Jamie Bennett (artist)
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Jamie Bennett (born 1948) is an American artist and educator known for his enamel jewelry. Over his forty-year career, Bennett has experimented with the centuries-old process of enameling, discovered new techniques of setting, and created new colors of enamel and a matte surfaces. This has led him to be referred to as “one of the most innovative and accomplished enamellers of our time” by Ursula Ilse-Neuman, historian and former curator at the
Museum of Art and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...
in New York City. Bennett is closely associated with the
State University of New York at New Paltz The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an a ...
, where he studied himself as a student, and taught in the Metal department for many years. Bennett retired from teaching in 2014, after thirty years at SUNY New Paltz.


Early life and education

Jamie Bennett was born in Philadelphia to Jean Grippi. Grippi was a single mother who moved to New York City at a young age and worked with dress designers Henry Rosenfeld and Joseph Whitehead. Jamie grew up spending his weekdays with his mother's sister and her family in New Jersey and weekends with his mother in the city. From his mother, Bennett learned early about the sacrifices of the artist's life, as well as a basic understanding of pattern making and construction. Jamie's first college major was in business at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
and then at the
University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...
in Athens. However, by his senior year he was drawn to study painting, pottery and metalsmithing. Among the many teachers who influenced this change, and the professor who made the biggest impact on him, was metalsmith
Robert Ebendorf Robert Ebendorf (born September 30, 1938) is an Americans, American metalsmith and jeweler, known for craft, art and studio jewelry, often using found objects. In 2003–2004, the Smithsonian American Art Museum organized an exhibition of 95 piece ...
. Jamie graduated in 1971 with both Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees.Burrows, Keelin M., "Jamie Bennett", in Strauss, p 464 Soon after his graduation, Jamie's mother died. She had visited Jamie shortly before this and had approved his change in career. So in that same year, Jamie followed
Robert Ebendorf Robert Ebendorf (born September 30, 1938) is an Americans, American metalsmith and jeweler, known for craft, art and studio jewelry, often using found objects. In 2003–2004, the Smithsonian American Art Museum organized an exhibition of 95 piece ...
to SUNY New Paltz to study metalsmithing as a graduate student. At SUNY New Paltz Jamie studied painting and was introduced to enameling by
Kurt Matzdorf Kurt J. Matzdorf, also known as Kurtheinz J. Matzdorf (1922 – 2008), was a German-born American jewelry designer, metalsmith (which included silversmith, goldsmith) and an educator. He was Professor Emeritus at State University of New York at ...
. Enameling combined his love of painting, color, and jewelry so this became his chosen path. Matdorf wasn't a particularly skilled enameler, so Bennett took a class at
Penland School of Crafts The Penland School of Craft ("Penland" and formerly "Penland School of Crafts") is an Arts and Crafts educational center located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, about 50 miles from Asheville. History The school was ...
with
William Claude Harper William C. Harper (born 1944) is an American jewelry artist known for studio craft jewelry. Biography Born in Bucyrus, Ohio, in 1944. He received a BS in 1966 and an MS in education in 1967, both from Case Western Reserve University in Clevelan ...
, and continued to study from a text by the German artist Margarete Seeler, and experimented on his own. In 1974, he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from SUNY New Paltz.


Career

While still a graduate student, Jamie began to show in gallery and museum exhibitions. His first association with galleries came in 1972 and 1973 with shows at the Fairtree Gallery in New York City. Soon afterwards, he got a job teaching at the Memphis Art Academy (now Memphis College of Art) from 1974 until 1979, and from there, he went on to the Program in Artistry at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
, where he taught until 1985. Bennett went on to teach at SUNY New Paltz, his ''alma mater'', where he stayed for thirty years before retiring.


Jewelry

According to Bruce Metcalf and Janet Koplos in their book "Makers: A History of American Craft" William Claude Harper who taught Jaime Bennett at a workshop at Penland was leading the revitalization of enameling in the 1980s."Makers: A History of American Studio Craft", Metcalf and Falino, p 444 After this workshop Jamie developed a unique painterly approach using only opaque colors unlike the jewel-like enamels of his teacher Harper. He also pared down extraneous metalwork so the enamel became the focus. Around this time according to Metcalf and Koplos Jamie "began to cut his enamels into fragments and reassemble them in open, somewhat chaotic arrangements" and 'the juxtaposition of surface, color, and enameling techniques was entirely new to the medium". However, he thought these fragments were too flat and resembled a painting surface instead of an object, which is how he thought of his jewelry, and so wanted his enamels to be more three-dimensional. So "he turned to copper electroforming and ... he could enamel fully in the round." His early experiments looked like plant forms and lead to the "Rocaille" series which resembled ornate floral forms. This series lead him to think about ornamentation and connections to history and the ancient purposes of jewelry. Bennett and other jewelers of the time started looking at the basic meaning of jewelry which became a focus in 1990's. Through his original interest in painting and his ongoing work with enamel Jamie developed strong ideas about color. His reflections about how it is used in contemporary art jewelry were revealed in an article in a 2009 Metalsmith Magazine. He says, "The democratizing of color in jewelry has lessened some of the burdens of the "jewel." Enamelists can in effect make their own jewels in whatever color and shape the artist desires. In the mid-1980s and early 1990s color was embraced and exploited by the artist-jeweler. While the palette was less determined by new technologies like the anodized coloration of aluminum and the advent of "alternative materials" that defined the postmodern early 1980s, color was often used to achieve subversive objectives and challenge good taste. Various artists made a set of presumptions about color that aligned it with a critique of jewelry as tied to consumer culture." The art jewelers of the time were trying to free their work of the constraints of traditional jewelry in a variety of ways. "They assumed that, one, color was supplemental, not essential; two, color was a sensory confection undermining content and intent; three, color or "colorful" is gendered, undermining objectivity; and finally, color's association with traditional jewelry (precious stones, fanciful enameled objects) was mired in a hieratic stranglehold.”


Selected exhibitions

Jamie Bennett has recently shown in exhibitions organized at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
(''Unique by Design''), Tenimeni Luigi d"Alessandro (''The Bright House''), Antonella Villanova Gallery (''Among Etcetera'', solo show), Design Museum UK and the
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
in Melbourne (''Unexpected Pleasures''), Sienna Gallery (''Matter of Appearance''), Villa Terrace Museum of Decorative Arts in Milwaukee, WI (''Decorative Impulse''), and most importantly by the Fuller Museum a retrospective (''Edge of the Sublime'', ''The Enamels of Jamie Bennett''), etc.


Awards and honors

Bennett is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including three
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
Individual Fellowships and three
New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...
Fellowships. He became a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 2009.


Public collections

Jamie Bennett's work can be found in the collections of Arkansas Decorative Arts Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas, Museum of Fine Arts,
Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...
, American Museum of Art,
Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...
, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC,
Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an a ...
, New Paltz, Museum of Art in
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, Norway, Museum of Art in
Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
, Norway,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
,
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, Hiko Mizuno Collection of International Jewelry in Tokyo, Japan,
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...
, Musee des Arts Decoratifs,
Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...
,
Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...
, the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, among others.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Jamie New York University Stern School of Business alumni University of Georgia alumni 1948 births Living people American metalsmiths Fellows of the American Craft Council