The Polymer Collection at the Racine Art Museum will make its debut in an exhibition scheduled for the fall of 2011. This recent acquisition of more than 180 pieces of jewelry and sculpture by RAM represents the first comprehensive collection of polymer art to be accessioned by a major national museum.

To make possible a full-color hardback catalog to accompany this show, Bruce Pepich, Exec. Director of RAM, and I made fundraising presentations at the International Polymer Clay Association Synergy2 Conference a week ago in Baltimore. Those speeches elicited donations of more than $17,000 from 111 generous and committed attendees.

The museum in Racine, Wisconsin is home to one of the most significant contemporary craft collections in the United States. The new polymer works augment RAM’s existing collections of artist-made jewelry, ceramics and furniture. RAM’s polymer collection, representing gifts from a consortium of collectors, artists and teachers working in the medium, inaugurates a serious, museum-based documentation of the history and development of polymer art ..

We invite you now to join the community of artists, collectors and enthusiasts who have already demonstrated their support for this event. Please make your own donation today. Your tax deductible contribution, made through the secure PayPal button below, will go directly into an account designated solely for support of the polymer collection at the Racine Art Museum. Or send your check made out to RAM/Polymer Collection to the Racine Art Museum, 441 Main St., Racine, WI 53403.

Then mark your calendar to join us at RAM for the opening weekend.

Loretta Lam, Laughing Corn, 2009

Loretta Lam’s Neckpiece appeared in CraftForms 2009, the 15th International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Craft at the Wayne Art Center, Wayne PA from Dec 4, 2009 - Jan 23, 2010.  The exhibition which was curated by Bruce Pepich, Executive Director and Curator of Collections at the Racine Art Museum included more than 100 works in all media.  Loretta comments about her piece:

“The piece is named for a poem by Carl Sandburg about harvest time. The references are all there - wheat and corn, seeds and berries, earthy colors and textures. My favorite time of year, all that bounty - the fruits of our labor. The piece is all polymer with a handmade copper clasp and measures 32″ and the largest bead is 4″ long.”

My own Citron Cascade Neckpiece also appeared in the exhibition.

Elise Winters, Citron Cascade Neckpiece, 2009
from the permanent collection of MFA Boston

Dan Adams and Cynthia Toops, Sleepless in Seattle Necklace detail, 2010
glass, polymer, silver

Dan Adams and Cynthia Toops have new work in the upcoming exhibit called Glass Quake Again 2010.  The show opens on March 12th and runs thru April 24th at Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge MA.

Elise Winters, Denim Cascade RUFFLE Neckpiece, 2010

as seen on models during Cynthia Rowley’s Fall 2010 runway show last Friday during NY Fashion Week.

Elise Winters, Denim Cascade RUFFLE Neckpiece, 2010

Elise Winters, Omni Cascade RUFFLE Neckpiece, 2010

If you are in the Philadelphia area this month, don’t miss the Ford/Forlano show at Snyderman-Works Gallery.  Over these past few months, Steven and David have expanded their creative collaboration to include two-dimensional work.  Along side their jewelry, they will be showing linoleum prints on Japanese paper with hand-painted embellishments.  As with their jewelry, Steven and David send these prints back and forth, each adding to the work of the other.  It reminds me of a party game from my youth; and the new work reflects that they are having just as much fun. Read more on the gallery’s website.

Cynthia Toops, Beetlerama, 2009, neckpiece, polymer, upholstery cord

While I’m hibernating for the rest of January and February… here’s some new images to keep you amused.  These two works by Cynthia Toops are

in an exhibiton called JuJu Magic opening on January 27 at Facere Jewelry Art Gallery in Seattle.

Cynthia Toops, Annelida, 2009, Brooch, sterling silver and polymer clay micro-mosaic. Sterling silver by Chuck Domitrovich.

Ford/Forlano neckpiece detail

Here’s another sign that polymer continues to gain prominence in the established craft arena.

SNAG, the Society of North American Goldsmiths, has just published a new promotional brochure.  Of the nine works pictured in this publication, two are polymer.  The detail of a Ford/Forlano neckpiece is top and center on the cover. My own bracelet is pictured on the Professional Benefits page.

