Craft in America Jewelry Episode 42.4
TOM HERMAN shows Craft in America enamel samples in his Stone Ridge, New York studio. HARRIETE ESTEL BERMAN works with tin in her San Mateo, California studio. Photographs by Denise Kang except where noted. ART SMITH (1917–1982). Courtesy of the estate of Art Smith. GABRIELLE GOULD works with bird feathers to create her jewelry in her St. Augustine, Florida studio. JESSE MONONGYA (Navajo/Hopi) in his Scottsdale, Arizona studio.
PURPLE THISTLE BRACELET by Tom Herman of eighteen karat yellow gold, holly agate, demantoid garnets, and diamonds.
Television is, perhaps, the least likely place you would find an authentic exploration of handmade jewelry, but the times, they are a changin’. The PBS series Craft in America, produced and directed by Carol Sauvion, has vaulted this human tradition into the public sphere, and through perseverance and hard work has brought the reality of American craft into the homes of people across the country.
The latest pair of episodes, titled Jewelry and Harmony, delve into two very different ends of the craft spectrum. Harmony investigates the tradition of musical instrument making in the United States, from bows of classical stringed instruments, to the folk roots of accordions in the deep South. Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, as William Congreve would say, but it is the brooch which is pinned there.
A representation of jewelrymaking from the point of view of the craftsperson is the grounding that makes the episode tick. With the introduction of the first artist, master jeweler Tom Herman, we receive the background of someone who worked and worked and worked and worked to reach this point in his career. The formative experience of his life was his employment by Larry van Craeynest, the owner of a jewelry manufacturing company on Mission Street in San Francisco. Far from the independent, self-directed image of the studio jeweler, Craeynest coordinated and managed a cohort of employees to produce beautiful rings, bracelets and other accoutrements.
IDENTITY BRACELET: TRIANGULAR METALLIC GOLD WITH LINEAR MOTIF by Harriete Estel Berman. Photograph courtesy of the artist.
Herman retells what must be a familiar story, of humbly ringing the buzzer of Craeynest’s fourth-floor establishment and being greeted with a gruff request to slide his resume underneath. There the story might have ended, but rather than remaining closed, the door opened, revealing an awe-inspiring sight to the young applicant.
The description that follows from Herman is evocative, with an attention to small details that fills the mind’s eye with a clear vision. Yet one needs no imagination to fill in the gaps; this is television, and still photographs and present-day video expand and accentuate the image Herman paints. This moment is one of many in the episode, where a light-hearted, contemporary soundtrack, carefully chosen pictures and well-edited film comes together rhythmically to draw the audience in.
It is this natural flow, paired with a diverse cross-section of the contemporary art jewelry world, which makes this episode of Craft in America compelling and enlightening. After we explore more of the jewelrymaking process with Herman, including the modern day masterpiece of the Matilija Poppy brooch, a project he and enamelist Patsy Croft orchestrated to raise money for the Mendocino Art Center, the episode makes its way to the story of a quite different craftsperson.
Harriete Estel Berman, previously featured in Ornament Volume 42, No. 1, is an environmental activist with a bold voice and a no-nonsense attitude. Her work is both beautiful and makes a statement, and she’s not shy about expressing that. Using recycled materials, including vintage tins and salvaged plastic food containers, this unlikely assortment of media is transformed into bright and sassy bangles and sea creature-like bracelets and boas.
In the episode, she explains the deleterious details behind black plastic. As most recycling centers use a certain type of optical scanner to sort out different types of plastic, the color black, invisible to these cameras, ends up going right back into the waste stream. Waste and garbage are words that she places into her monologue with deliberate poise, drawing attention to a likewise invisible aspect of society that many of us would prefer to ignore.
ELLINGTON NECKLACE by Art Smith of silver, chrysoprase, rhodonite, green quartz, amethyst, ca. 1962. Photograph courtesy of the estate of Art Smith.
