ALL ITEMS
102
Fund the Fire
$500Like all museums, the Metal Museum inspires creativity through art. However, the Metal Museum also has the unique opportunity to inspire creativity through active art making and insights into the artistic process. Through programs for youth, adults, museum visitors, and artists of all experience levels, the Museum educates and inspires thousands of visitors each year.
When you Fund the Fire, your donation is immediately put to work to ensure these moments of inspiration and creativity remain accessible to all. From Shelby County School students to emerging artists to the Museum's apprentices, your support ensures that no matter the learner's background, a valuable and exciting experience is available to them.
$500 can provide a salary for one Metal Museum Youth Initiative participant for one semester. The Initiative teaches high-school students basic metalsmithing and business skills. To learn more about the Initiative, visit our website.
Thank you for Funding the Fire!
205
"Philodendron"
$300About the Item
Sterling silver was fused to the copper under the torch, then the leaf was hand cut, chased and textured. Holes were drilled for the sterling silver lacings.
9" x 10"
About the Artist
The dining and serving pieces, tableware, and home decor work the artisans of Kingfisher Designs make is made with the eye of a jeweler. That is for good reason - the business started with jewelry. Items made by Kingfisher Designs are made to be used daily for generations. They are future heirlooms to be passed down through families as a treasured part of the heritage of the family.
Shipping Information
Shipping fees are in addition to auction purchases. Items marked by $$$ will incur higher shipping fees. Shipping fees will be billed after the auction to the card on file. Alternatively, items may be picked up at the Metal Museum.
Mahaffey Event & Tent Rentals
212
Triple Gingko Necklace
$226About the Item
This necklace features a cluster of three gold-filled Gingko leaves with a 24" gold-filled, adjustable chain. The leaves are patterned on the leaves from a gingko tree near Blackwell's home. Traditionally, the gingko symbolizes strength, grace, and longevity. This is because of the four gingko trees that survived the atomic blast at Nagasaki, Japan, when everything around them was destroyed.
The pendant is 1.75" (45mm) long and 1.62" (40mm) wide. The chain is 24" (60cm) long and can be shortened by hooking the fishhook clasp into any of the chain links.
About the Artist
Metalsmithing is a second career for Blackwell, after a 40-year career as a professional musician. In retirement, she started exploring visual art in metalsmithing. She has loved studying stylistic periods in visual arts just as she had earlier studied these periods from the music perspective. Much of Blackwell's work is botanical and organic in subject, with more recent abstract explorations. She credits her study at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for encouraging her work and providing a foundation for her development of a body of work and the establishment of her jewelry business, Berkshire Creations.
www.instagram.com/berkshire.creations
Shipping Information
Shipping fees are in addition to auction purchases. Items marked by $$$ will incur higher shipping fees. Shipping fees will be billed after the auction to the card on file. Alternatively, items may be picked up at the Metal Museum.
213
Gold-Filled Gingko Earrings
$351About the Item
Tiny gingko leaves dangle from these gold-filled earrings.
1.5" (38mm) long and .75" (20mm) wide.
About the Artist
Metalsmithing is a second career for Blackwell, after a 40-year career as a professional musician. In retirement, she started exploring visual art in metalsmithing. She has loved studying stylistic periods in visual arts just as she had earlier studied these periods from the music perspective. Much of Blackwell's work is botanical and organic in subject, with more recent abstract explorations. She credits her study at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock for encouraging her work and providing a foundation for her development of a body of work and the establishment of her jewelry business, Berkshire Creations.
www.instagram.com/berkshire.creations
Shipping Information
Shipping fees are in addition to auction purchases. Items marked by $$$ will incur higher shipping fees. Shipping fees will be billed after the auction to the card on file. Alternatively, items may be picked up at the Metal Museum.
215
Tiny Wrench
$2440About the Item
Small replica of an early "screw" style adjustable wrench. Made with sterling silver, purple heart wood, and a tiny faceted ruby on the end of the handle.
1.5" x .375" x .1875" (really small)
About the Artist
Laura Mullen Vermilye is an iron casting metal artist. On her 'Cast Iron Gypsy' YouTube channel, she chronicles the artwork that she is currently making and her journey in iron casting.
Shipping Information
Shipping fees are in addition to auction purchases. Items marked by $$$ will incur higher shipping fees. Shipping fees will be billed after the auction to the card on file. Alternatively, items may be picked up at the Metal Museum.
218
Set of "Whirl" Prints
$500About the Item
Two framed reproduction prints of John Medwedeff's Whirl Sculpture. Commissioned by the UrbanArt Commission and the Greater Memphis Arts Council, Whirl is a forged and fabricated steel and aluminum sculpture. The sculpture also functions as a bench and shade shelter and is located in Vance Park overlooking the Mississippi River. On the 20th anniversary of the sculpture's creation, the artist has released a limited-edition run of prints of his original drawings. This is the first time the artist has released his drawings to the public.
