Metal – Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

Adam Whitney

Rene Henry — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 19:23:24 +0000

Adam Whitney, a Vermont native, began his arts education at Pratt-Munson Williams Proctor in Utica, NY, and earned his BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. He taught jewelry design at Raffles College in Kuala Lumpur for two years, using his time in Southeast Asia to travel widely and immerse himself in regional craft traditions.

Adam specializes in traditional metalsmithing techniques—raising, chasing, and repoussé—through which he transforms metal sheets into intricate sculptural vessels, inspired by historical metalwork. His expertise has led to collaborations and presentations with institutions like the Harvard Art Museums and the Getty Villa Museum. After completing a three-year residency at Penland School of Craft, Adam established his studio in western North Carolina, where he continues to create and teach workshops in metalsmithing.

To learn more about Adam Whitney, visit https://aw-metalsmith.com/.

Adam’s residency was generously sponsored in part by Sue & Bob Schwartz.

Dongyi Wu

Rene Henry — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 16:19:05 +0000

Dongyi Wu is a Chinese-born contemporary jewelry artist, who received her Master’s Degree in Metal and Jewelry Design from Rochester Institute of Technology in the United States, and her Bachelor’s Degree in Jewelry Art Design from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China. Dongyi’s jewelry practices have been greatly influenced by fashion, which she incorporates garment making skills and fashion elements into her jewelry works, and focuses on exploring the relationship between human bodies and their surrounding spaces. By using a wide range of unconventional materials, Dongyi creates her narrative jewelry pieces with expressive language that is inspired by literature, her own experiences, and research into psychology. While at HCCC, Dongyi will continue working on her “Passerby” collection, which focuses on transferring impressions on streets into artworks that can be worn.

Dongyi has recently completed her artist-in-residence at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, AR, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN, and Contemporary Craft in Pittsburg, PA. Dongyi has her works exhibited worldwide, including Schmuck 2018 in Germany, Joya 2020 in Spain, and six national and international solo exhibitions. Her work is carried by Metal Shop of Baltimore Jewelry Center in Baltimore, Amaranto Joies in Barcelona, Spain, Equinox Jewelry Gallery in San Antonio, Arrowmont Gallery in Knoxville, and The Silver Fern in Cookeville.

To learn more about Dongyi Wu, visit https://www.dongyiwu.com/.

Dongyi’s residency was generously sponsored in part by Edward R. Allen & Chinhui Juhn.

Kerianne Quick

Rene Henry — Sat, 04 Dec 2021 04:20:23 +0000

Kerianne Quick is a Californian craftsperson and associate professor of jewelry and metalwork at San Diego State University. Quick received her Bachelor of Arts in applied design from SDSU, and her Master of Fine Arts in metal from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has received numerous grants, including a Kinley Fellowship and SDSU University Project Grants. Quick co-founded and edits the zine/journal CRAFT DESERT with professor Adam John Manley (SDSU), does curatorial projects under Secret Identity Projects with professor Jess Tolbert (UTEP), and is the co-author of the (Affective) Craft Manifesto. Highlights from her exhibition record include those at the Museum of Art and Design (NYC), Museo Franz Mayer (CDMX), the National Museum for Women in the Arts (D.C.), Salon del Mobile (Milan), and Design Week Amsterdam. Quick’s work is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Netherlands Design Museum (Stedelijk). Her research is rooted in exploring craft as cultural phenomena, with an emphasis on jewelry and personal adornment. At HCCC, Quick will work on a new series exploring the intimate bonds of friendship and the impact of physical separation spurred by the pandemic.

Learn more about her work at https://kerianne-quick.com/.

Nash Quinn

Rene Henry — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 22:04:51 +0000

Nash Quinn is a metalsmith who specializes in pattern-formed enameled vessels and small-scale mechanisms. Originally from Wyoming, he received his BFA from the University of Wyoming and his MFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. He works with a variety of traditional materials, including copper, enamel, and sterling silver, and his work is about joy–the simple joy he experiences in design, process, and craft. He hopes that the objects he makes can carry that joy, and transmit a bit of it to others. At HCCC, he plans to explore the boundaries of the pattern-formed-vessel format.

Quinn teaches, lectures, and exhibits his work at craft schools, jewelry academies, and universities nationwide. He was a professor of jewelry and metalsmithing at Rowan University and Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute and has taught workshops at Peters Valley School of Craft, Creative Side Jewelry Academy, and Haystack Mountain School of Craft, among many others. His work has been featured in exhibitions, including 40 Under 40: The Next Generation, at the National Ornamental Metal Museum; Imagine Peace Now, created by Boris Bally; as well as Philadelphia: Then and Now 1950-2019 and RINGS!, both organized by Helen Drutt. Learn more about Quinn’s work at www.nashquinn.com.

Chloe Darke

Rene Henry — Tue, 04 May 2021 04:25:46 +0000

Chloe Darke is originally from Groveland, Massachusetts. Her work combines traditional metalsmithing techniques with nontraditional media, including silicone, cultivated fungal colonies, and sound installation. Her pieces, which reference an assortment of instruments and surgical tools of the past, are centered on the activities that take place in a fictional laboratory or examination room. The objects have no specific function and are fantastical, ambiguous, and/or impractical. She looks forward to continuing to explore these ideas in her residency at HCCC, as well as connecting with the greater arts community of Houston.

Darke received her Master of Fine Arts in metalsmithing and jewelry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May, 2019, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts in metalsmithing and jewelry from Maine College of Art in May, 2011. From 2011 – 2016, she was employed as a silversmith at Old Newbury Crafters in Amesbury, Massachusetts, where she and her coworkers were featured in “Forge,” an episode of the PBS television series, Craft in America. After graduating with her masters, Darke was a lecturer in the Metals and Contemporary Art Jewelry department at the University of Wisconsin-Stout for the 2019-2020 academic year. Currently, she is based in Upperville, Virginia, and is the metals studio assistant at Ayrshire Farm. Her work was recently on display in Contemporary Connections: Mastery in Metal, at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art; Disrupt, at the Craft Council of British Columbia; and Object Permanence, at the Baltimore Jewelry Center. To learn more, visit https://chloedarke.com/home.html.