AJDC - Key Persons
Alan Revere holds a unique position in the jewelry community, with one foot firmly planted as an award-winning designer and the other as
one of the country's most prominent jewelry educators. Revere teaches primarily at the school he founded and directs, the Revere
Academy of Jewelry Arts, in San Francisco, California. He is the creator of instructional books, articles and videos for goldsmiths and jewelers. It is no wonder that Alan Revere has been called, "A master's master."
Alan Revere grew up in a family of visual artists and designers on all sides of his family. Both of his grandfathers as well as his mother were active artists for most of their lives. Revere attended the University of Virginia, where he studied psychology, languages and art, and he received a B.A. Degree in 1969. Focusing on his life-long interest in art, Alan moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where for two years he studied art, sculpture and crafts at the Instituto Allende. During the second year in graduate school he redesigned the jewelry studio, revised the jewelry curriculum and served as an instructor. Alan received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Universidad de Guanajuato in 1972. The next stop on his journey was Pforzheim, Germany where he attended its famed hundred-year-old jewelry school, the Fachhochschule für Gestaltung as well as the more technical, Goldschmiedeschule. For two years, Revere attended school, while working as a model maker and production jeweler. Alan returned to the U.S. in 1974, settling in Oakland, California where he worked as a goldsmith for the trade as well as on his own. Over the next five years he taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, while developing his own collection of fine jewelry.
In 1979, Revere relocated his studio to down town San Francisco and established the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts. The
Revere Academy is approved by the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary
Education. The Academy offers diploma programs with classes taught by master craftsmen and other experts. The same year, 1979,
Alan exhibited his jewelry for the first time at the ACC Crafts Fair in San Francisco. For the next 15 years, the jewelry of Alan Revere was manufactured in his workshop and available in hundreds of jewelry stores and galleries nationwide. Alan has received a number of international awards for his elegant and innovative jewelry.
In the early 1980's, Alan's first published a technical article on goldsmithing in JCK magazine. Since then, Alan has written four books, Including Professional Jewelry Making and curated collections in three others. The series that followed lead to his first book, Professional Goldsmithing. Alan's series of eight instructional DVD's, Revere on Goldsmithing have set the standard for that medium.
Alan Revere is a past president of the American Jewelry Design
Council. In addition to teaching and writing, Alan travels as a guest lecturer and instructor.
Barbara Heinrich is currently the president of the American Jewelry Design Council, on the board of advisors for Jewelers Mutual, is an active member of numerous professional jewelry organizations, and is considered a contemporary leader in the art jewelry industry. She is the recipient of various national and international awards, including the 2009 Couture: Best of Gold, the 2011 MJSA Vision Award for 1 st Place in Gold Distinction, and both the 2011-2012 Fashion Award and the Luster Award from the International Pearl Design Competition given by the Cultured Pearl Association of America. Her work has been published in a wide array of international books and publications.
Cornelia Goldsmith, born in Berlin, Germany, grew up with a fervent desire to make jewelry from an early age. From as far back as she can remember, timeless summers were spent with her sister scouring the beaches of the Baltic Sea, always on the lookout for small pieces of golden amber amongst the sand and rocks. This Baltic amber along with other small "treasures" of varying shapes and colors ended up in her very first creations of earrings and bracelets. Upon moving to the United States in 1988 she enrolled in her first jewelry making classes at the Massachusetts College of Art and two years later transferred into the local technical program at the North Bennett Street School in Boston's North End. It was during her study under Cecelia Bauer in New York, however, when Goldsmith discovered the use of granulation for her art. She now says that the technique quickly made it's way into her jewelry designs.
Today, her jewelry design masterfully incorporates a variety of labor intense methods and techniques such as hand fabrication, chasing, engraving and chain making. A uniquely adapted use of ancient granulation techniques lend Cornelia Goldsmith jewels the signature look for which they have become known. Cornelia Goldsmith designs ultimately showcase an appreciation for exacting craftsmanship and fine detail, while at the same time expressing a unique vision of the natural world. In keeping with Goldsmith's beliefs that we must act as stewards for the planet and of the environment, she seeks to use conflict-free and recycled materials when and wherever possible.
