Experience Southwest Silversmithing
Led by Patte Ranney & Jamie Halpern & Steve LaRance & Kris Crowell
Immerse yourself in the craft and cultural history of Southwest jewelry-making in this three-week, hands-on silversmithing course at beautiful Ghost Ranch. Designed for beginners and experienced silversmiths alike!
Working in Ghost Ranch’s fully equipped silversmithing studio, students will learn a wide range of techniques, including sawing, soldering, overlay, bezel setting, cold connections, lapidary (stone cutting and polishing), channel inlay, tufa casting, and stamping. Master instructors and guest artists will guide participants through the creative process, from initial design to finished piece.
The experience extends beyond the studio with opportunities to meet silversmiths and guest artists from Santa Fe and the Pueblos, visit museum collections in Santa Fe, and engage with Native artists at the historic Santa Fe Plaza will offer deeper insight into the diverse traditions and contemporary practices that continue to shape Southwestern jewelry-making.
Jewelry-making has a long history in Southwest cultures, especially among Navajo, Zuni, Hopi and other Pueblo Peoples. The making, trading, and selling of silver and stone jewelry continues to be a vital part of Southwestern art and culture. Students in this class will leave with numerous pieces of personally created, wearable and sellable jewelry, including beautiful pendants, earrings, bolo ties, bracelets, belt-buckles or other things of their own invention.
Each week of this three-week course will have a unique focus, with guest instructors bringing specialized knowledge and experience to the techniques being explored. Week one will focus on introductory silversmith skills, including design, sawing, soldering, and bezel setting. Week two will focus on lapidary and stone shaping, including the construction of beautiful channel inlay bracelets. Week three will focus on refining learned techniques, tufa casting, stamping, and the construction of western-themed jewelry such as bolo ties and statement rings. The focus of each week is subject to modification depending on scheduled field trips, and the availability of guest instructors.
**Enrollment in this course is for the entire three-week session.
Please click here for a brief overview & introduction from the Instructors, Supply List and Workshop Schedule.
Program Tuition: $2,205 (Please note: students may spend as much as $150 – $350 or more on silver metals used in this class if Silver supplies are not brought from home, this additional cost is NOT included in the class tuition.)
Working in Ghost Ranch’s fully equipped silversmithing studio, students will learn a wide range of techniques, including sawing, soldering, overlay, bezel setting, cold connections, lapidary (stone cutting and polishing), channel inlay, tufa casting, and stamping. Master instructors and guest artists will guide participants through the creative process, from initial design to finished piece.
The experience extends beyond the studio with opportunities to meet silversmiths and guest artists from Santa Fe and the Pueblos, visit museum collections in Santa Fe, and engage with Native artists at the historic Santa Fe Plaza will offer deeper insight into the diverse traditions and contemporary practices that continue to shape Southwestern jewelry-making.
Jewelry-making has a long history in Southwest cultures, especially among Navajo, Zuni, Hopi and other Pueblo Peoples. The making, trading, and selling of silver and stone jewelry continues to be a vital part of Southwestern art and culture. Students in this class will leave with numerous pieces of personally created, wearable and sellable jewelry, including beautiful pendants, earrings, bolo ties, bracelets, belt-buckles or other things of their own invention.
Each week of this three-week course will have a unique focus, with guest instructors bringing specialized knowledge and experience to the techniques being explored. Week one will focus on introductory silversmith skills, including design, sawing, soldering, and bezel setting. Week two will focus on lapidary and stone shaping, including the construction of beautiful channel inlay bracelets. Week three will focus on refining learned techniques, tufa casting, stamping, and the construction of western-themed jewelry such as bolo ties and statement rings. The focus of each week is subject to modification depending on scheduled field trips, and the availability of guest instructors.
**Enrollment in this course is for the entire three-week session.
Please click here for a brief overview & introduction from the Instructors, Supply List and Workshop Schedule.
Program Tuition: $2,205 (Please note: students may spend as much as $150 – $350 or more on silver metals used in this class if Silver supplies are not brought from home, this additional cost is NOT included in the class tuition.)
Program Details
Start Date:
End Date:
Categories:
Ghost Ranch Program
Jewelry Silversmithing
Date & Time Details:
3:00 pm Check in
10:00 am Check out
10:00 am Check out
Location:
Ghost Ranch
Address:
280 1708 Dr, Abiquiu, NM 87510, USA
Contact:
Programs
programs@ghostranch.org
505-685-1000
Email Us About Program
About the Leaders
Patte Ranney
Patte Ranney has been coming to Ghost Ranch since 2009 and has enjoyed a wide variety of workshops through the years. Admiring the end-of-week display of a silver class, about a decade ago, rekindled her long lost love of smithing – a craft she had dabbled with in high school. Actually, it lit the torch!
