About the Artists
TAXCO / MEXICAN
Los Castillo - Don Antonio Castillo began his apprenticeship at the age of 16 in William Spratling’s Las Delicias workshop in early 1930’s. He and his brothers, Jorge, Miguel, and Justo were trained in all aspects of the silver business. By 1939, they formed their own company, Los Castillo. The company continues on today under the watchful eye of Emilia Castillo, Don Antonio’s daughter, a gifted artisan in her own right. Under her direction, “Los Castillo must not be too commercial. We never repeat; we are always improving, getting better with the details. We are upgrading the quality of craftsmanship. We only want great artisans who love what they do. Silver is too precious a metal – it has to be used with love.”
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to the topHector Aguilar - Hector Aguilar started out his incredible career as a designer, silversmith and shop owner by first apprenticing with William Spratling at Las Delicias in 1937. By 1939, he opened Taller Borda, taking several of Spratling’s finest silversmiths with him. Aguilar’s jewelry lines were inspired by Aztec and Mixtec art and architecture. All of Hector Aguilar’s work is highly collectible and actively sought by Mexican Silver enthusiasts.
Margot de Taxco - Margot van Voorhies Carr, professionally known as Margot de Taxco, was a major contributor to the success of Taxco silver attaining worldwide attention. Margot first came to Mexico in 1937 and soon met and married Don Antonio Castillo of Los Castillo. During her time with him, he encouraged her to translate her designs from paper to three-dimensional forms in silver. Many early designs of Los Castillo bear the obvious contributions of Margot de Taxco. After divorcing Antonio, Margot struck out on her own with a business card that read, “As the stars are to the Night, So are Jewels to the Woman”. Margot is most famous for her works in enamels on silver and her devotion to Art Deco, Mayan and Japanese-inspired motifs that could be adapted to either silver or enamel. Her clients included such Hollywood celebrities as John Wayne and Lana Turner, who visited Margot’s Taxco silver shop every year. Margot’s vintage silver and stunning enamel work are highly collectible today.
Victoria - Ana Maria Nunez de Brilanti, “Victoria” was a talented designer who just recently passed away. Befriended and supported by William Spratling when she opened her shop, Victoria, both Spratling and Margot de Taxco showed Brilanti techniques to improve the quality of her work. Always a stickler for perfection, Brilanti destroyed any piece that did not meet her exacting standards. Many pieces of jewelry by Victoria and Victoria Cony, Ana’s shop named for her eldest daughter, are executed in higher grade 980 silver, an almost pure form of silver. Before her death, Ana bemoaned the poor quality of silver coming from Taxco workshops since the late 1980’s. Truly the heyday of Taxco artistry, so gloriously evident during the 1940’s – 1950’s, has now been lost to commercialism.
William Spratling - William Spratling is credited with gaining worldwide attention for Taxco silver. Having traveled to Taxco off and on, Spratling finally settled in and organized the local silversmiths who had been producing silver items for 400 years but without any real economic benefit to themselves. Spratling himself became a silversmith as a way to make a living in Taxco. What transpired from this humble beginning was an explosion of arts and artists that produced the fabulous jewelry that proudly bears “Taxco” as part of the hallmark.
William Spratling pieces are highly collectible and therefore often copied/faked. If you wish to be an educated buyer of Spratling silver, please visit www.spratlingsilver.com and read Phyllis Goddard’s definitive “Spratling Silver: A Field Guide.” Read as much as you can on Spratling’s work and study his hallmarks. Go to ethnographic art shows and handle genuine pieces on offer from reputable dealers. Talk with the dealers to learn more. William Spratling himself observed early on that his work was being copied and displayed in the shops of Taxco within one month of introduction of a new design. Today, not all pieces hallmarked “Spratling” are genuine. A reputable dealer will stand behind his/her pieces and we advise that you buy only from such a person.
Salvador Teran - Salvador Teran was considered an outstanding designer and technician in silversmithing. He left the Spratling workshop in 1939 to join his cousins as Los Castillo. From there he went to Mexico City and started his own shop, “La India Bonita” in 1952. Most collectors seek out Salvador’s jewelry that shows his characteristic fascination with overlapping planes set against oxidized backgrounds. All of Salvador’s jewelry is highly collectible and it rarely surfaces on the vintage jewelry market.