The journey through contemporary art jewelry takes a departure from the present day after Harriete, traveling back to the classical modernist work of the seminal African-American jewelrymaker, Art Smith. Smith’s work is sensual and organic, with curving lines and spirals rendered in silver and other metals. His jewelry follows the body, caressing and embracing it, and in these minimalistic forms one can tell that Smith’s goal was to elevate the female form. Reminiscent of other modernist artists of the time, including Alexander Calder’s forays into jewelry, what was unique to Smith’s vocational path were the challenges and triumphs that led him to being one of the few Black Americans to blaze the trail.
Historians, close friends and other African-American jewelry artists paint a living portrait of his life. The most colorful of these descriptions comes from beadworker Joyce J. Scott. A storyteller both in voice and in her work, Scott, who has previously been featured on Craft in America, as well as in Ornament, vividly relates Smith’s personality and forcefulness of presence.
Again, it is the flow of visuals and the accompaniment of music which establishes the narrative tempo. Each artist in the episode only has perhaps ten minutes in which an entire life must be summarized, yet the condensed points hit with a steady beat that fills in the larger picture, expanding one’s understanding of contemporary jewelry in America. That picture is expanded by the next featured artist, Gabrielle Gould.
Gould’s work also notably employs alternative materials, with a distinctly avian thematic bent. Feathers, miniature metal birds, flowers, and plants are her language of symbols. Abstract, with a slight cartoonish lilt that contributes to a lighthearted aesthetic, Gould’s predilection for natural themes is explained by her daughter’s own recollections. “Growing up, the majority of my life was spent outside, with my mom. She would point out the most intricate little details that I would never have noticed, whether it’s a tiny feather or a little rock. She knew every type of bird that we saw,” Nikki Etchenique muses.
The link between biological purpose and symbolic meaning becomes clear in Gould’s ruminations on the materials she employs. She delights in the use of the head feathers of birds, the most flamboyant plumage used to attract potential mates. Feathers have been used in jewelry since antiquity, with notable presences in Polynesian, Chinese and pre-Columbian cultures. While to most people in the modern era they might appear to be an unusual material, Gould is participating in the continuation of a long human tradition.
COVER IMAGE OF ORNAMENT VOLUME 14, NO. 2, 1990 showing Thomas Herman cover article. ORNAMENT STAFF in 2019 of Carolyn L.E. Benesh, Robert K. Liu and Patrick R. Benesh-Liu. Photograph by Carol Sauvion.
CAMOUFLAGE NESTING BOX WITH BLACK-EYED SUSANS by Gabrielle Gould of fourteen karat gold, sterling silver, feathers, and enamel paint. Photograph courtesy of the artist.
MONUMENT VALLEY BELT BUCKLE by Jesse Monongya of gold, lapis lazuli, coral, turquoise, labradorite, 2009.
Ornament Coeditor Robert K. Liu brings this continuity into focus during a segment in the middle of the episode. “There’s nothing older than personal adornment,” he begins, “and many paleoarchaeologists feel that the onset of beads marked modern human behavior.” As the magazine is introduced, Robert explores those early days and the learning curve that he and his wife, and fellow Coeditor Carolyn L.E. Benesh (whom the episode is dedicated to in the credits) experienced. When the family lost her inimitable presence due to Stage IV breast cancer in late 2020, their son, Patrick R. Benesh-Liu, stepped up to become Coeditor.
Patrick mentions how modern jewelry springs from the same reasons and desires that drove humans in our ancient past to make and wear ornamentation. Like plumage for birds, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings made a person stand out. It gave clues to their status and their personality, and allowed them to individualize their appearance.
As Robert reveals, human beings have been adorning themselves for perhaps more than two hundred thousand years. Grooved elk teeth that family brought back from Russia have a provenance of at least six to eight thousand years, and that pedigree of use extends into modern times. Tribes such as the Kuna, off the Panamanian and Columbian coastline, still use animal teeth and jawbones as elements in their jewelry.
The reason for doing so is clear. The materials and imagery used in jewelry is all about emotional connection, and feathers and other animal parts have the symbolic power of that animal imbued within them. The same is true for stones, which have been used by humans for millennia. In the work of Navajo/Hopi master jeweler Jesse Monongya, the viewer finds the essential truth of tradition; that it grows and evolves with the people who practice it.