During her career, Cornelia Goldsmith has won numerous awards for excellence including the MJSA Vision Award. She has been featured in various books and publications such as the noteworthy Art Jewelry Today (volumes 1, 2 and 3) and Lark Books "500 Brooches". Goldsmith's jewelry has been featured on the covers of Ornament Magazine, Lapidary Journal and AJM among many others.
Established 1994 in Sausalito, California, Cornelia Goldsmith welcomes established and new customers alike, as well as the passionate jewelry collector.
Elizabeth Garvin an artist working in the medium of jewelry. It's the perfect form to express her interest in natural sciences, geology and metallurgy, to balance these components within strong, feminine, relatable pieces, and to work each day with the most beautiful elements. She designs jewelry with a distinctly modernist sensibility. Inspired by natural geometry, the imagery is powerful, often provocative yet intrinsically familiar. As a woman designing for women, Garvin knows what a woman responds to, what feels right, and what jewelry means to her. As a self taught jeweler, her technical curiosity and proprietary approach imbue each piece with a bold signature style. As the daughter of an architect and engineer, her approach to structure and mechanics is elegant and fluid. The studio of Elizabeth Garvin Fine is run like a small atelier of artisans, using the oldest traditions of jewelry making with the newest technologies, flawlessly executed by a team of talented, skilled hands.
Elizabeth Garvin graduated with honors from New York University with additional studies at Massachusetts College of Art and Parsons School of Design. Through studies of dance, music, painting, sculpture, film, photography, her approach to metalsmithing draws from a wide range of thought and imagery, process and vision. From the gestural to the highly technical, a world of ideas finds harmony and balance in her works.
Katey Brunini creates fine jewelry that embodies the power and grace of nature. Whimsical and poetic, Katey's signature collections include: Twig, Vertebrae, DNA, Skipping Stones, Spider Web, Objects Organique, Spirit Animals and Body Armor. Her jewelry is made with poetry laced in its shapes.
Katey's talents have long been recognized across the industry. Katey has received the Women's Jewelry Association Award of Excellence in Design, the American Gem Trade Association's Editors' Choice Spectrum Award, the International Pearl Design completion, the MarCom Platinum Award for website design, Art Basel, and many other honors. In addition, Katey's jewelry has been featured in the San Diego Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Museum, the Gemological Institute of America's Permanent Collection and the Headley-Whitney Museum (Smithsonian adjunct). K. Brunini Jewels is a proud member of WJA, ICA, CJDG, AGTA, JIC, JA, and AJDC.
Katey launched her jewelry design company, K. Brunini Jewels, in 1998. Her creations pay homage to Nature's spontaneous wit and organic aesthetic. Based in San Diego-based, Katey is known for traveling the world to seek both artistic and ethereal inspiration when creating each of her collections. Her collections are made of lasting and beautiful materials-precious metals of platinum, gold and sterling silver. She mixes these with diamonds, pearls and rare gems then incorporates unique elements of wood, bone and antlers to create a raw and refined harmony.
Katey's desire to soak in history, cultures and art forms burned from an early age. She lived in Europe and the Middle East in the 1990s, with her gypsy lifestyle leading her from Belgium to Israel to the Canary Islands. Ultimately, she settled in Sardinia, and later, Sicily. Days were spent canoeing through the outer archipelagos and paragliding over Taormina; nights were spent gazing at constellations-always in search of inspiration for her art. In Catania, Italy, Katey studied the craft of the Sicilian master goldsmiths whose high-karat gold work and ancient techniques are all but forgotten in the rest of the world. The volcanic landscapes of Sicily inspired her raw yet refined style.
Katey graduated from University of California at Santa Barbara at age twenty with a Bachelor of Arts in History, and a minor in Art History. In the early 90's, Katey lived in North Africa and London. During a trip to Egypt, she solidified her passion. Enchanted by the visions of immortality realized by the pharaohs, Katey decided to pursue their most durable legacy…jewelry. A seminar in haute couture design in London would follow, then the Gemological Institute of America, as well as apprenticeships with master jewelers. Prior to starting her own company, Katey spent four years as the custom designer for J. Jessops and Sons eight stores in Southern California.
