“More than anyone, Russell set an example of what it was to live a life that revolved around art.” Dale Chihuly

As an art educator for over 30 years, Russell Day influenced the lives of many. Believing the aesthetic experience extends to every aspect of life, he inspired his students to engage all their senses, experience their total environment, and to strive for excellence. Russell Day’s teaching had such incredible impact because his subject was much larger than the classroom. It was not about how to make art but how to be an artist.Russell Day jewelry piece

From 1948 to 1976 he led an innovative art department at Everett Community College that became a model program in the field of post-secondary art education. The rigorous system that he built produced many fine artists including celebrated painter Chuck Close. In his personal art, Day was the first Northwest artist to work experimentally with glass and light modulation. With no literature available, or access to facilities and supplies, he experimented extensively, fusing every kind of glass he could find into monumental concrete walls, glass doors, fountains, lighting and intricate jewelry for the table and body. In this realm he was an early mentor for Dale Chihuly.

This documentary profile is third in the Living Treasures video series, sponsored and produced by Northwest Designer Craftsmen. Living Treasures documents the work, philosophy and achievements of the Northwest’s most influential senior craft professionals.

“I’m willing to put almost anything into a piece of jewelry if I think it works!”

As artist, teacher, author, lecturer and collector, Ramona Solberg is a pioneer in the contemporary jewelry movement and a Living Treasure. Her passionate interest in other cultures and a lifetime spent finding objects of interest in all corners of the map has led her to a distinct and personal style that transcends her modernist background. Rarely using precious materials in her jewelry, Solberg conveys new meaning and value onto a collage of cultural flotsam culled from her travels. Raised in Seattle, with degrees from the University of Washington and study abroad in Norway and Mexico, Ramona Solberg places a high value on her career as a teacher. An important aspect of her legacy will be the many artists of significance who count her as inspiration, influence and mentor.

Beginning as an art teacherRamona Solberg necklace in Seattle Public Schools, she later served on the faculties of Central Washington University and the University of Washington. Retired from the University of Washington in 1983, she still teaches and lectures in workshops around the nation.

Ramona Solberg’s work can be found in the collection of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Contemporary Craft, and many other museums and private collections. She is a Fellow and Trustee Emeritus of the American Craft Council, and past recipient of the Washington State Governor’s Art Award.

This documentary profile is second in the Living Treasures video series, sponsored and produced by the Northwest Designer Craftsmen. Living Treasures documents the work, philosophy and achievements of some of the Northwest’s most venerable and influential artisans and crafts advocates.

“the biggest inspiration has been that I’ve been able to combine the ideas of art with the ideas of science into something that makes visual sense to me”.

Robert Sperry was an artist profoundly interested in new understanding and new ways of seeing the world. In the Northwest, his bright creative imagination lit the way for other artists to follow, as teacher, mentor and friend. Robert Sperry was an extraordinary risk-taker in the arts. He was intensely interested in visual ideas and their evolution, and he was fascinated with the interaction of materials. Although best known as a ceramic artist, Robert Sperry was also a printmaker, a painter, and a film maker, producing documentary, narrative, and experimental pieces.

This video documentary gives us a brief impression of his remarkable journey – his life, his work, his thoughts, his times and his humanity – as related to us through his voice and the Robert Sperry ceramic plate voices of his community of colleagues – a community that he was so instrumental in building.

In 1954 with a freshly minted BFA from The Art Institute of Chicago, Bob went to the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana to work with Peter Voulkos and Rudy Autio. The Archie Bray Foundation was ground zero at an extremely exciting and innovative time for the field of ceramics. From Montana Bob moved on to the University of Washington where he earned his MFA and immediately joined the art faculty. As Chair of the Ceramics Program, he promoted experimentation grounded in technical excellence and fostered an atmosphere of keen debate and exchange. He deeply cared about his students, fostering many budding artists on to important careers. He retired as professor emeritus in 1982, but continued teaching part-time. In his last years he focused on creating computer-generated art. A man of passion and humor, Robert Sperry died in 1998.

Originally presented on Zoom Sunday, April 26 2026

We will take a look at the key work that has shaped Kristina’s career as an artist to date. This talk is open to the public and part of Handwork 2026. Kristina is a minimalist ceramic artist based in Tacoma and Los Alamos, CA, making sculptural and functional work, incorporating concepts and ideas from social commentary and has been in the NWDC since 2023.

Amid the rack and clatter of floor looms turning spooled fibers into yards of colorful cloth, spirited voices rise over the din at the Hartford Artisans Weaving Center.

Artisans with visual impairment, including those who have totally lost their sight, and people over the age of 55 practice this daunting skill of hand weaving in a community of like-minded individuals who love the craft.

An intimate look at a creative partnership decades in the making, this Exhibition Insights episode explores the life, work, and legacy of George and David Lewis. Reflecting on their journey from the 1980s to today, the episode highlights how their shared passions—for art, gardens, architectural history, and water features—grew into a deeply rooted creative practice.

Through personal reflections and a look at their iconic designs and sculptures, we step into their artistic process and enduring partnership. Tied to their retrospective “Deeply Rooted,” this episode honors not only their body of work, but their lasting impact on the Bainbridge Island community and beyond.

C. Beck is a portrait of the artist, Charles Beck, created by Deb Wallwork and Mike Hazard.

We see Beck at work in his studio in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and painting in the countryside nearby. He speaks about the patterns of nature, the beauty of art, and scavenging materials. We see Beck chopping wood, carving a woodblock for a new woodcut, and speaking about seeing things.

In the film he hangs a new print of a tulip�a subject he had never been interested in before–saying, “We just had a couple tulips out there that Joyce had gotten. I happened to look inside one and boy, it was like an art exhibit, just looking inside of a tulip. Just beautiful. Of course, I simplified it quite a bit.”

This portrait has been created with support from Charles and Joyce Beck, James O’Rourke, Les Skoropat, Mark Strand, Jonathan Harper, Ken Friberg, Amy Sharpe, Bob Carls, Red Eye Video, The Center for International Education, and Thom Tammaro.

Praises and Prizes

Grand Prize Winner of the Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival and nationally telecast on PBS by the Independent Television Service (ITVS)

“The video is a lovely rendering of Charlie’s demeanor and temperament.” –Thom Tammaro, writer

“It’s beautiful. I envy you the ability to make a short and complete work like that.” –George Stoney, filmmaker

For more, visit https://www.mikehazard.org/ and https://www.redeyevideo.org/