SilverWorksV (Updated
6/14/2003)
Saturday, August 23, 2003
SilverWorksV is scheduled for Saturday August 23rd, 2003, at SAS Founder Jeff Herman's live/work loft in Providence. A brunch and full dinner will be included at this event.
10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Brunch
12:00-1:00: Samuel J. Hough: Gorham Flatware of the Nineteenth Century
Gorham began making spoons from sheets of coin silver in 1831. During the next seven decades the techniques, the designs and the market grew with the Company. Hough will propose to talk about what we know about early Gorham flatware and how we know it.
He began his interest in Gorham silver when hired to appraise the gift of Gorham's historical archives to Brown University in 1986. About 1988 he noticed a box of file cards indexing the costing records for making flatware. After transcribing these cards and some of the records themselves, and then had indexed the files of photographs, and had incorporated the entries in the U.S. Patent Office, he thought he had a book. About fifteen years--and thousands of pieces of Gorham flatware seen and handled --later, Hough had some ideas and even more questions than ever.
Hough was educated at Kenyon College, studied at the University for Foreigners, Perugia, The Middlebury Italian School, and have advanced degrees from Columbia and Brown Universities. He was a Fellow of the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, the Villa i Tatti for two years, 1972 to 1974 researching private libraries in fifteenth century Florence. He has worked a various levels of librarianship--from Janitor in an Army Library to Assistant Librarian of the John Carter Brown. Since 1981 I have been a self-employed book-seller. He has published books entitled The Italians and The Creation of America, The Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection at Hamilton College, A Catalogue of Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Maps and Drawings, 1521-1860, and co-authored Magnificent, Marvelous Martele for The New Orleans Museum of Art. Hough has published bibliographical notes, articles on Marsilio Ficino, and various subjects in Silver Magazine. Most recently, he has published a set of eight CD-Rom of Gorham biennial catalogs 1880-1909. And he has told people for fifteen years that I would publish a Guide to Gorham Sterling Flatware of the Nineteenth Century.
1:00-3:00Munya Avigail Upin: Woven Metal Techniques
SAS Artisan, Munya Avigail Upin, will demonstrate textile techniques which can be translated into metal. These techniques include weaving, twining, knotless netting, chain "knitting" and braiding. The processes demonstrated may be applied to jewelry, functional objects or sculpture. Samples will be executed in copper, brass, silver and aluminum, but techniques may be translated into gold, or refractive metals as well.
Upin is an metalsmith and educator , living in the Boston area. Born in Faribault, Minnesota, Upin received her BFA from Drake University, a MA from San Diego State University and a MFA from California State University, Fullerton. She was "artist in residence" at the Oregon School of Arts and Crafts and has taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas; Penland School of Crafts and the Massachusetts College of Art, just to name a few. Upin is an award-winning metalsmith who has exhibited nationally and internationally for 29 years. Her exquisite metalwork is in private and public collections throughout the United States and Europe.
3:00-3:15: Break
3:15-3:45: Laurie Ackerman: Silver Appraiser for Informal and Detailed Appraisals
Ackerman, who has a degree in jewelry & silversmithing from RISD, studied with Jack Prip, Harold Schremmer, and Louis Mueller. She has specialized in silver appraisal for 25 years, and exhibits silver at shows in New York, Chicago, Miami, Boston, and Baltimore. Her areas of expertise are American victorian flatware, especially unusual servers, Georg Jensen, and fine holloware. Appraisals start at $25 and go up with complexity of identification.
4:00-5:30: William Hicks: Photographing Reflective Objects Inexpensively
William Hicks has been photographing professionally for over ten years. As one of the original co-founders of an award winning Boston studio in 1997, he has, since 2001, gone on to open his own studio in the heart of southern New England: Providence, RI.
After Art school in Boston in the early nineties, Hicks worked as a freelance wedding photographer for a few years before setting up a small studio in South Boston. He was the first photographer in over One Hundred years to be commissioned to photograph the historic renovation of the cupola dome at Faneuil Hall in Boston. He photographed such other historic Boston Landmarks such as Boston's King's chapel, and most recently the RI State House in Providence, RI.
As of late, Hicks photographs a fairly diverse range of images including weddings, corporate advertising, and editorial stock. My other photographic endeavors take me around the country and the world, shooting assignments for my many clients who need new imagery for an ever-changing marketplace.
5:30-6:30: Jeff Herman: Answering Questions on Silver Restoration
Hererman's business has been under sole proprietorship since 1984 and has built a reputation of quality craftsmanship with a special sensitivity towards the restoration and conservation of fine metalware. He have repaired & reconstructed everything from disposal-damaged flatware to historically important tankards, tea services & tureens.
He considers himself an environmentalist, using the safest, non-toxic, organic products on the market. The workshop is state-of-the-art in safety and cleanliness.
Herman's experience includes the restoration and fabrication of silverware at Pilz Ltd. in Providence, Rhode Island, and as a designer, sample maker, and technical illustrator at Gorham, Inc., also in Providence. He has a BFA degree in silversmithing and jewelry making from the Maine College of Art in Portland.
Bring damaged pieces with you. He'll help you perform your own repairs! at his new live/work loft in Providence to assist in silver repair and cleaning issues.
6:30-7:30: Dinner
7:30: Presentation of the Forth Hans Christensen Sterling Silversmith Award
Cost
$75 (Non-Members)
$60 (Current SAS Members)
Payment Due Date
Your non-refundable payment is due August 14, 2003. Limited to 30 people. Confirmation and directions to SAS will be mailed to you.
Questions
E-mail SilverWorks
401/461-6840 (8:00am-8:00pm EST)
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