49th Annual SNAG conference

Last month, ACJ Chair Terry Hunt and Director Anastasia Young attended the 49th annual Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) conference in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Image: Kim Harrell, Terry Hunt, Anastasia Young, and Janice Derrick at the ACJ’s display at the Adorned Spaces exhibition.

 The ACJ showed selected works from their last five themed exhibitions as part of the conference’s Adorned Spaces, which also included work from local, national groups and other international organisations. Our work was very well received and sparked much interesting conversation.

As an organisation, SNAG is about 5 times larger than ACJ in terms of its membership, so it was no surprise that there were more than 700 delegates at this conference! The programming was excellent, with a wide range of lectures from Keynote Vivian Beer (furniture designer/maker), Nicholas Estrada and Nick Dong, to shorter talks by early career artists, technological industry professionals and Maker Space initiatives. The talks culminated with an “In conversation” between octogenarian studio jeweller Thomas Gentille and Joyce Lovelace, contributing editor for American Council, which was a highlight of the conference for many. Gentille’s warm reminiscence of his comprehensive arts education (including four years of colour theory) was a pleasure to experience.

Other aspects of the conference included a gallery crawl around the north quarter of Portland, in which there was much vibrant jewellery and fine art to be seen, a large vendor room where one could get lost in books and tools, a visit (and party at!) Oregon College of Art and Craft which has amazingly spacious metalwork facilities, and the Exhibition in Motion - a catwalk event with the theme Objects of Protection, which included a special tribute to sculptural jeweller Marjorie Schick.

Terry and Ana also attended a special luncheon to honour (amongst others) Anne Havel who is stepping down as SNAG’s treasurer. Anne is an ACJ member whose work was exhibited in the 20:20 Visions touring show.

As an important first step in building stronger relations with SNAG, many connections were made both with the Board and with the wider membership which represents a wide range of makers, designers, metalsmiths of all types, students, educators, collectors and gallerists. All in all, the conference painted a vibrant picture of the North American scene - energetic, very friendly and producing a very wide range of excellent and imaginative adornment.

Images from left: ACJ's display in the Adorned Spaces salon, Terry Hunt and Anne Havel, Exhibition in Motion, ThomasGentille and Joyce Lovelace