Author
Deborah Norton
Articles and Videos by Deborah Norton:
Gerda Flöckinger: First Lady of British Jewelry
Starting in the early 1950s, Gerda Flöckinger worked to change the face of British jewelry. Others joined her fledgling crusade, only to drift off to other fields, or to other countries, where the contemporary jewelry movement was more established. Only…
A Conversation with Michael Rowe
Michael Rowe uses functional containers as a base from which to explore formal studies of space, form and balance, which are enhanced by his expressive use of patination. His holloware gains strength from the fact that he is not distracted…
Japanese Esthetics on American Crafts
Undeniably, American crafts of the 20th century have been influenced by Japanese esthetics. From raku to mokumé, American crafts would not be what they are today without the Japanese connection. So, when I moved to Japan two years ago, I…
The Bauhaus Metal Workshop, 1919-1927
In this article Deborah Norton traces the rise and fall of this seminal 20th-century school. Although Bauhaus policy revolved around personalities and philosophies, it nonetheless embarked on an influential experiment of incorporating the principles of art with the economies and…
Naum Slutzky Jewelry at the Bauhaus
From 1919-23 the Bauhaus also had a jewelry workshop run as a private enterprise by Naum Slutzky. He was on the of the only teachers at the Bauhaus at this time that was both an artist and a technician. Born…
The School for American Craftsmen (SAC)
The history of the School for American Craftsmen (SAC) can be seen as a microcosm of the history of the post World War II craft movement. Because of this a study of the former can help illuminate the latter. This…
David Paul Bacharach – Weaving in Metal
David Paul Bacharach is a part of the growing contingent of American metalsmiths who are challenging the Modernist tradition of vesselmaking (see “American Holloware, Changing Criteria” by Jamie Bennett, Metalsmith, Summer 1984). He has managed to avoid the principles of…
Jewelry Design: New York State Artists Exhibition
For the “Jewelry Design” show at the Johnson Museum of Art, Louise Porter, Coordinator of Crafts, selected both jewelry and sculpture by New York State artists. She was especially drawn to artists oriented toward jewelry design but working in the…
Gallery Directors’ Role on Metalsmithing
In the world of fine art, galleries wield enormous power. Galleries such as Castelli, Knoedler and Marlborough, through the artists they choose to show, dictate which artists and styles are “in” or “out,” which work will receive the most publicity,…
The Arts and Crafts Movement
“It is allowing machines to be our masters and not our servants that so insures the beauty of life nowadays.” Ironically, this quote does not come from a contemporary philosopher decrying the computer age, but rather, from William Morris, the…
1984 SNAG Conference Review
On the second day of the 1984 Society of North American Goldsmith’s conference held in June in New York City, the pragmatic theme of “Art and Industry” was briefly abandoned and esthetic concerns came to the forefront. For one-and-a-half hours…
Ancient Inspirations: Contemporary Interpretations
When I first heard about the craft show “Ancient Inspirations: Contemporary Interpretations,” I was impressed. The press information packet that I was sent by Metalsmith, when asked to review this exhibition, struck me as highly professional, obviously put together by…