Crafting Sustainability - Personal Sustainability, Professional Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability

Join us this Sunday, June 11 for the San Francisco Metal Arts Guild Metalsmithing Day!
10:00a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Bring Your Lunch

This is the first time in three years that there will be a Metal Arts Guild Metalsmithing Day.
This is held in collaboration with California College of the Arts with a focus on sustainability in metalsmithing.

Location: CCA (California College of the Arts

                     1111 8th Street, San Francisco, 94107.

Note: entrance is located at 455 Irwin St.

No registration is required. The event is free to everyone. You do not need to be a member.

Hear about simple and advanced efforts you can make towards more sustainable practices in your studio.
The demos and speakers will be lead by the following presenters:
Jack da Silva: Remote Teaching and General Eco-Friendly Practices.
Sharon Zimmerman: Ethical Marketing -Creating Better Experiences for your
Customers.
Harriete Estel Berman: "Crafting Sustainability" 
Jennifer Hounshell: Will demonstrate mold-cutting.
Rikki Smeltzer: Make cast-able objects from common waste.
Dan Macchiarini: Learn recycling your “Matt-Carving Wax” drops and filing.

Come see the San Francisco Jewelry Metal Arts Studio at California College for the Arts 

Will I see you Sunday?

Harriete

 

 

 

Merry Renk in Memory Memorial

I recently found out that merry renk passed away and feel an obligation to say something in tribute. In a time when yesterday is so often considered "old hat," it is wonderful to know that merry renk lived long enough to see her jewelry from the mid-20th century recognized in major museum exhibitions.

What made the work by merry renk so special?

merry developed a signature style with simple materials and techniques.

In the video below you will see crowns by merry renk.

Hair ornament below by merry renk.

Every catch and closure by merry renk was carefully integrated into the whole design.


Above necklace titled, "Arizona Conference" by merry renk.

I am absolutely positive that she thought all the people at the Conference chirped like a flock of birds called Cactus Wrens. The ends of the horizontal rods are supposed to be a cactus blossom.

Catch for Necklace by merry renk titled, Arizona Conference.*


Sparks Necklace Catch by merry renk*

Catch for Plymouth Rocks Necklace by merry renk 1980-81*

merry shared her knowledge and enthusiasm for the field as a founding member of the San Francisco Bay Area Metal Arts Guild. In this 9 minute YouTube video below merry reminiscences about the fellow founder and first MAG President, Margaret De Patta. Interview by emiko oye. San Francisco, CA. April 15, 2012. 

Images shown are:
1. "We open Seven Fifty Studio 1947" (memory painting, merry, 1995);
2. "my jeweler's tattoos" by merry;
3. young merry dancing;
4. April 2012 - Christine Dhein, emiko oye, merry renk, Shana Astrachan;
5. merry renk's jewelry studio (2012);
6. exhibition poster for merry renk's retrospective, 1981;
7. reverse side of exhibition poster, drawings by merry renk.

merry continued to attend Metal Art Guild events regularly sharing her smiles and enthusiasm. 

Listen to an oral history interview with merry renk from the Archives of American Art.

Link to a podcast of merry renk interviewed by Arline Fisch.

The transcript of an interview with merry renk is in the public domain and may be used without permission. Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with merry renk, 2001 Jan. 18-19, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

*The ideas for these catches by merry renk were shared with me in 1988 when I was teaching a Hinges and Mechanisms Workshop.

Please feel welcome to add a comment about merry renk.

In remembrance of merry during what would have been her 91st year, the community held the following events to celebrate her life:

Celebration for merry’s Life
Sat, July 14, 1:30-4:30pm
First Unitarian Universalist Church
1187 Franklin Street at Geary
San Francisco, CA 94109

Harriete

This post was updated on March 31, 2022, to provide current links.

"The essence of success" by Sienna Patti.

Sienna Patti of Sienna Gallery offered her "essence of success" during the Forging Communities Symposium. She challenged everyone in the audience to reach further with a vision larger than the day before. Her lecture was emotionally charged and visibly heartfelt.

Sienna Patti said, "You are not asking enough of yourself and we, the others, are not asking enough of you."

