Meet Arthur Smith :
Arthur Smith born in (1917–1982) was one of the leading modernist jewelers of the mid-20th century, and one of the few Afro-Caribbean people working in the field to reach international recognition. He worked/trained by Winifred Mason at Cooper Union, NYU. Where his work got lot of attention and sales. He figured he can be doing all the stuff he`s doing for her for himself. Shortly after working for Winifred he got his own shop selling his creations.
Art Smith was a tremendous source of inspiration for me.
His jewelry is indescribable. The craftsmanship of each piece he created was truly phenomenal. I admire every single piece and aspire to create works that approach the brilliance of his creations.
Speaking of Winifred Mason Here`s another amazing Indigenous-American jeweler who was active in New York during the 1940s. She worked primarily in copper, and was inspired by West Indian cultural traditions. She is believed to be the first commercial African-American jeweler in the United States.
Her first piece of jewelry appeared in 1940, and it was a pendant in bronze, copper, and silver. It had to be of great interest among her friends and soon she began to get orders for the similar pieces. Mason never repeated her works and every piece she made was unique. When she could not find a proper instrument to use in her work, she made it herself.
In 1943, she received her first order from an exclusive department store on Fifth Avenue. After working on jewelry at home, Mason opened and maintained a studio in Greenwich Village in the early 1940s. Jewelry from this studio was sold at national department stores like Lord and Taylor. Much of the jewelry was custom-made, and clientele included Billie Holiday. By the late 1940s, there had been ten exhibitions of her jewelry including one-woman shows in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Among her employees was Art Smith, who went on to found his own studio and become one of the first significant African-American jewelers.
In 1945 Winifred received a grant from the Rosenwald Fund to research material and patterns used by West Indian cultural traditions and express them in jewelry. That research took her to Haiti, where she met and married artist and jeweler Jean Chenet. In 1948 they returned to New York, where Winifred opened Mason’s Haitian Bazaar in Greenwich Village, producing pieces inspired by West Indian traditions and Voodoo.
Let`s not forget me, myself a ingenious black jeweler ;)
Thanks Hope you enjoyed my dedication blog To my brothers and sisters .
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