Introduction to Southwest Silversmithing with Jamie Halpern and Co-Instructor Cree LaRance – G25010101
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Introduction to Southwest Silversmithing is a two-week hands-on course (with an optional third week) in the basics of making silver jewelry (including lapidary with stones and shell for beginners and experienced jewelry-makers).
Course also includes an introduction to the history of Southwest jewelry-making and its role in the culture and economy of the Southwest. 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.
Class participants will spend two weeks in the beautiful and fully equipped Ghost Ranch silversmith studio with master teachers and guest artists. Participants will interact with silversmith artists from Santa Fe and the Pueblos, tour museum collections, and engage with native artists at the historic Santa Fe Plaza where makers have been selling their jewelry for generations.
Students will learn a variety of silversmith techniques, including sawing and soldering, overlay, bezel setting, stone cutting and polishing, channel inlay, tufa casting, and stamping and will leave the class with numerous pieces of wearable and sellable jewelry of their own creation.
Instructors
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Cree LaRance
Cree LaRance is an award winning Native American Jeweler living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is an enrolled member of Ohkay Owingeh pueblo however his roots also includes Hopi, Navajo, and Assiniboine tribes. He is the son of renown Native American artists Steve “Wikviya” LaRance and Marian “Kaawaadeh” Denipah. Cree’s creations are primarily fashioned in silver and gold into wearable art, which is adorned with Turquoise, Coral, and many other precious gem stones. His inspiration is heavily influenced by his Native American Culture, Religion, Family, and way of life mixed with modern times which creates a legacy that is both historical and evolving.
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Jamie HalpernJamie 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.