SNAG is the premier association for jewelry, design and metalsmithing. An international educational nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, SNAG supports and advances the professional practice of artists, designers, jewelers and metalsmiths. Those efforts include an annual professional conference, regular exhibitions, a scholarship program as well as the publication of Metalsmith magazine and a regular members’ newsletter. Their vibrant website provides links to extensive listings of resources, a members’ discussion forum, and professional guidelines on more than 20 topics of importance to working professionals.  SNAG sponsors lectures at SOFA: Chicago and SOFA:NY each year. SNAG members also has an active presence on Flickr, and Crafthaus.

Niche Magazine has announced the finalists for their 2010 Niche Awards. In addition to 4 in the polymer category, 6 other polymer works are among this year’s finalist.

Sandra McCaw and Loretta Lam have been nominated in the Fashion Jewelry category.

Louise Fischer Cozzi (above) and I have been nominated in the Sculpture-to-Wear division.

Jeff Dever received two nominations - one in home furnishings/teapots and another in fiber/baskets

Nominees in Polymer include myself, Melanie West, Loretta lam and Wiwat Kamolpornwijit.
See those images here

Award winners will be announced during the Buyers Market at a ceremony on Friday, Feb. 12

Bruce W. Pepich, Executive Director and Curator of Collections at the Racine Art Museum.

I’ve witnessed Philippe de Montebello trying to weave his magic on a potential major donor to his Metropolitan Museum of New York. Philippe’s pitch, smooth and seductive, had a well rehearsed air to it. Across an antique dining room table in New Jersey, with works by Miró, de Chirico and Edvard Munch adorning the walls, he glided through a presentation that had obviously worked so effectively for him with countless other donors. Although the man’s skills were impressive, the hosts this evening didn’t sign over the painting and sculpture collection that he was after, which went instead to the Portland Museum in Maine.

Years later, with the intent of finding an ideal home for our own modest collection of contemporary polymer art — not a Renoir or a Rodin in sight – my wife, Elise Winters, and I flew out to Chicago and then drove to Racine, Wisconsin in order to meet Bruce Pepich and get our first look at the Racine Art Museum. I’d expected that as minor potential donors, with the emphasis on minor, the museum director would put up with us for about 20 or 30 minutes before getting back to his real work. I slipped enough coins in the parking meter in front of the museum to give us one hour’s time.

When Bruce met us, the expression on his face as open and radiant as a sunflower, I began to finger my pocket for more quarters. His guided and personalized tour of RAM gave us instant clarity about the value of the institution that he had devoted his life to for the previous thirty years. And then the invitation to sit down for a short chat in the conference room.

During that conversation, I had to leave twice to refill the meter with another two hours’ worth of quarters. By the end of our visit, Elise and I both felt that we had just experienced what would naturally lead to a deepening friendship with a man, and a long-term  commitment to support his museum. Bruce was that endearing, that compelling both as a personality and as a spokesman for the institution that he had built. Rather than being a pitchman, Bruce was an avid questioner and rapt listener, a curator who clearly wanted more than anything else to learn about the art medium we had brought to his attention.

Since that first meeting, Bruce has embraced our personal polymer collection and convinced his museum’s board to establish a major permanent collection of polymer art at RAM.   His engaging personality and devotion to the institution is infectious.  Pepich is an ardent supporter of craft as well as the artists who create it.

So that you may come to know him as we have, we posed a few questions to Bruce and here is what he had to say:

Please tell us something about your background.  Where did you study?

BP:      I have a degree in Art History from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. It is about 60 miles west of Chicago and had a large visual arts program with close connections to the Chicago arts community. My area of concentration was Contemporary Art. While working on my degree, I served as the university’s first curator of the campus collection and also worked as a volunteer arranging exhibitions in the Student Union Art Gallery. The Union Gallery hosted two regular national competitions—a print and drawing show and a craft competition—and purchased works from these shows for the collection. From these early experiences, I was very comfortable working with works on paper alongside works in contemporary craft media. I always saw these works as being on the same parity level. I was able to carry on this interest in bringing craft together with painting and sculpture when I began organizing exhibitions in my first museum job.

Tell us about your tenure at RAM.

BP:      I was hired by Racine’s Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts straight out of college in 1974 on my way to graduate school. I soon realized I was able to conduct original work in the field on a daily basis there and stayed. RAM opened in 2003 as an outgrowth of Wustum Museum and as home to its permanent collection. In the 1990s, I established one of the most significant contemporary craft collections to be found in any US art museum at Wustum. I continue to oversee Wustum as our visual education campus. RAM, located two miles away in Racine’s downtown development district, is where we present artists with national and international reputations. I am celebrating my 35th anniversary at the same institution this year and have been Executive Director since 1981.

