Big Things in Small Metals: New Steel Jewelry Courses at the Center for Metal Arts

WARWICK, N.Y. - May 2, 2015 - PRLog -- For spring and summer 2015, the Small Metals Program at the Center for Metal Arts is bringing six well-known visiting instructors to the Hudson Valley for one-day or weekend workshops, in addition to the ongoing workshop series in steel jewelry.

Berkeley-based jeweler Alison Antelman will teach a Custom Clasps workshop for intermediate to advanced jewelers on June 13-14. Alison Antelman's award-winning work is in galleries and she teaches primarily on the west coast. We are fortunate to have this master jeweler for a one-time workshop for east coast artists. In her own work, Alison Antelman's refined clasps become well-crafted elements on the jewelry piece, beautiful in design and execution. This class is for jewelers who want to refine their work with this seasoned mentor. Antelman  will discuss a variety of solutions to link your custom-made clasp to the rest of your piece, including how to customize terminals and findings. Students are expected to go with their own design inclinations in order to explore new ideas in creating cohesive finished jewelry. Step-by-step handouts are supplied along with samples to play with.

The annual mid-summer Foldforming Intensive at the Center for Metal Arts in downstate New York brings the celebrated foldforming pioneer Charles Lewton-Brain to the USA on July 24-26, 2015 for three information-packed days. This year's theme is Foldforming for Vessels, looking at the families of folded forms as compositional elements and methods of connection. This workshop will explore the many applications for vessel forming, pods and other enclosing forms, using the endless variations possible from the essential families of the folded form.

The full workshop includes hands-on time studio sessions, based on close-up demonstrations and talks with Charles Lewton-Brain.  Full registrants will spend one day in design and two days in execution in the Center for Metal Arts studio. Students are encouraged to bring their own work, finished or unfinished, for informal feedback and ideas for further developing the piece. Attendees can also come for the informal talks and close-up demonstrations with Charles Lewton-Brain, with no hands-on studio sessions. One-day passes are also available online, along with the full registration package at http://www.centerformetalarts.com/small-metals-workshops.....

Dan Neville, who taught a filled workshop on Mokume Gane at the Center for Metal Arts, is back with a class on Raising. A graduate student at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Dan Neville has taught numerous classes and workshops focused around forming and alloying metal.

Salt-Etching Steel with Ben Dory on August 15-16 will explore alternatives to acid etching through the use of various salts that achieve the same results. Using a less caustic process allows for the freedom to use a wider array of non-toxic resists. The end result is safer work environment with great potential for a multitude of surfaces. Each student will employ several methods to create small etched pieces perfect for jewelry or display.

On September 24-27, Jason York teaches Chasing and Repoussé, used most commonly to create surface embellishments for jewelry, holloware and other sheet metal objects. This two-part class begins with making one's own set of chasing tools, hand-forging tool steel over an anvil and subsequently polishing and heat treating these tools. The class will then learn the art of chasing and repoussé with the use of various backing materials including pitch, wax, leather and wood. The materials fee includes a pitch bowl full of pitch, a donut, and tool steel for making tools-- all of which the students will take home to jump start their own work in chasing and repoussé.

On October 23-25, Tom Muir will lead a hands-on workshop on Hinges and Joints: Standard, Invisible & Universal for the jeweler and metalsmith. Through technical demonstrations, discussions, slides and an examination of various samples, special emphasis will be placed on problem-solving and creative applications for a variety of formats and approaches. Engineering principles of hinges will be discussed, along with useful soldering and fabrication strategies which can be applied to numerous procedures in the jeweler’s and metalsmith’s studios.

Throughout the visiting artist series, Laurie Marshall, head of the Small Metals program, teaches ongoing workshops on studio techniques for working with steel. Each class is designed to provide studio experience in essential skills, and students can use any workshop as an entry-level introduction to small metal skills, with practice in sawing, piercing. filing, sanding, soldering and finishing. From a Powdercoating workshop on how to do this contemporary surface decoration in the home studio, to building kinetic action with the low-tech yet essential metalsmith's skill of Riveting, and a weekend Soldering tutorial, Ms. Marshall offers a well-rounded program of the skill sets for the small metals artisan. The popular Pendant class on July 18  introduces basic processes in metal design, transfering images from paper to metal and make a pendant out of brass, copper or steel by cutting, drilling, filing, sanding, texturing and finishing.

"In small metals you may find that you're more artistic than you think," says Laurie Marshall. "Many students in the beginning metals program surprise themselves by what they can make. While discovering technique students are discovering themselves. The work is a tool to tap self-expression that they didn't know they had."

In Fall 2015, Laurie Marshall is launching a Foundation Series of entry level classes in steel as a medium for fine art in the small metals. The Foundation Series can be taken in any sequence, and every class is an introduction to the fundamental skills of jewelry in steel.

The Center for Metal Arts is a community of metal artists, makers, and students exploring new skills or mastering advanced techniques in the metal arts. Established in 2003, the Center for Metal Arts attracts resident, regional and international instructors, and the staff includes award-winning blacksmiths and designers, studio techs and support staff.

Two major learning tracks offer beginner to advanced workshops in Blacksmithing and Small Metals, and a strong visiting artist program contributes to an ongoing mission to add diverse topics and talents to the foundation curriculum. Easy online registration and the full course schedule is at http://www.centerformetalarts.com/small-metals-workshops.html.

Located in New York's picturesque Warwick Valley, the Center for Metal Arts is accessible by bus from NYC, and is near major highways and airports.