Her words were inspirational. 

Below is an excerpt of her lecture from the "What Does Success Look Like?" panel. Thank you to Sienna Patti for allowing me to use her words on ASK Harriete.
                   ______________________________

Growing up, one of my family’s closest friends was Eric Carle.

I spent hours every week making colorful collages from the papers on his desk. It wasn’t until I was much older that I understood his impact beyond my life. 

He had created one of the world’s most famous children’s books and was a beloved author, hugged tightly by blushing librarians everywhere. Millions of children recite his words in school, mimic his artwork, fall asleep at night listening to his words, even grown women use his books as inspirational examples. Eric Carle himself is an actual certified national treasure.

He has a picture in his home office of himself and Mr. Rogers working on late-night crafty projects. Life is great. All is right in the world.

One day I stopped in to visit Eric in his studio only to have him tell me to wait downstairs, that he wanted to go for a ride. I have NEVER cleaned my car faster.  After all, he is a famous master of his craft, or at least, some people think so and here he is, reduced to riding around in my Ford Topaz.

He got in the car and we were off. His eponymous museum, the first museum of picture book art in the country, was just being built a few miles away. We would go there, he had to get out of his studio. He said he was depressed. He couldn’t get any work done. He had been feeling this way for months. He didn't like his last book. Maybe he would make a different kind next. Maybe one in black and white.

I was sort of horrified, it felt too personal and he was, after all, a grown-up (I was still young enough then to think that this sort of stuff went away when you “got it all figured out”). He sighed. It would pass, it just sucked. At 80 years old, he trusted his ability to get to the next good place. And he would. But this very difficult part still happened, even after 60 years of work.

This, to me, seems to be the success part - the getting up and moving onwards and upwards.

And the essence of success seems to be in the process, the living and continuing, the space in between.

Caterpillar larvae hatch and then generally stick together for most of their development. There are significant benefits to synchronizing such activities in terms of growth rate and overall survival.

But how does such a large group ‘decide’ when to forage or become active?  Synchronization is imperative in order to maintain the integrity of the entire group; however, initiation of such events often depends on the actions of individuals.

In some group-living organisms, it has been demonstrated that ‘key’ individuals are more likely to assume a leadership role.  Research on schooling fish, zebra finches, and baboons has demonstrated that certain ‘bold’ or ‘dominant’ individuals, the largest, the loudest, are most often the ones to initiate a group-level activity. 

In other kinds of group living, organisms exhibit ‘spontaneous’ or ‘temporary’ leaders depending on the energetic status of individuals. Hungry individuals above all others have been demonstrated to initiate bouts of movement and foraging in a diverse array of organisms from meerkats to fish. Members of the group follow along because there are significant costs to being left behind. 

Group activities become synchronized through social facilitation – the individuals following simply match their behaviors to those of others in the group. This is true for caterpillars, their movement is initiated by the individuals with the greatest energetic need –  the VERY HUNGRIEST CATERPILLARS. 

Are you hungry? Along the lines of "show me the money", this is not a new idea and has been part of our vocabulary for a long time. A friend of mine was once fired for specifically not being "hungry enough". We often describe desire as a "thirst".

What you want or are hungry for will change. At different periods of your life, elements of success will be defined differently. Success is the constant pursuit of your vision even and especially when you fail or others around you slow down.

Be ambitious. There is hope in this! As Emily Dickinson writes, “Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.” 

And certainly the answer you find today may not work tomorrow.  Success is a journey and has multiple peaks, not one ultimate pinnacle. The joy in the Boston Red Sox win was about the journey - this is what makes it so great. It is a constant pursuit, the constant exploration, the desire to take risks, and the willingness to crap it all up and begin again. And again. And again.

The hope, of course, is that sometimes this will happen.  But it might not… hmmm… but it could!

What are we afraid of? I want to see more of you reaching further, being ATHLETIC with your work. Failing bigger. Waking up each day, hungrier to pursue your vision and that your vision be larger than the day before. 

There is a malaise in this field. You are not asking enough of yourself and we, the others, are not asking enough of you.  I am specifically speaking to the artists here: be hungrier, find your ambition.