Enrique Ledesma - Enrique Ledesma studied at the San Carlos Academy of Art in Mexico City, the same art school as Diego Rivera, Matilde Poulat, and Ricardo Salas. As a boy, he served his silversmith’s apprenticeship in his father’s workshop. Ledesma is most known for “choosing stones for their beauty and creating compositions in which stone and silver were used to express form, color, pattern and line.” (Mexican Silver, Morrill and Berk)
Felipe Martinez - Trained as a sculptor, Felipe Martinez opened his shop, “Piedra y Plata”, in Taxco, Mexico in 1950. Five years later, William Spratling described the shop as having “original work recognized not only in Mexico but abroad.” In “Mexican Silver,” Morrill and Berk commented: “Because of his interest in sculpture, each piece of jewelry is a unified composition. Martinez integrated the materials he used in order to emphasize the totality of the piece.” Works by Martinez are exceptionally rare and avidly sought by collectors of vintage Taxco silver.
Los Ballesteros - According to Morrill and Berk in “Mexican Silver”, Los Ballesteros trained as apprentices in a system that originated in Pre-Conquest times, portrayed in the Codex Mendoza where the father teaches the art of silversmithing to his son. The family started the business in 1937 and by the 1950’s had established shops in several tourist towns including Taxco; the business continues today as Talleres de los Ballesteros. The company has won awards for its designs and continues to commission its pieces from independent silversmiths who meet Ballesteros’ strict standards.
Antonio Pineda - In his long career as a silversmith and designer, Antonio Pineda has consistently won competitions and accolades both in Mexico and internationally. His early art instruction after the Mexican Revolution taught him to produce what he saw and felt rather than follow in the European classical approach that was being taught in Mexican schools. Later on, his eschewing of both European and North American influences helped him establish the Modern Mexican School.
Frederick “Fred” Davis - Fred Davis arrived in Mexico in 1910 and soon developed a network of artisans from whom he would buy directly. Taking an avid interest in silver jewelry, he began creating his own works, all before William Spratling arrived on the scene. Fred Davis managed the antiques and fine crafts department for Sanborn’s, a department store in Mexico City, for over 20 years.
Matl - Matilde Eugenia Poulat first started “Matl” in 1934 and continued designing some of the most collectible Taxco silver until her death in 1960. Her designs for jewelry and religious figures were part of the new cultural vision among Mexico’s intellectuals after the Revolution when they sought a new Mexican aesthetic. All Matl designs were executed by accomplished silversmiths under her exacting direction. After her death, her nephew, Ricardo Salas, continued the Matl-Salas line until his death in 2006.
MODERNIST / STUDIO ARTIST / DESIGNER SIGNED
Sam Patania - Samuel Frank Patania is the 3rd generation of the Patania family to continue the jewelry making tradition. Like his father, Sam worked around the family shop since the age of 10 when he began learning the basics of the craft after school. He took jewelry making classes in high school before starting work full time in his family's famous Thunderbird shop. In his mid-20's, Sam attended the University of Arizona thinking he might like to be an engineer, but soon realized that his roots in jewelry and love of creation were his true calling. He immediately enrolled in metalsmithing classes where he met jewelry instructor Michael Croft. "Michael got me to design wildly different work than at the shop" (ref. Shari Watson-Miller "Patania: 70 Years of Excellence"). Croft introduced Sam to techniques of lost wax casting and the Japanese technique of mokume, a fusion-layered patterned laminate.
Sam's artistry is a vehicle for exploring the possibilities in life,
taking risks that challenge the limits of his craft and the raw materials
he shapes. "The 'What If?' is what I live for, that is
the kind of thing I like to provoke me." On describing a certain
piece of
jewelry he wishes to make in a way he has never tried before, Sam states: "It
scares me to think of doing it that way, so I probably will. Any mistake
will be there FOREVER, no looking back...now I'll HAVE to make it like
that."
Sam's artistic style has long since departed from the Patania tradition of working primarily in silver and turquoise. Sam is inspired by the shape and color of various gemstones and he selects only the highest quality stones for his work. Jewelry making is more than Sam's profession: it is his consuming passion. "I have never run across anyone [else] who is demonstrably as passionate about their jewelry. I get excited about this stuff. The processes, learning it, exploring it, getting bummed when it doesn't work; I'm a raw nerve about this stuff. If I find someone who teaches something I want to learn, I can't get enough. That's [what] makes me an artist."
The success of that artistic daring in extending the Patania legacy has been recognized by some of the world's most discerning museums and galleries. In 1999, the Tucson Museum of Art hosted a retrospective exhibition of the works of all three generations, Frank Sr., Frank Jr., and Sam. In the year 2000 the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute took possession of 3 bracelets, one from each family member, to be put on display as part of the gallery's permanent collection. Sam doesn't rest on his laurels. He closed Patania's retail shop in 2004 to focus exclusively on jewelry making, working with a few select galleries who represent his work. Sam's search for new forms of self-expression now takes place full-time. Inspiration comes from emerging trends in fashion and design; Sam applies imagination and years of mastery to give them form in metal and stone. Constant innovation keeps life -- and art -- interesting.
