Heikki Markus Seppä, also known as Heiki Seppa (March 8, 1927 – May 18, 2010) was a Finnish-born American master

metalsmith A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest list of metalworking occupations, metalworking o ...

, educator, and author. He taught at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, from 1965 to 1992.

Early life and education

Heikki Seppä was born in Säkkijärvi,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In 1941 he studied metalsmithing at Goldsmith's School in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, and later at the

Georg Jensen Georg Arthur Jensen (31 August 1866 in Rådvad – 2 October 1935 in Copenhagen) was a Danish silversmith and founder of Georg Jensen A/S (also known as Georg Jensen Sølvsmedie). Early life Born in 1866, Jensen was the son of a knife grin ...

silver factory in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. In 1950 he emigrated with his first wife to

Prince Rupert, British Columbia Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Its location is on Kaien Island near the Alaskan panhandle. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and has a population of 12, ...

. Then they moved to

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...

, where he attended

Cranbrook Academy of Art The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of Cr ...

Career

Seppä taught art in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

from 1960 to 1965. He later taught at the

St. Louis School of Fine Arts The St. Louis School of Fine Arts was founded as the Saint Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts in 1879 as part of Washington University in St. Louis, and has continuously offered visual arts and sculpture education since then. Its purpose-buil ...

from 1965 until his retirement at 1992 as Professor Emeritus. He was a founding member of the . His metal sculptures are in private collections, as well as in museums including the Renwick Gallery of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

. Replicas of Seppä's sculpture "The Search" are given to awardees of the Eliot Society's "Search Award" at Washington University.

Personal life

For much of his childhood, Seppä lived in a children's home until leaving at age 14 to attend the Goldsmith's School. His first wife emigrated with him from Finland and they stayed together until her passing in 1993. In 1998, he moved to

Bainbridge Island, Washington Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 25,298 in 2019, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. ...

and married metalsmith Laurie A. Lyall. He died at his Bainbridge home at age 83.

Awards

American Craft Council The American Craft Council (ACC) is a national non-profit organization that champions craft based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb, the council hosts national craft shows and conferences, publishes a quarterly maga ...

Fellow and national treasure, 1987 * Art and Education Council Award, St. Louis, 1996 * The Hans Christiansen award,

Society of American Silversmiths The Society of American Silversmiths (SAS) is an American arts organization, founded in April 1989 and headquartered in Rhode Island. It is the nation's only professional organization devoted solely to the preservation and promotion of contemporary ...

, 2003

Bibliography

*''Form Emphasis for Metalsmiths'' (1978)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seppa, Heikki 1927 births 2010 deaths People from Vyborg District Finnish emigrants to the United States American artists American metalsmiths Washington University in St. Louis faculty