Monongya’s jewelrymaking practice is born from family and grounded in the earth. Nature is inextricably entwined with familial bonds, a continuum of learning that is passed on between generations. In this undivided world, there is a clear-eyed recognition of where one’s gifts come from, and an appropriate reverence for it. Monongya understands that the brilliantly hued stones that he brings together in his miniature dioramas are part of a larger living ecosystem that he is both an inhabitant and a participant.
Stories are the method of teaching in Native American communities, and Jesse relates his tales with care and appreciation. These aren’t usually myths; rather they are vignettes of time spent with a father, a grandfather, a grandmother, aunties. One such kernel of wisdom that he relates is from one arm of his lineage; “What Grandmother said is what I go by. ‘Never finish your piece in the drawing. Finish it when you’re doing it.’ ”
As one continues to listen to his stories, his retellings, a certain deep comfort and satisfaction arises from the tapestry he creates. One finds little details that bring context to the rest of his work. Monongya is famous for his bear pendants, which appear both fierce and protective. A riot of colors turns them into vibrant emblems of life. Another story sheds light on why the bear is so meaningful to him, as Monongya remembers a time he went up to the mountains in a place with thick, luscious forests. “Me and my Grandfather, we were up there and this big bear came running out of the forest. I’m looking into his nose. He was right here, breathing. Grandfather said don’t be scared, and don’t act like you’re tough, because the bear will read all of that. My Grandfather said, ‘Let us through, we’re going to be here just for a moment.’ And the bear just went down, and it let us through. It was an amazing teaching.”
The experience of being filmed was both affirming and intriguing for the participants. Herman, while a natural at putting his process into words, was surprised at how the fear that so many of us feel from speaking in public was absent. “The original concept of Craft in America, to let the artist speak with no narrator was a brilliant decision,” he says animatedly. “All of the artists I’ve talked to said the same thing; once somebody asks you what you’re doing to get that effect, you have more information than you can possibly give them because it’s the thing that you do every day.”
After a year and a half of isolation, having six people shoehorned into their little studio for eight hours was a bit overwhelming. But he was impressed with the level of professionalism and skill exhibited by the film crew. Early in the episode, Tom is chasing a ring with a punch, “moving metal from place to place.” The camera work by Sidney Lubitsch and his team gave him a moment of astonishment. “To be able to see the punch move metal at such a small scale is no mean feat!”, Herman exclaims.
For Harriete, appearing in the episode was a dream come true. “Right out of the blue, in the middle of April 2021, the phone rang,” she exclaims. “Carol Savion called to ask if I would like to be part of the Craft in America series. Are you kidding? I have wanted to be part of Craft in America for years and years. It was a wish come true—and a bright light in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.”
As someone who’s constantly considering the details, Berman offered extensive feedback to the film crew, and was surprised when they listened. “I had been thinking of what might be interesting to film for six weeks; searching through raw materials, selecting images, showing work in progress, metalworking techniques, detailed assembly, or final content. It was all tucked up inside my brain, so that if they asked ‘what shall we do next or what shall we film in this spot’ I was ready with suggestions. And it was amazing, they loved the ideas and readily adapted their gear, camera angles, lighting, and microphones.”
From the most precious materials to trash and treasure, spanning Native American masters and the most iconic African-American jewelers, delving into nature’s inspiration on all artists, Jewelry makes an eloquent statement on the rich diversity of contemporary jewelry in the United States. Best of all, it’s free to watch, either streaming from the Craft in America or PBS websites, or on your local PBS television station. What a magnificent treat.
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Patrick R. Benesh-Liu is now Coeditor of Ornament and a lifelong participant in his parents’ creative journey. From growing up in the Ornament office on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles to his first administrative work in the Vista, California building during high school, Benesh-Liu has had the fortune of being immersed in craft, culture and wearable art. Now as one of the two guiding editors for the magazine, he continues to reflect on the vital work his mother and father have done in advancing the historical chronicling of jewelry and clothing artists for over forty-eight years. In this special edition he contributes a review of the Craft in America Jewelry episode, where both he and Robert K. Liu were interviewed amongst several jewelry artists, all of whom have been covered in the magazine. He also writes about his mother’s extraordinary collection of jewelry, which was the subject of an exhibition at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
