house are both grounded in function , of the rightness andjl .ow of appropriate form. The reasoned arrangement of parts, the proportions tuned to the prop er balanc e, harmonious range of sizes within one composition, a related variousness, change and growth combine with stability and poise . A good house tells a story of time and space, and so does a good bowl or pot or vessel or container or whatever we call these small essays in form and formalism that I present to you. " Untitled, Sandra Osip, 1991, steel, 26" x 48" x 26", Cowtesy of the Hill Gallery, Birmingham , Mich. - William Underhill Sandra Jo Osip metal and form it. I used to sew when I Brooklyn, N.Y. was a child, and the idea of piecing it together, using rivets to hold the parts, Born: Detroit, Mich. , 1948 seemed right. So I got a little bit more Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, industrial with the organic ." Wayne State Unive rsity, Detroit, Mich. , -Sandra Osip 1972; Master of Fine Arts degree, Cranbrook Academy of Att, Bloomfield William Underhill Hills, Mich., 1983 Alfred , N.Y. Awards/ Honors: Creative Attist Grant , Born: Berk eley, Calif., 1933 Michigan Council of the Atts, 1986, 1989; Gold Medal, International Att Education: Bachelor of Arts degr ee, Competition, Los Angele s, Calif., 1984 Master of Arts degree , University of California , Berkeley , 1960, 1961 Big Bengali, William Underhill, 1986, bronze, Exhibitions: Sandra Osip: Sculpture, The 6" x 10 1/2 " x 10 1/ 2", Couttesy of the Gatth Clark Gallery, New York City and Kansas City Hill Galle1y, Birmingham, Mich., 1991; Awards/ Honors: New York Foundation for Carl Hammer Galle1y, Chicago, Ill, 1991; the Atts Fellowship, 1988; Nationa l Acknowledgment Endowment for the Atts Fellowship , 1986; Rosa Esman Galle1y, New York City, 1991; We are deeply appreciative of the enth usi Tiffany Foundation grant , 1964 Grounded Off the Floor, University of astic cooperat ion of all the artists included Michigan Museum of Att, Ann At·bor, Exhibitions: Craft Today USA, European in the exhibition. In add ition, we are Mich., 1990; All But Oil, Detroit Institute traveling exhib ition, organized by the indebted to Jack Lenor Larsen, New York of Atts, Detroit , Mich., 1986 American Craft Museum , New York City, City; The Franklin Parrasch Galle1y , New Collections: City of Detroit, Mich.; 1989-1992; Craft Today: Poetry of the York City; The Merrin Gallery, New York Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum , Physical, traveling exh ibition, organized City; The Hill Galle1y, Birmingham, Mich.; Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; First National by the American Craft Museum , New York and The Ga1th Clark Gallery, New York Bank of Chicago, Ill; Ray-0-Vac City, 1986-1988; The Vessel:Studies in City and Kansas City, for their respective collection Form and Material, The Craft and Folk assistance. Att Museum , Los Angeles , Calif., 1989; Finally, we wish to acknow ledge the Professional Experience: Independe nt Beyond Function, Tower Fine Arts genero us support of the Barton P. and artist, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1990-present ; art Galle1y, SUNY Brockport, N.Y. Ma1y D. Cohen Endowmen t for the teacher , Detroit Public Schools , 1974-1989 Collections: Atnerican Craft Museum , New Performing and Visual Arts. ''Myfather and I have been surrounded York City; Carnegie-Mellon Museum , Bruce Hartman , director by the automobile factory and steel Pittsburgh, Penn .; Cooper-Hewitt Gallery ofArt industry all of our lives, both where we Museum, New York City; Los Angeles Cover: February Fragmen t, William Harper, 1991, lived and worked. I feel this industrial County Museum of Att, Calif.; Oakland environment has been a direct influence gold cloisonne enamel on fine gold and fine silver Museum of Art, Oakland, Calif. with 24-karat gold, 14-karat gold, sterling silver, in molding my sensitivities and in struc Professional Experience: Faculty, New rubelite, pearl, 4 1/ 4" x 3", couttesy Franklin turing my work as a metalsmith-sculptor. Parrasch Galle,y , New York City In addition , I have studied the armor York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, N.Y., 1969-present Johnso n County Commun ity College collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts - Cultural Educat ion Center particularly the helmets - trying to under "! attempt small essays in form . I look at 12345 College Blvd. stand how they could take thick plates qf a bowl the way an architect looks at a Ove rland Park, KS 66210-1299