Challenge yourself to make stronger, smarter work. 

Raise your standards or at least redefine them. Don't compare yourself and your achievements to the artist sitting next to you or standing up here but instead to Michelangelo or Kahlo or Duchamp. To the work you made the day before.

There are many excuses- I hear them all the time, and while I understand, I don't care. I don't mean this in a callous way - I need understanding too. But none of that has anything to do with your work, after all, isn't success always sweeter when coupled with insurmountable odds?

In the end, the only real limits are the ones we make ourselves. Ralph Waldo Emerson “To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation.  This is to have succeeded.”

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will. – Vince Lombardi”

This post was updated on February 16, 2022, to provide current links.

The difference between a goal and a wish?

"I just want to clearly state what a goal for success actually is, because I think there’s a big problem people have with understanding: I think there’s a difference between a goal and a wish."*

Powerful words from Brigitte Martin, a speaker with the "success panel" during Forging Communities Symposium.

Brigitte Martin's frank lecture about success was inspiring.  I'd like to share a nugget here on ASK Harriete. Brigitte Martin is an organizer, mentor, and leader of Crafthaus. During her 10-minute PowerPoint presentation, Brigitte asked us: "What’s the meaning of success?"

She continued...
A common problem people have is understanding that there is a difference between a “goal” and a “wish.”

Let’s look at some of the answers artists give when asked what “success“ means to them, or in other words what they want from their lives. Most of them will tell you that they want:

• to be happier,
• to have a better job,
• to have more money,
• to have fewer worries,
• to lose a few pounds,
• to be as successful as so and so - generally speaking.

Please note that all these are general wishes that many people have. But if you look at them closely, you will see that these are NOT goals that would help you to be successful.

So what then is a goal?

Quite simply put:
A goal means “to have specific strategies and MEASURABLE objectives.”

Now I know, this sounds so uninspired, so boring, so accountant-like, so not artistic. But bear with me for a minute and let me make clear what measurable goals are and you will see how they can apply to your work and lead to a certain measure of success.
In the business world the saying goes: “If you can’t measure it, you don’t know what you have.”

There are four things everyone can measure:

• quantity
• quality
• cost (on or off budget)
• timeliness/ deadline

To give you a very simple example, setting a clear and measurable goal for success would be:
“By December 31st, I will have photographed all of the artwork that I created this year.”

Not only is this a very practical and useful goal (after all we know from the most recent Professional Development Seminar**  that having good photography is absolutely essential) but by putting yourself under a deadline you create a measurable goal (in this case “timeline/deadline”).

Obviously, all kinds of goals can be created regarding quantity, quality, cost, and deadline. When Dec. 31 rolls around and you look at your photos you will realize that you have indeed photographed everything. You then know that you have achieved this particular goal of yours, and the beauty of this one is that it will continue to help you be successful because you now have these images at the ready and can send them out to promote yourself at any time.

Here are some other examples of practical goals that everyone can set.  Look at your work as if you were actually running it as a “business.”

Create deadlines for yourself to do the following:

• get serious about bookkeeping, record keeping,
• get serious about your time management (don’t hang out on the internet all day),
• get serious about your photography,
• get serious about your marketing efforts (print and online),
• get serious about your gallery relationships,
• get very serious about the quality of your artwork.

Goal setting works wonderfully as a measure of success because it helps you stay focused in your daily life.

Setting a goal will lead you and direct you toward the place you want to end up.

Write your goals down and keep them handy at your desk or workplace where you can see them every day as a constant reminder.

 ____________________________________________

Thank you to Brigitte Martin for sharing sage words of advice.
*Phrase taken from the impressive Tumblr notes by Tara Brannigan about the "What is Success?" panel here.

Brigitte knows what she is talking about. Prior to starting Crafthaus, she ran two galleries. If you haven't visited Crafthaus, this is a social network for artists and makers in all media. There are online exhibitions, public discussions, blogs, and portfolios of artwork on each profile. All images are approved or disallowed by Brigitte's discerning eye to keep quality high.  Join Crafthaus to participate with this community.