About Whirl: https://uacmem.org/projects/whirl; https://www.memphisart.org/artwork/whirl/
$$$ Prints each measure 36" x 24" (unframed).
About the Artist
John Medwedeff has been creating sculpture, site-specific architectural ironwork, and furniture for over thirty years. His work is represented in numerous collections and exhibitions in the United States, including the Illinois State Museum and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Following a three-year blacksmithing apprenticeship with James Wallace at the Metal Museum, Medwedeff earned his BFA and MFA degrees in art from SIU Carbondale. As an educator, he has taught workshops at numerous universities, craft schools, and symposia, including Washington University in St. Louis and Penland School for Crafts in North Carolina. He's been running Medwedeff Forge & Design since 1988. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors at the Metal Museum.
Shipping Information
Shipping fees are in addition to auction purchases. Items marked by $$$ will incur higher shipping fees. Shipping fees will be billed after the auction to the card on file. Alternatively, items may be picked up at the Metal Museum.
220
Primrose Brooch & Boardwalk
$180About the Item
The Brooch was created using waterjet cut aluminum, silver, steel, powder coat, and the Boardwalk was created using ash and steel.
This blue primrose brooch can be worn as well as displayed on its wooden boardwalk. The ash boardwalk and its laser-engraved surface are inspired by the boardwalks encountered on hiking trails during Smith's 2021 residency at Acadia National Park. The raised platform can hook onto a nail or screw in the wall for an easy method of hanging the work. The blue primrose brooch was made in 2020, part of a series ongoing for the past few years. The brooch forms have been traced in Rhinocerous and waterjet cut before being hand sanded, formed, powder-coated, and connected with silver rivets.
About the Artist
Rachel Suzanne Smith is an artist, metalsmith, and educator. She is currently making work, working as Fabrication Lab Supervisor at Oberlin College, and teaching part time at Kent State University. Her work reflects themes of identity and ornament, focusing specifically on the desire to connect with the outdoors and nature. The facilitation of that need occurs through the use of adornment, allowing the wearer to surround themselves in arrangements and clusters of plants, created via the artist's photographs and sketches.
Shipping Information
Shipping fees are in addition to auction purchases. Items marked by $$$ will incur higher shipping fees. Shipping fees will be billed after the auction to the card on file. Alternatively, items may be picked up at the Metal Museum.
238
Hex Stud Post Earrings
$160About the Item
Oxidized Argentium sterling silver post earrings. Hexagonal shape with lace pattern.
Each earring is 1 5/16" tall by 1 1/16" wide and 5/16" deep.
About the Artist
Jill Baker Gower is a metalsmith, jeweler, and educator who resides near Madison, WI. Prior to relocating to Madison, Jill lived in southern New Jersey where she was an Associate Professor of Art at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ for eleven years. She is originally from the Chicago area, received her BS in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and her MFA in Metals from Arizona State University. Jill's work has been in many juried and curated exhibitions nationwide and has been published in Metalsmith magazine and books such as 500 Enameled Objects, CAST, and Little Dreams in Glass and Metals: Enameling in America 1920 to the Present. In 2019 Jill had a solo exhibition of her work at the Metal Museum in Memphis, TN as a part of the Tributaries Series. Jill is a former resident artist of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. Jill was a recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship (2015). More of her work can be viewed at www.jillbakergower.com
Shipping Information
Shipping fees are in addition to auction purchases. Items marked by $$$ will incur higher shipping fees. Shipping fees will be billed after the auction to the card on file. Alternatively, items may be picked up at the Metal Museum.
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239
Hex Ring
$150About the Item
This ring is oxidized Argentium sterling silver. Hexagonal shaped form with lace pattern.
Hexagon is 1 5/16" tall by 1 1/16" wide and 6/16" tall. Size 8
About the Artist
Jill Baker Gower is a metalsmith, jeweler, and educator who resides near Madison, WI. Prior to relocating to Madison, Jill lived in southern New Jersey where she was an Associate Professor of Art at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ for eleven years. She is originally from the Chicago area, received her BS in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and her MFA in Metals from Arizona State University. Jill's work has been in many juried and curated exhibitions nationwide and has been published in Metalsmith magazine and books such as 500 Enameled Objects, CAST, and Little Dreams in Glass and Metals: Enameling in America 1920 to the Present. In 2019 Jill had a solo exhibition of her work at the Metal Museum in Memphis, TN as a part of the Tributaries Series. Jill is a former resident artist of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. Jill was a recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship (2015). More of her work can be viewed at www.jillbakergower.com
Shipping Information
Shipping fees are in addition to auction purchases. Items marked by $$$ will incur higher shipping fees. Shipping fees will be billed after the auction to the card on file. Alternatively, items may be picked up at the Metal Museum.