I have had an incredible amount of freedom in creating this collection over the past three decades. Knowing I have personally walked most of the works in the 4,500-piece collection into the museum has provided me with an intense relationship with this museum and its core mission. This unique opportunity has held me at RAM. I have also had an extremely supportive relationship with RAM’s major donor, Karen Johnson Boyd.  She inaugurated RAM’s Art Jewelry collection with a gift of about 30 major works in 1991. We share many beliefs about blending art from a variety of disciplines and media and a respect for the artists. It is easy to do good work when you are supported and encouraged as a professional and this environment has provided that for me.

What value do you see for the polymer collection in a context of the RAM’s permanent collection.

BP: The Racine Art Museum is home to one of the most significant contemporary craft collections of any art museum in the United States. The recent arrival of a substantial collection of polymer artworks establishes holdings in this field that are of national importance. The polymer works augment RAM’s existing collections of artist-made jewelry, ceramics and furniture to create a more detailed picture of these different media and contributions polymer makes to these fields. The collection will formally debut at RAM with an exhibition and publication in 2011-2012. With its expansive approach to collecting and documenting the contemporary crafts field, RAM offers polymer a platform on which it can reach a broader public, while advancing the medium to new levels of professional accomplishment and acceptance.

RAM’s polymer collection, representing gifts from a consortium of collectors, artists and teachers working in the medium, inaugurates a serious, museum-based documentation of the development of polymer over the past 20 years. This in-depth selection of a broad range of work, records the ways in which polymer has begun to develop into a medium for serious artistic activity. The arrival of substantial examples of polymer works at RAM greatly enhances RAM’s ability to thoroughly chronicle the contemporary crafts movement and conduct programs of public education for followers of the field and the general public alike.

What are your criteria for adding new work to the collection at RAM?

BP:     We have a small acquisitions endowment fund, and have used the income it generates to make a few acquisitions. For the most part, we are dependent upon the gift of actual works to build the collection. We are constantly seeking new additions through gifts of works from collectors and artists. Most collectors assemble … collections, they usually offer us multiple works—say four to 15—at a time. We certainly welcome single pieces, in fact, we are always seeking to fill holes and if we have to do this one step at a time, we do. We do have a wish list that we work off of in determining what we need to acquire to create the most detailed and well-rounded representation of the field. I am always interested in seeing the work of artists who are mature in their career development, but new to me.

In considering where to place our own collection, we were most impressed with RAM’s exhibition philosophy and how the donated works would be utilized.  Can you explain that for our readers?

BP:    Many of our donors select RAM because they are interested in our philosophy of how we utilize the collection for changing exhibitions and to conduct programs of public education. RAM completely changes all of its galleries three times each year. This accommodates both temporary shows brought in from the outside and also rotating thematic shows curated from the collection. It is the constant rotation of collection works to place them in different contexts that gives a constant sense of life and vitality to RAM’s collection.

I would suggest that collectors examine not only how a potential museum recipient exhibits its collection and how often works come out, but also take into consideration the kinds of education programs produced in conjunction with these shows. How will the museum live with these works after they enter the collection? What will the museum’s programming do for the understanding of the field, the advancement of the artists’ careers and the encouragement of further collecting and new artists?

I also like to remind artists that they own important archives. Not only do they have examples of their own work, but also the work of others, plus their paper archives. These must all be properly managed and treated seriously as part of our nation’s heritage.

Cynthia Toops, Dust If You Must, 2008

Lark Books is adding to its Masters series with a new title called Masters: Polymer Clay due out in late 2010.  Currently in production, this volume will celebrate masterful artistic innovation and imagination in the ever expanding field of artists who are drawn to the enormous creative potential of polymer. The collection, presenting approximately 40 artists, will bring together some of the best examples of early work in polymer, current art by well recognized artists, and an array of lesser known artists who are making their mark with the material.

Seeking to highlight outstanding works of jewelry, as well as functional and figurative design, this extensive gallery of images will include examples of many techniques: distinctive cane work, accomplished color harmonies, and diverse uses of mixed media. The artists’ approaches to making art are vastly different. Styles represented range from organic interpretations of nature, to emotional evocations and onto elegant renditions that are highly ornamental. Each artist will be featured in their own section which will include a brief introductory essay by curator, Rachel Carren and then 8-12 images of their art work.