Photographer: Nerds behind the Lens, Pittsburgh, PA

**The Professional Development Seminar is organized each year by Harriete Estel Berman, Andy Cooperman, and Brigitte Martin for the annual SNAG Conference. 

Notes: The first four images were taken directly from Brigitte Martin's PowerPoint courtesy of Brigitte Martin.

The Measure of Success measuring cup was my image.

This post was updated on February 16, 2022.

 

What’s the meaning of success?

A common problem people have is understanding that there is a difference between a “goal” and a “wish.” Let’s look at some of the answers artists give when asked what “success“ means to them, or in other words what they want from their lives. Most of them will tell you that they want:

to be happier,

to have a better job,

to have more money,

to have less worries,

to loose a few pounds,

to be as successful as so and so - generally speaking.

Please note that all these are general wishes that many people have. But if you look at them closely, you will see that these are NOT goals which help you to be successful. So what then is a goal? Quite simply put:

A goal means “to have specific strategies and MEASURABLE objectives.”

 

Now I know, this sounds so uninspired, so boring, so accountant-like, so not artistic. But   bear with me for a minute and let me make clear what measurable goals are and you will see how they can apply to your work and lead to a certain measure of success.

In the business world the saying goes: “If you can’t measure it, you don’t know what you have.” There are 4 things everyone can measure:

-   quantity

-   quality

-   cost (on or off budget)

-   timeliness/ deadline

To give you a very simple example, setting yourself a clear and measurable goal for success would be:

“By December 31st, I will have photographed all of my artwork that I created this year.”

Not only is this a very practical and useful goal (after all we know from the most recent PDS that having good photography is absolutely essential) but by putting yourself under a deadline you create a measurable goal (in this case “timeliness/deadline”). --Obviously, all kind of goals can be created regarding quantity, quality, cost and deadline.

When Dec. 31 rolls around and you look at your photos you will realize that you have indeed photographed everything. You then know that you have achieved this particular goal of yours, and the beauty of this one is that it will continue to help you being successful because you now have these images at the ready and can send them out to promote yourself at any time.

Here are some other examples of practical goals that everyone can set:

Look at your work as if you were actually running it as a “business.” Create deadlines for yourself to do the following:

get serious about book keeping, record keeping,

get serious about your time management (don’t hang out on the internet all day),

get serious about your photography,

get serious about your marketing efforts (print and online),

get serious about your gallery relationships,

get very serious about the quality of your artwork.

 

Goal setting works wonderfully as a measure of success because it helps you stay focused in your daily life. Setting a goal will lead you and direct you toward the place you want to end up. Write your goals down and keep them handy at your desk or workplace where you can see them every day as a constant reminder.

“Lighting Shiny Surfaces for Quality Photographic Images” by Philip Cohen

When taking photos of objects or jewelry with shiny reflective surfaces, catching the right light may seem like a difficult challenge or just a matter of luck.

Shiny surfaces reflect light like a mirror, possibly creating excessive or unwanted highlights.  What is reflected could be anything in the room that surrounds the work.  What can be done to gain control of the lighting?

Good news:  There is a very simple solution for photographing most shiny surfaces: use bounce cards to light the object with soft white light. 

In today's post on ASK Harriete, Philip Cohen takes us through a 16 step example of lighting an object with a shiny reflective surface. For this tutorial, Philip Cohen used a portion of my recent Seder plate for TuBishvat. By following his step-by-step process using foam core or cardboard covered in foil you can bounce soft radiant light onto your work.

The light source can either be photographic lights or outside on a bright but overcast day. Practice will help you repeat his success. This step-by-step tutorial was originally presented at Forging Communities.

On the left is a photograph I took to illustrate the worst possible circumstances for photographing art or craft. Taken outside, the bright sun produces harsh shadows with a blue cast. Even though I used the camera flash for fill light, the top is still dark, muddy, and off-color. Overall, the photo has a blue cast which you can see in the background (which was actually white foam core).

Even worse, the gold background of the Seder plate does not have a golden metallic color. The variation in color, pattern, and texture from the tin cans is lost with too much contrast from the strong light.

