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Charleston Silver Lecture

American College of the Building Arts silver lecture
Brandy Culp at the American College of the Building Arts
American College of the Building Arts silver lecture
Kaminer Haislip at the American College of the Building Arts

Charleston Silver Lecture by Brandy Culp and Kaminer Haislip

Brandy Culp, the Richard Koopman Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Wadsworth Atheneum, and I have recently given several lecture presentations on Charleston silver, so I was inspired to write a blog post discussing our unique collaboration. We have presented to private organizations and groups and last week we gave a lecture on Charleston silver for the American College of the Building Arts. The pictures in this post are from that event.

Kaminer Haislip and Brandy Culp at their Charleston silver lecture
Kaminer Haislip and Brandy Culp at their Charleston silver lecture

When Brandy and I collaborate on a Charleston silver lecture, we begin with her discussing colonial Charleston history and silversmithing. She is an expert in the decorative arts field and in particular metalwork. Brandy earned her Master of Arts degree with an emphasis in American decorative arts from the Bard Graduate Center. There she completed her thesis on the 18th century Charleston silversmith Alexander Petrie and the Carolina silver trade. The topic of metalwork remains one of her greatest interests, and she is currently working on a permanent exhibition of the Wadsworth’s English and American silver collections.

American College of the Building Arts Charleston silver lecture
Lecture attendees looking at Kaminer Haislip’s silversmithing tools, silver objects in progress, and finished silver items

Brandy ties my contemporary silversmithing brilliantly to historic forms and processes. I discuss in detail how I design and create my original, silver designs and use tools and in progress silver items to illustrate the relationship between my silversmithing techniques and past silversmith practices. Additionally, I bring a selection of finished silver hollowware, flatware, and jewelry for attendees to see in person during the lecture and up close after our slide presentation is over.

American College of the Building Arts Charleston silver lecture
Brandy Culp with lecture guests

We always save time for a question and answer session at the end of our lecture and spend time with guests after the event to take additional questions and socialize.

American College of the Building Arts Charleston silver lecture
John Paul Huguley and Kaminer Haislip after the lecture
American College of the Building Arts Charleston silver lecture
Brandy Culp with guests after the lecture

Brandy and I both are incredibly passionate about silver and very much enjoy sharing our silver knowledge. The combination of her historic metalwork expertise and my contemporary silver designs has been extremely well received each time we have done a presentation. If you are interested in having us speak to your group, organization, or college, then please email me at kaminer@kaminerhaislip.com. I can provide details, fees, and press material.

Thank you for your interest in silver!

Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018 – The Netherlands Silver Museum

netherlands silver museum

schoonhoven silver award 2018

Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018 – The Netherlands Silver Museum

Kaminer Haislip’s silver vessel Gradual Erosion was accepted into the international silver object (no jewelry) exhibition Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018!

The exhibition is hosted by The Netherlands Silver Museum in Schoonhoven and opened December 7, 2018. Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018 will be on display for three months before traveling to cities in Belgium and Germany until November 2019.

etched silver vessel

Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018 includes a wide variety of silversmiths from all over the world and its goal was to inspire artists to test and explore the boundaries of their traditional art and craft. The Netherlands Silver Museum sought objects that bear a direct relationship with the museum’s policy of stimulating the exploration of new technologies and uses, and innovative art forms. Innovation, as envisioned in the Award’s present edition, centers on the rejuvenation of past, time-honored techniques and on the preservation of this heritage through injecting dynamic new life into the art of silversmithing.

silver vase

The international Schoohnoven Silver Award exhibition began in 2001 and 2018 is the seventh edition of this unique silversmithing focused exhibition. Kaminer Haislip’s silver and ebony teapot Perched Flight was included in the 2009 exhibition Poetry in Silver, so she is excited and honored to exhibit again with her new silver vessel Gradual Erosion.

etched silver vessel

Gradual Erosion is currently available for sale, but will not be available for delivery until after the exhibition travels to two other European countries and ends in November 2019. Gradual Erosion will be returned to Kaminer Haislip after the exhibition and you can contact her directly for details at kaminer@kaminerhaislip.com.

To learn more about Gradual Erosion, visit its product page on this website’s Shop at https://www.kaminerhaislip.com/silver-art-jewelry-baby/gradual-erosion-silver/

To learn more about The Netherlands Silver Museum or Schoonhoven Silver Award 2018 visit the two links below.

https://zilvermuseum.com/en/

https://zilvermuseum.com/en/4919-2/

“How did you get into silversmithing?”

“How did you get into silversmithing?” is one of the most frequently asked questions I receive.

I discuss it briefly in my Bio posted on my website, but I get the same question so often I decided to share more of my story on my Blog.

 

silversmithing studio

Kaminer Haislip working in her silversmithing studio

 

Aiken, South Carolina, which received Southern Living’s 2018 award for The South’s Best Small Town, is my hometown. I grew up in my family’s business True Value Hardware & Appliance, which is located on the main street of Aiken’s historic downtown. My grandfather Bill Franklin started the hardware store as a side project when he was an accountant at Savannah River Site. When my parents Det and Lyanne Haislip were married, my father took over the business.

 

True Value Aiken SC

True Value Hardware & Appliance in historic downtown Aiken, SC

 

As children, my brother Wylie, cousins Anne and Franklin, and I spent a lot of time there, especially at Christmas. As you can see in the picture below, we had so much fun with the toys, go carts, and window displays!