H. Fred Skaggs - H. Fred Skaggs is the epitome of the ‘accidental Modernist’. In 1956, Skaggs moved to Scottsdale, Arizona and opened a shop in the Lloyd Kiva Craft Center. He thought he was simply making his jewelry but he inspired an entire generation of celebrated and highly collectible silver artists. Christie Romero’s 3rd edition of ‘Warman’s Jewelry’ hails Skaggs as a ‘Mid Century Modern Master’ and touts Skaggs’ influence on Charles Loloma, THE famed Native American silversmith. Loloma credits Fred ‘for inspiring him and teaching him to make jewelry’. Skaggs died in 1982 and his widow kept his shop open until just recently when the area became too touristy to do proper honor to the past.
Frank Patania, Sr. - Frank Patania Sr. was a renowned Italian born designer who came to the US in the early 20th century. He found his inspiration in the blending of European and Native American aesthetics. Patania pieces are hard to come by and can be found in many museum collections including the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery in Washington D.C.
Holly Rittenhouse - “In college I studied art, earning a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, then a Master's Degree in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.
Meeting a talented jeweler introduced me to a discipline that would prove to be a perfect fit. As a sculptor, with an interest in design as well, I found jewelry to be a natural combination of the two. Now, I've been working on the art and craft of jewelry for 8 years.
Many of my pieces incorporate movement and interaction between parts. I frequently choose gemstones with graphic shapes or primary colors and think of them as punctuation for the short narrative of the piece. I pay special attention to, and enjoy, the challenge of designing jewelry whose links are an integral, even central, part of the whole. Metal forming is another area of particular interest to me and brings to the jewelry a solid shape to play off the ever moving parts.” – excerpt from Holly Rittenhouse biographical information at www.hollyrittenhouse.com.
Art Smith - Art Smith’s modernist designs were integral to the parts of the body they were made to adorn; his jewelry, though sculpturally advanced, was not made to stand alone, but to be worn. ‘A piece of jewelry, he said, is a ‘whatisit?’ until you relate it to the body…Like line, form, and color, the body is a material to work with.” For more information on Art Smith, please reference “Modernist Jewelry 1930 – 1960, The Wearable Art Movement” by Marbeth Schon.
Betty Cooke - Betty Cooke has been making Modernist jewelry since the 1940’s when she taught returning GIs metalworking to give them a saleable skill. She still makes her own pieces and sells them in her store, “The Store, LTD” in Baltimore, MD. Generally, pieces are made in limited quantities and once a design is sold out, Betty will not go back and recreate a piece. Betty has a devoted fan base who recognize that the simpler the piece, the more difficult it is to achieve artistic and technical perfection. For more information on Betty Cooke, please reference “Modernist Jewelry 1930 – 1960, The Wearable Art Movement” by Marbeth Schon.
Bent Gabrielsen - Bent Gabrielsen has worked with jewelry, church art and silver, design and sculpture for over 40 years. He makes his home in Denmark and has produced designs for Georg Jensen, Hans Hansen, and now for himself.
For more information on Bent Gabrielsen and Georg Jensen, please visit http://jensensilver.com/news-info/georgjensenbio.shtml and
http://jensensilver.com/news-info/designers.html#bent
Lyn Zyn - Currently residing in Tucson, Arizona, Lyn led a varied, interesting life before discovering jewelry as a way to convey her artistic talents. In her earlier life she was a costumer for films and traveled around, writing, painting and camping in the countryside. On her journeys she made many friends, one of whom was Allan Wallace/Washoe/Maidu, a Native American "master" jeweler from northern California. Allan suggested Lyn translate her images to jewelry. In Lyn’s words, “It seemed to come naturally and the first collection I made sold right away….which was my clue to pursue the medium.” Another major influence in Lyn’s life has been Alex Beeshligaii who is Navajo/Dine. Alex taught Lyn the finer points of silversmithing, such as overlay, links, box clasps, tufa and sand casting. Today Lyn and Alex share studio space. Lyn works with stones such as natural turquoise, lepidolite, moonstone, smithsonite, chrysoprase, lapis, diopside, tourmalines, mica and sunstone, rough ruby, labradorite and dinosaur bone…sometimes including the stone in its natural, rough state. About the enigmatic faces she creates Lyn says, “The face represents consciousness to me. The different expressions convey the infinite. This face looking at you says "I am aware." I guess I make these to feel more alive, and after I draw one it begins to draw something out of me. It communicates to me just as all art does. I may say that I feel strength and peace around these images. They comfort me. Sometimes I feel as though I create an image in a present time, but the piece doesn't really activate and communicate until a future time or, perhaps the opposite. Maybe I am receiving information from the future, from my future self through this process.”
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