Since that awakening, she has dedicated nearly all her ranch time to the silver studio. She credits Jamie with teaching and guiding her to develop her smithing and lapidary skills. Though she once claimed that her trips to the ranch in both January and July were enough to quench her thirst for all things silver, she now has a complete studio at home. Her work is recognized for excellence in craftsmanship.
Patte spent her career as a licensed boat captain, interpretive naturalist, and environmental educator in the lowcountry of South Carolina. In her retirement, she has become a full-time artisan working in silver, leather, fiber, and paper. She is an exhibiting artist with the Art League of Hilton Head and sells her pieces at local markets and by commission.
You can find her at https://www.instagram.com/thesetwohandsstudio/
Since that awakening, she has dedicated nearly all her ranch time to the silver studio. She credits Jamie with teaching and guiding her to develop her smithing and lapidary skills. Though she once claimed that her trips to the ranch in both January and July were enough to quench her thirst for all things silver, she now has a complete studio at home. Her work is recognized for excellence in craftsmanship.
Patte spent her career as a licensed boat captain, interpretive naturalist, and environmental educator in the lowcountry of South Carolina. In her retirement, she has become a full-time artisan working in silver, leather, fiber, and paper. She is an exhibiting artist with the Art League of Hilton Head and sells her pieces at local markets and by commission.
You can find her at https://www.instagram.com/thesetwohandsstudio/
Jamie Halpern
Jamie Halpern is an accomplished silversmith, lapidary artist and metalsmith instructor. His work reflects southwestern art and jewelry-making styles and is influenced by travels throughout the United States, the South Pacific and Europe. Working with silver and colorful semi-precious stones through metal fabrication and inlay, and through his teachings with beginning and advanced jewelry students and artists, Jamie celebrates creativity and personal exploration and nurtures artistic expression. His jewelry is sold through private commissions. He has taught silversmithing and lapidary art at Ghost Ranch for a number of years to rave reviews and testaments to how professional pieces can be crafted with focused time. Examples of Jamie’s work can be found at: Jehalpernjewelry.com.
Steve LaRance
Steve Wikviya LaRance is an acclaimed artist of Hopi descent. He has studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe NM. He has exhibited his work and won numerous awards at some of the most prestigious Native American Art shows in the nation including The Heard Museum Indian Market (Phoenix, AZ), Eiteljorg Museum Native Arts Market (Indianapolis, IN), National Museum of the American Indian (Washington DC) and the Santa Fe Indian Market. His work is on exhibit at many prestigious institutions — in the Arizona State Museum (Tucson, AZ), Linden Museum (Stuttgart, Germany), Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (Santa Fe, NM), National Museum of Turkmenistan (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan), among others.
Mr. LaRance creates unique one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces utilizing the Tufa Cast technique originating from the metal smiths of the Native Southwest. This casting technique uses the volcanic Tufa stone found in the region. The tufa serves as the mold in which creative designs are carved by hand into the tufa. Molten silver is then poured or cast into the tufa molds to create beautifully textured artistic creations in jewelry. Steve’s work is found in many private and public collections throughout the world. https://denipahlarancefineart.com
Mr. LaRance creates unique one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces utilizing the Tufa Cast technique originating from the metal smiths of the Native Southwest. This casting technique uses the volcanic Tufa stone found in the region. The tufa serves as the mold in which creative designs are carved by hand into the tufa. Molten silver is then poured or cast into the tufa molds to create beautifully textured artistic creations in jewelry. Steve’s work is found in many private and public collections throughout the world. https://denipahlarancefineart.com
Kris Crowell
It all began with our move to New Mexico in 2017. During my remaining years in corporate life, I charted out what I’d like my retirement to look like. I knew it had to include art, and it needed to be a three-dimensional tactile media representing the world around us. Before our move to New Mexico, I had no idea what a cabochon was or what lapidary was. But I really liked rocks! I was introduced to silversmithing and lapidary through Rio Grande Jewelry Supply, my first employer in NM. I learned a ton about both and started taking lessons. I haven’t looked back. I now teach lapidary and silversmithing from my home studio and at Santa Fe Community College. I love introducing new folks to this artform. Some might call it an obsession. I call it a passion, and I can see it in my students eyes when they are hooked!