Seattle Metals Guild

Meet the three jurors selecting this year’s Seattle Metals Guild Project Grant recipient.

𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘩 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰, Curator and Exhibitions Director at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘢 𝘒𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘴, Department Head and Jewelry and Metalsmithing Coordinator at the University of Oregon School of Art and Design.

𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘢 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘵𝘻, studio jeweler based in New York City.

They will read every application independently, then convene to select our recipient. If you’re seeking feedback, let them know in your app.

Applications close at midnight Pacific on August 31. Link in bio to apply.



𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘢 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘵𝘻 is a studio jeweler based in New York City. Trained as a graphic designer and printmaker, she is a self-taught metalsmith known for combining unexpected materials with metal in her wearable work. Her pieces are held in the collections of the Racine Art Museum, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Rotasa Foundation. She received the American Craft Council Award of Excellence in 2008 and the Award of Excellence in Jewelry at the Smithsonian Craft Show in 2009

𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘩 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰 is a curator, writer, and visual anthropologist working at the intersection of contemporary art, craft, and design. She serves as Curator and Exhibitions Director at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and is the founder of Green Room Gallery, a moveable kunsthalle. She was the 2022 Jentel Foundation Art Critic at the Archie Bray Foundation and the 2019 American Craft Council Emerging Voices Scholar Awardee. She holds an MA in visual, material, and museum anthropology from the University of Oxford and a BA from Barnard College of Columbia University.

𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘢 𝘒𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘴 is Department Head, Ann Swindells Chair, and Professor at the University of Oregon School of Art and Design, where she also coordinates the Jewelry and Metalsmithing program. She received a BFA in jewelry and metalsmithing from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and an MFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz. In 2007 she received the Sienna Gallery Emerging Artist Award. Her work is held in collect

Applications for our Project Grant close Monday, August 31 at midnight Pacific.

The Seattle Metals Guild Project Grant offers $2,500 for a project you’d like to pursue. Half comes at the start, half after you share what you learned with fellow members through a talk, workshop, demo, exhibition, or whatever format fits the work.

This is not a career-stage competition. The jury reads your project, your plan, and your budget, and that is what they score, whether you started your practice last year or thirty years ago.

The application is just five questions.
Images of your work may be informal. If you have a project in your head right now, you have enough to apply.

Open to Guild members who are current residents of Washington State.

Apply today at the link in bio.

Meet Demitra Thomloudis, joining us at the 2026 Northwest Jewelry & Metals Symposium.

Demitra is an internationally recognized studio jeweler and Associate Professor at the University of Georgia. Her research-driven practice investigates how jewelry can express the relationship between a person and their environment. Her work has been showcased at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York and the Benaki Museum in Athens, and her pieces are held in the permanent collections of the Ilias Lalaounis Jewelry Museum and the Musée Espace Solidor.

The Symposium takes place October 10 at Broadway Performance Hall in Seattle, with a virtual option for those joining from a distance. Registration is open at symposium.seattlemetalsguild.org, link in bio.

TENDER — New work by Guild Member Kristin Tollefson opens tonight during Pioneer Square First Thursday Art Walk.

Art Walk reception 5–8 PM tonight. On view through Sept 19, with an artist talk Sat, Aug 29 at 1 PM.

Meet 2026 Symposium speaker Ana María Jiménez.

Ana María Jiménez is a multi-disciplinary artist, jeweler, and architect whose studio, Taller sin Borde, explores the intersection of spatial design and the human body. She holds an MA in Fine Arts and an undergraduate degree in Architecture from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Since 2009, she has expanded her technical jewelry expertise through international studies in the UK, Spain, and Colombia. Her work has been exhibited globally, including prominent shows in Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, and the United States.

Register at the link in bio to hear Ana María speak at the 2026 Northwest Jewelry & Metals Symposium.

Doesn’t $2,500 toward the project you have been putting off sound nice? And how about an opportunity to share your project with the Guild when it’s complete?

Grants Committee Chair Lyndsay Rice is hosting a live Q&A all about the new Seattle Metals Guild Project Grant. Bring your questions: what counts as a project, how specific the budget needs to be, what the work samples require, whether your idea is a fit.

Wednesday, August 12
6:00pm Pacific, on Zoom
Member registration at the link in bio.

Applications close at midnight Pacific on August 31. The grant is open to most members every year and is scored on the project itself, not on your exhibition history or how long you have been at it.

Register today from the Events page of our website, link in bio.




Join Gray Sky Gallery for the opening reception of Wrought and Woven, a group show featuring 2026 Northwest Jewelry & Metals Symposium speaker Maria Cristalli and Seattle Metals Guild member Leah Gerrard.

📍 Thursday, August 6 | 5:00pm | Gray Sky Gallery, 320 1st Ave S, Seattle

Maria and Leah met in Seattle’s metalworking scene in the early 2000s, when both were focused on architectural work. Maria was known for her forged gates, railings, and ironwork; Leah ran a fabrication shop. After more than a decade in that world, each began exploring a more personal, sculptural direction. Leah returned to a self-taught weaving process, and Maria started pushing forged iron into new creative territory. Their friendship has continued alongside the work, and the two were recently shown together in Ferrous at Sarah Spurgeon Gallery in Ellensburg.

Both artists will be present to talk about their work. Come get a preview of Maria’s practice before she speaks at the Symposium on October 10.

Details at Gray Sky Gallery’s website, link in bio.

Meet 2026 Symposium speaker Maria Cristalli.

With over thirty years of experience, Maria Cristalli is a master blacksmith whose work bridges the gap between traditional craft and modern design. Acquired her skills through rigorous apprenticeships, she now specializes in hand-forged architectural ironwork, furnishings, and sculpture. Her practice is defined by the application of centuries-old techniques to contemporary gates, railings, and hardware. Cristalli’s work has been exhibited at the National Ornamental Metal Museum and featured on HGTV’s Modern Masters.

Register at the link in bio to hear Maria speak at the 2026 Northwest Jewelry & Metals Symposium.