In the next 16 photos, professional photographer Philip Cohen will demonstrate easy steps anyone can duplicate for lighting shiny surfaces. 

The background is a white paper available from photographic supply stores. 

Step 1. In this photo, my Seder plate is sitting on the seamless white photographic paper background. The darkness of the unlit studio is reflected in the sides of the Seder plate. The piece looks dull.

Step 2. Looking closely it is easy to see that the golden metallic tin cans look dark.

Step 3. The white foam core in the upper right corner "bounces" reflected light onto the top of the Seder plate. The mirror-like surface on the top of the Seder plate reflects the soft white light from the foam core.

Step4. In this photo, the top of the Seder plate is properly lit, but the front of the Seder plate is still dark.

Step 5. In this photo, another foam core bounce card is added to the left corner. This reflects soft white light onto the front of the Seder plate.

Step 6. As the bounce card in the front adds light, experimentation and patience may be needed to get just the right result. The next few photos vary slightly as the front bounce card is moved around.

 

Step 7. In this photo, note how the lighting makes it look like there is a dent in the center front bottom. (There is no dent there, but awkward lighting is making the tin surface look dented and puckered.)

 

 

Step 8. Fine adjustments are needed until the unintended shadows are eliminated and the lighting shows all the patterns in the gold metallic tin. The lighting is soft to avoid brilliant washed-out highlights.

Step 9. Now the lighting on the front is perfect.

Step 10. Here (in the left lower corner) you can see the front bounce card clamped to a pole that bounces light onto the front of the Seder plate. The bounce card in the upper right bounces light onto the top of the Seder plate. Now we need to bounce some light onto the dark right side of the Seder plate.

Step 11. Each of the sides is lit one at a time. The reflecting foam core is moved around, in or out, left or right, and with a slight tilt one way or the other. Twisting and turning the bounce card also controls the amount of light until it is just right.
   

Step 12. Slight nuances and changes until the lighting is perfect.

Step 13. Next step is working on the left side. It still looks a little too dark.

Step 14. Adding light on the left side.

Step 15. And with a little refinement, just right.

Step 16. There are four bounce cards lighting this Seder plate. Top right, far right, bottom left, and a small metallic foil-covered cardboard in the lower-left corner.

Side by side comparison of Seder plate in Step 1 and Step 16.

The flat sides of this piece are good for this lighting illustration, but the same ideas work for any shape of object or size to be photographed. Just keep trying new angles.

Keep in mind that you need to be looking at your subject from the exact position of the tripod-mounted camera.

 The "money shot" or final shot:

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Assiyah, Yetzirah, Beriyah
©       2011        Harriete Estel Berman
Photo Credit: Philip Cohen

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Since 1988, the use of post-consumer recycled materials has been a core premise of my work. This interpretation of the recycling symbol covered in metallic gold tin cans creates a platform for the three types of fruit used during the Tu Bishvat Seder service.

For Assiyah, a pomegranate branch symbolizes the fruit where only the inside is eaten. 

For Yetzirah, an olive branch represents fruits where only the outside is eaten. 

For Beriyah, a silhouette of figs and fig leaves includes images of apples, pears, and grapes, fruits where all parts are eaten.

The center star is a profound symbol of Judaism subtly presented as a radiating light.  Within the concept of Tikkun Olam and our observance of TuBishvat, we repair the world through our actions. 

MATERIALS:
Post-consumer recycled tin cans, 10k gold rivets, sterling silver rivets, aluminum rivets, brass screws, Plexiglas.
The Plexiglas tops are designed for functional use of this Seder plate so that fruit or nuts will not be in contact with the tins.

Approximate dimensions: 6” H x 24” W

Harriete

This post was updated on February 15, 2022.

Forging Communities - Information, Blogging and Notes From an Intimate One Day Symposium for Networking and Information

Forging Communities - An Intimate One-Day Symposium was an amazing success. Sponsored by the Metal Arts Guild of San Francisco in honor of its 60th Anniversary, a whole day of lectures, panels and discussions presented revealing, cohesive and interesting information.