Katey was raised in a small beach community just north of San Diego. Long days in the surf and sand nurtured her appreciation for the tender and brutal extremes found in nature. Defining them in her work continues to be her passion. Katey and her talented team take pride in making timeless pieces of jewelry to be worn and cherished by generations of unique individuals. K. Brunini's creations adorn celebrities, collectors and world leaders.
Linda MacNeil began her prodigious career as a metalsmith while she was still a teenager. Crafting wire jewelry in a basement studio set up by her father, she successfully sold the pieces on the street to passersby. MacNeil grew up in Hanover, New Hampshire, in a family filled with creative individuals, from her father who designed machinery to her clothing designer mother to relatives who were architects. Committed to art at an early age, MacNeil studied at the Philadelphia College of Art and the Massachusetts College of Art, where she was introduced to glass and her future husband, Dan Dailey. She received her B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1976.
Upon graduation, MacNeil started exhibiting her work in commercial galleries and soon gained recognition for her talent. Indeed, one of her first exposures at the Cooper & French Gallery in Providence earned her praise alongside Dale Chihuly in a Craft Horizons review. She has since shown in many distinguished galleries including Habatat Galleries, Florida; Hawk Galleries, Ohio; Leo Kaplan Modern, New York; Imago Galleries, California; Heller Gallery, New York and Mobilia Gallery, Massachusetts.
Her work has also been featured in American Craft, and major articles have appeared in Neues Glas, and Metalsmith. MacNeil's metal-and-glass sculpture and jewelry have been acquired by several prestigious museums, among them the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan; the Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada. In addition, MacNeil's artistic accomplishments have been recognized by the Massachusetts Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and recently was awarded the Renwick Alliance's Master of the Medium Award.
MacNeil has shared her consummate skill and aesthetic vision-marked by an Art Deco inspired elegance and economy of form-with students at the Pilchuck Glass School; Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; Rhode Island School of Design; and at the Miasa Center and the Niijima Glass Center in Japan. Although she has worked in various formats, including sculpture, windows, and architectural installations, jewelry has been the mainstay of her career. MacNeil applies the same love of material, technical precision, and clarity of form to all her work, while meeting the additional challenge of wearability in her jewelry.
Mark is one of the few living designers to have a piece of jewelry on permanent display in the Smithsonian Institution Gem and Mineral Hall. He is also one of the most recognized American designers of our time.
Michael Bondanza is a gifted designer with a passion for art and jewelry. His jewelry career began in the early 70's with his desire to create a western style belt buckle for himself. Native American images set him on his first path. However, with his growing mastery of technique, a more personal sense of design began to evolve. Michael became increasingly aware of the quality of craft and the level of design he wanted to aspire to. His two favorite designers were Georg Jensen and the early work of Cartier.
Job Titles:
- President
- INDUSTRY SERVICE
Now creating innovative products utilizing only the digital design process, PAUL KLECKA has harnessed CAD/CAM technology to develop fresh design concepts not possible to create with traditional jewelry production techniques.
Thomas (Tim) McClelland was born in 1957 in Goodison, Michigan, a rural town north of Detroit. His family was artistic, musical and had a good sense of humor. In his public high school, he saw an art student melt and cast silver coins into a small sculpture. From that moment he decided he was going to work in metal. He started making jewelry and took night courses at Cranbrook Institute of Science.
In 1975, he enrolled in Boston University's Program in Artisanry. At the same time, he began working at Boston's venerable jewelry store, Shreve Crump & Low. These two worlds, the European jewelry making tradition and the free spirit of contemporary art, have informed Tim's work up to the present time.
After college, Tim moved to New York City and became a freelance jeweler. Moving to the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts with his young family in 1996, Tim cofounded and became the artistic and design director of McTeigue & McClelland Jewelers.
As Tim enters a new moment of his creative life, he is grateful to have found an ongoing creative outlet that is so meaningful to him. Helping him along the way are his many close friends and relatives, his two rescued pit bulls, his unusually wonderful daughters, and his perfect wife.
"I try to make beautiful, original jewelry. If I had to choose, I would rather it be original and sort of odd, than beautiful and derivative. The idea of beauty needs to originate somewhere."