Lewton-Brain Foldform Competition to Survey Global Influence of New Art Form

June 12, 2012 - PRLog -- The Lewton-Brain Foldform competition, sponsored by the Center for Metal Arts, will  survey foldforming as it has evolved since its invention in the 1980's. Foldforming is a recent artist's forming technique for working with sheet material, best described as a creative combination of origami and forgework.

The inaugural juried competition will select three entries for top honors. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2012. Entrants are asked to send images of up to three entries of foldform pieces in jpg format, 300 dpi and between 4 to 5 MG to lewtonbrainfoldformaward@gmail.com. The entrance requirements are listed on the www.centerformetalarts.website blog and on the Center for Metal Arts facebook page.

Pieces must be the artist's own work, although other materials, i.e. findings etc may be incorporated into the piece. The foldform may incorporate found objects and purchased objects, if they further develop the folded form. Judging will be based on excellence in execution, originality, and/or innovative development of a foldform family. These are awards for the well-executed work, the beautiful form, or the fresh idea that earns an appreciative nod of  “Well-done work”.

Winners will be named on August 6, 2012 at the Fifth Annual Charles Lewton-Brain Conference, at the Center for Metal Arts in Florida NY, and online at www.centerformetalarts.com/blog and Facebook/Center for Metal Arts. Judges for this inaugural competition are Charles Lewton-Brain, metal arts publisher and author Tim McCreight, and  Center for Metal Arts director Ed Mack. Awards will follow a preview screening of the competition entries at the Lewton-Brain Conference held in the lower Hudson Valley village of Florida, NY.  The annual conference is a small venue which offers artists the opportunity to work and learn with Charles Lewton-Brain in an intimate studio setting.

From its beginnings in the creative mind of young jeweler Charles Lewton-Brain, foldforming has gone on to become a favorite technique among jewelers and metal artists worldwide. The Center for Metal Arts launched this first annual Lewton-Brain Foldform Award  competition as a survey of how the foldform process has evolved as a technique, and how it continues to be incorporated in contemporary arts.

"As amazing as it may seem, nobody ever worked with metal this way in the more-than-10,000-year history of the craft.," wrote master jeweler Alan Revere in 1998. "Fold-forming is truly a new species derived from two disparate parents: the Japanese art of origami combined with traditional techniques of metalsmithing. All of the related procedures, which now approach 100 forms, are executed with a minimum of equipment: a rolling mill, a few hammers and a couple of stakes."

The Center for Metal Arts has launched the inaugural Lewton-Brain Foldform Competition in honor of the Governor General Award which was given to Charles Lewton-Brain this spring for his contribution to Canadian Arts and Crafts. In a craft tradition that has been secretive about sharing techniques, Lewton-Brain is well-known for his generosity in sharing his knowledge, and the Lewton-Brain Foldform Award will pass on that generosity with a celebration of the artists who are taking his ideas in new directions.