 

hardware store 1980's

Kaminer with her brother and cousins in the hardware store as children in the 1980’s

 

In high school, I worked in the hardware store and that is when my interest began in making sculpture and jewelry. Being around all of the tools and equipment, putting together bikes and toys, and cutting keys is now an obvious connection to how working with my hands became my career.

 

True Value Aiken SC

True Value newspaper feature from 1990’s

 

When I was in high school, I took the industrial tech class, because I wanted to learn how to make sculptures in metal and wood. Being the only girl in the class did not bother me at all and I took to learning welding and wood working immediately. One of my first wood sculptures is shown below. Displayed in a downtown Aiken park not far from my family’s business, it was my first artwork exhibited outside of a school setting.

 

sculpture

Sculpture from high school in 1990’s

 

I knew by then I wanted to be a professional artist and major in jewelry and sculpture in college, so I sought out a college with a strong jewelry and sculpture program. After careful deliberation, I decided the small liberal arts college Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC would be the best fit for me. Alfred Ward, an English silversmith from London, was head of the jewelry and metals program and I was excited to study under such a renowned silversmith.

 

silver ebony wood spoon

Silver and ebony wood spoon from undergraduate studies

 

The first functional silver object I made studying under Alf was the silver spoon with ebony wood handle shown above. This piece is significant to my work, because it was the first time I laminated silver and wood. I continue to use this method of fabrication for spoon, teapot and coffeepot handles, because it creates strength in the handle and a beautiful line of silver down the center.

 

art gallery

Kaminer and her brother Wylie at her first gallery exhibition

 

From there I was hooked on silversmithing, because it combined my interest in jewelry techniques and sculptural forms. My graduation exhibition with my classmates in Charlotte, NC was my first commercial art gallery exhibit. Pictured above is me with my brother Wylie looking at one of my display cases at the opening reception. After graduating with my BFA in Jewelry and Metals, I moved to Charlotte and started my MFA silversmithing studies under Alf at Winthrop.

 

Sir John Cass London Metropolitan University

Kaminer and her professor Alf at Sir John Cass London Metropolitan University in London, England

 

While in graduate school, I focused on silversmithing and immersed myself in it completely. During that time, I also taught the Jewelry II and III classes and jewelry workshops at Winthrop. Additionally, I interned and was a docent at the Mint Museum, where I learned up close the history of craft and design and how a professional institution operates. During the summer of 2004, I went to London for a family trip and my MFA thesis research. Alf and his wife were in England visiting family, so he was kind enough to meet us in London and show us around. Pictured above is me with Alf in the stake room of Sir John Cass London Metropolitan University, where Alf was formerly head of the silversmithing and jewelry department.

 

silver teapot

Perched Flight silver and ebony wood teapot

 

In 2005 I graduated with my MFA in Silversmithing and Design with a minor in Sculpture. The first teapot I made was Perched Flight and it is silver with an ebony wood handle that is laminated with silver in the center. It was the central piece to my MFA thesis exhibition and after was accepted to five national exhibitions and one international exhibition. I became very attached to it, so it is now in me and my husband’s collection.

Immediately following graduation, I moved to Charleston, South Carolina and established my studio and business. Three years later my husband Matt and I had our wedding reception at the William Aiken House. My hometown was named for William Aiken and his father is my great-great-great-great uncle.

 

Charleston Weddings Magazine

Charleston Weddings Magazine feature – see full article on website Press page

 

My path to silversmithing began at a very young age, but it wasn’t until I started my business and began exhibiting my work nationally that people started asking me “How did you get into silversmithing?”. When I thought about it and shared my story, I realized how unusual it is for a girl to grow up in a small southern town hardware store and become a contemporary silversmith. Really?!

For less lengthy answers to frequently asked questions, visit my FAQ page on my website!

 

Metalsmith Magazine – February 2018

Metalsmith magazine featured on their cover the silver Pillinger silversmith Kaminer Haislip collaborated with industrial designer Constantin Boym on for the Museum of the City of New York’s exhibition New York Silver, Then and Now. It was also included in the article about the historic and contemporary silver exhibition. The New York silver focused exhibition will be on display at the museum until June 2018.

metalsmith magazine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antiques & Fine Art Magazine – 18th Anniversary Issue 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

New York Silver, Then and Now – June 2017

 

 

 

Museum of the City of New York – New York Silver, Then and Now

Contemporary silversmith Kaminer Haislip was invited to collaborate with Constantin Boym, a well renowned New York industrial designer and architect, on a custom silver object for the Museum of the City of New York. Their collaborative silver Pillinger, designed by Constantin and handcrafted by Kaminer, is on display for the exhibition New York Silver, Then and Now from June 28 – November 26, 2017.  The exhibition links the rich history of silversmithing in New York City to present-day artistic practice. It features newly commissioned works by leading metalworkers, created in response to historical objects from the Museum’s extensive silver collection. Jeannine Falino was the Guest Curator for the exhibition.

Pillinger was inspired by a historic porringer, but is a contemporary and thoughtful twist on the traditional form. Conceptually the piece makes commentary on how dependent our society has become on pills and medications. It’s smaller than a traditional porringer size makes it a scoop for pills, so one can shovel them in quantity.

See below for pictures of the Pillinger installed in the exhibition as well as some other exhibition highlights from Kaminer’s visit to the opening reception and show.

 

 

 

 

To visit the Museum of the City of New York or to learn more about the exhibition New York Silver, Then and Now visit http://www.mcny.org/exhibition/new-york-silver-then-now

For more information on Constantin Boym and to view his award winning designs that are in numerous permanent museum collections visit http://www.boym.com/