For those interested in catching up on the information presented during the symposium, Tara Brannigan typed as fast as 10 fingers can move for the entire day. Her herculean typing efforts offer everyone a stream of information on Tumblr.

 

 

With this in mind, here is a quick summary of the information and links mentioned during the day.

Metal Rising: The Forming of the Metal Arts Guild, San Francisco, California, 1929-1964 presented by Jennifer Shaifer was followed by a conversation with Imogene Tex Gieling, merry renk, Florence Resnikov (each founding members of MAG). I wish we could have heard more of their entertaining stories. I loved looking at the vintage photos.

FYI: There was an exhibition of jewelry by Margaret DePatta at the Oakland Museum titled, Space-Light-Structure: The Jewelry of Margaret de Patta in 2012.  You can see more of her work in the Oakland Museum collection.

 

 

Blue Moon sculpture
Artist: merry renk
MAG Permanent Collection

MAG founding member merry renk and Margaret de Patta also had work in an exhibition at the L.A. County Museum of Art titled, "California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way".  I really wanted to see this show (collecting objects from the 1950s and 1960s is my passion).

 

What does Success Look Like in the Jewelry World? with Sarah Turner, Brigitte Martin, Lola Brooks, Sienna Patti.  Each presentation covered the topic with a different style and original content. (More about this in another post.) I recommend that you take time to read Tara Brannigan's Tumblr post. Here are four quotes about success borrowed from Tumblr.

“For me, success also includes the audience. I mean thinking partners, collaborators, people with skills that I do not have”

“When I say audience I also mean "field." A field with permeable boundaries” “That’s partly why I work in education” “Higher education is not the only platform, there are guilds and fablabs and craft shows and maker faires, and shops and museums.”
Sarah Turner

 

“I’ve always thought of success as some distant destination that someone might eventually arrive at” ....“I have always been far more interested in the splendor of the journey itself”
Lola Brooks

 

“I just want to clearly state what a goal for success actually is, because I think there’s a big problem people have with understanding: I think there’s a difference between a goal and a wish.
Brigitte Martin

 

“One day I went over to visit [Eric Carle] and he told me to wait downstairs, that we should go out. He got in my car and we were off.  He just had to get out of the studio.  He said he was depressed and needed to get out.  His new book wasn’t going well and he was stressed out.“

“I was totally horrified.  It felt so personal to me.  He was a grown-up and I was still young enough to believe that this sort of thing just went away when you got older.”

“And this to me is the essence of success: Getting up and getting on, moving onwards and upwards.”
Sienna Patti

 

 Professional Practices: Conversation, Questions, & Commentary with me, Harriete Estel Berman, and Andy Cooperman via Skype. Co-president emiko oye said, “It’s kind of an Oprah moment, we’re Skyped in with Andy Cooperman”.

Unlike a mere mortal on stage, Andy's voice filled the room as if he were an immortal god. The audience asked their questions and participated in the conversation.

My presentation "Lighting Shiny Surfaces for Quality Photographic Images" in 16 steps will be the next post on ASK Harriete.

Here are the RESOURCES mentioned during my presentation:

Professional Guidelines

ASK Harriete

Professional Development Seminar

Digital Images File Extensions

Photography in Flux – Three photographers

Digital Photography Handouts

Photography in Flux – Editor’s Perspective

How to Build a Better Drop Shadow

Questions and Answers about Niche Marketing and Photography in Flux

The Maker Faire Phenomenon – Engaging Community and the Next Generation of Makers with Dale Dougherty (Founder of Make: Magazine and Maker Faire) enthusiastically showed videos of invention, inspiration, and creativity. There was also a more serious message about the profound importance of brainstorming and hands-on problem-solving in education.

The Extreme Craft Roadshow presented by Garth Johnson was full of surprises. Craft that you might have never expected. Garth really went out of his way to show examples of what he considered Extreme Craft at the Oakland Museum. I think that this inclusiveness is part of his key to success. So many curators go around with judgment and a critical eye, whereas Garth goes to the opposite extreme, literally, finding the wacky and extra-ordinary. He left our audience with open eyes to the possibility of the future in Craft.

This post was updated on February 15, 2022, to provide current links.