Charles Lewton-Brain: Artist, Goldsmith, Educator, Problem Solver … alchemist
Charles Lewton-Brain: Artist, Goldsmith, Educator, Problem Solver … alchemist[1]
Written by Jennifer E. Salahub Professor, School Critical and Creative Studies, ACAD & ACC Board Member
Photo by Dwayne Norman
Quiet this metal!
Let the manes put off their terror, let
them put off their aqueous bodies with fire.
Let them assume the milk-white bodies of agate.
Let them draw together the bones of the metal.
Ezra Pound “The Alchemist: Chant for the Transmutation of Metal” (1912)
Caveat: In writing this essay, I simply refuse to use the term retire – for we all know that artists like Charles Lewton-Brain are much too engaged to even consider such an abstract concept. However, he is “stepping away” from the Alberta College of Art and Design, and given that so many of our makers were taught or mentored by Charles since his arrival in 1985, I am taking this opportunity to consider how his presence has helped shape our identity as an engaged craft community.
Charles Lewton-Brain has been described as an internationally renowned artist, goldsmith, educator, author, and tireless innovator. Alongside an active studio practice and full teaching load, he has lectured and taught workshops internationally, created his own publishing company (1994), and co-founded the world’s largest educational internet site for the jewelry, gemology and the metals field – Ganoksin.com (1995). His craftsmanship has been recognized by his peers – an elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy, a distinguished Fellow of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG), a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain. In 2005 he received the Alberta Craft Council’s Honour Award and in 2012 we all celebrated when he was awarded the prestigious Saidye Bronfman Award for fine crafts (Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts) which spoke to his studio practice (from performance-oriented body art to fine jewellery), his role as an educator (ACAD and worldwide), and his staunch belief in Canadian craft (his work with the Canadian Crafts Federation and the Alberta Craft Council (five years as Board Director).[2]
Charles’s work ethic is a daunting model for students – and colleagues for that matter – it was developed in Pforzheim Germany where he trained to be a master goldsmith with Klaus Ullrich, himself a celebrated designer, master goldsmith, and master silversmith. Not surprisingly, what motivated him as a student continues to inform his practice and motivates his students. In his words,
What Ullrich and his contemporaries did was say that an accidental effect could be controlled and in fact utilized in a design and compositional element. This was against all the traditions in the field in Europe and was possibly a reflection of Pollock and other painters who chose the marks of process as compositional elements. (…) This approach was a revelation for me; to listen to the material; to use the marks of working the material as conscious choices in design; to let nature show in the work.[3]
Charles is an inspiring maker and teacher, his students have gone on to be recognized nationally and internationally as makers, as educators, as innovators, and as creative thinkers. A former undergraduate called him the “absolute Guru of metalsmithing” while another declared, “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who knows so much about anything/everything.” He has served not only as a teacher but as a mentor for many ACC members, from makers like the Chairman of the ACC Board, Tara Owen to myself – a craft historian. Charles is a passionate advocate for craft in Alberta and Canada – and his passion, contagious.
He is indeed a multifaceted individual – a creator, a performer, a problem solver, and arguably an alchemist. Anyone who has watched Charles fold forming – the innovative process he introduced to the world – will attest to the latter identity. For there is no doubt when he sets to work that he has mastered alchemy as described in “The Alchemist: Chant for the Transmutation of Metal” by Ezra Pound or defined by the OED as the “seemingly magical power of transmutation or extraction.” On fold forming, Alan Revere, the American goldsmith confirms that, “As amazing as it may seem, nobody ever worked with metal this way in the more-than-10,000-year history of the craft.” Revere explains the magnitude of the process as,
[A] series of techniques that allow rapid development of three- dimensional surfaces and structures. The dynamic and fascinating shapes created through this system are unachievable by any other method. The technique can be used to create complex high-relief forms and to resemble chased, constructed and soldered forms. All are produced from single sheets of almost any metal in a matter of minutes.[4]
In 2012, Robert Sirman, then director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts suggested that, “Artists are alchemists and [these] laureates are masters at transforming everyday experience into gold.” Just consider the implications, both figurative and literal, when one of those laureates was Charles!
In his renowned Cage series, Charles Lewton-Brain (goldsmith and conceptual artist) sets out to question the genre. What is jewellery? From the concept to the finished product he relies on his skills as a craftsman and an innovator. Each work begins as a meticulously constructed framework of welded/fused stainless steel wire that is then electroformed, literally grown in a copper-acid bath, and finally dressed in heavy gold electroplating. Alchemy indeed. The irregularly shaped gold cages vary in size and scope. For his larger performative works it is the body of the wearer that is confined yet on display. And, while these cages might frame an ear or even a neck, one hesitates to label them earrings or necklaces. At the same time, in the more traditionally scaled works (necklaces, bracelets, brooches, rings) Lewton-Brain continues to challenge expectations; for instance, here we see him redefining the meaning of precious. The treasured stones that are being held captive in these gold cages are not what one expects to find in fine jewellery – for these are raw rubies, polished river rocks, and even frosted sea glass.
Charles Lewton-Brain may be stepping away from ACAD, but he is neither leaving his studio nor the craft community. In fact, he will have more time to focus on what he loves. The ACC Board of Directors want to thank Charles for all that he has done to promote fine craft, from serving on boards, organising symposia, speaking for us nationally and internationally, and finally I, as a craft historian want to thank him for his ability to recognize the importance of documentation – for without a history we are unable to move forward. At the same time, we all look forward to seeing how Charles will transform his new everyday experiences into gold!
[1] An earlier form of this essay was published in the ACADFA Journal. Spring 2018
[2] Should you be curious about these or his other achievements you might want to check out http://brainpress.com/LewtonBrain.html
[3] Charles Lewton Brain. The Origins of Fold Forming. Brain Press, 2008
[4] Alan Revere, Professional Jeweler Magazine, June 1998