“My father said this and I repeat it,
‘If you don’t support your artists you
won’t have them’.”

Anne Gould Hauberg was a dedicated patron and advocate for the arts and individual artists for over sixty-five years. She was a lifelong resident of Seattle where she held a central position in the establishment of organizations that offer support for artists in both the Pacific Northwest and national arts communities, art classes for therapy, and artistic development for children at risk. She was the founder, in partnership with John Hauberg and Dale Chihuly, of Pilchuck Glass School, launched the Pacific Northwest Arts Council of the Seattle Art Museum, and founded Friends of the Crafts as well as Pacific Art Center.

In recognition of her vision Anne Gould Hauberg has been granted many awards including the American Craft Museum Visionary Award, American Craft Council Aileen Osburn Webb Award, and the King County Arts Commission Service Award. She served two terms on Seattle Arts Commission and served on the Board of Directors of Museum of Glass: International Center for Contemporary Art, Tacoma Art Museum, and Pletscheef Institute.

“Learn more than anyone else knows about a single subject and the world will beat a path to your door.”

As a young woman, in the 1930’s, Virginia Harvey developed an interest in weaving. Over the next sixty-five years that interest led her to become one of the most influential individuals of her generation to write, teach, publish, and research the textile arts. Two of her books, “Macramé, The Art of Creative Knotting” and “Techniques of Basketry” have influenced generations of artists and craftsmen. Both introduced new ideas and techniques that are now a standard part macramé cupof the artistic vernacular.

Virginia was the first curator of the Costume and Textile Study Center at the University of Washington where she designed a storage system for textiles that was so innovative it was adopted by countless institutions around the world and is still in use today. Her ingenious system for cataloging textiles, initiated in the 1950s, has become invaluable to museums and textile researchers and continues on an international level.

A lifetime of mentoring, teaching, and research led to Virginia’s induction as an Honorary Fellow of the American Craft Council. Her sharp intellect and graciousness put her at the center in a web of personal and professional contacts, sharing information about plaiting, knotting, wrapping, and weaving with craftsmen – both professional and amateur, museum professionals, art historians, industrial designers, and space scientists. This video will give you a glimpse of the vast impact an individual can make when armed with curiosity, dedication and a generous spirit.

“My father was only interested in traditional design and I wasn’t satisfied with that. I would like to make something that hasn’t been made before.”– Evert Sodergren

Born in 1920, a fourth generation furniture maker, Evert Sodergren grew up in a family of Swedish immigrants in Seattle, Washington. From the age of 15, working alongside his father, he learned both the art and economics of building fine furniture. In 1939 he went to work at the Boeing Company where for eight years he built test model aircraft — exacting work done to precise tolerances that was critical to the war effort.

In the 1950’s, Sodergren Furniture, the custom shop he founded with his father, began producing his original designs for modern furniture. From his sojourn in the aircraft industry, he carried a dedication to precision, advanced skills in metal fabrication (he creates almost all of the hardware for his furniture), and innovative ideas using techniques and materials developed for aircraft.

It was unheard of at that time for a custom shop to create work on speculation. The custom market was for kitchen cabinets and historic reproductions produced on commission. Evert’s pioneering efforts to get contemporary woodworking in front of the public grew into the acceptance of woodworking as an art to be displayed in galleries and exhibitions.

From 1952 – 1978 Evert taught furniture design and construction to architecture, interior and industrial design students at the University of Washington. But it is through maintaining the traditional apprenticeship system in his own shop, that Evert Sodergren passes on the skills, high standards, and survival techniques necessary for a life, lived well, in the crafts.

Evert Sodergren maintains his shop, Sodergren Atelier, where he prides himself on the ability to solve any design problem presented to him by a client. He has worked with some of the finest architects and designers in the region. For more information about his work, see his Web site: www.sodergrenfurniture.com

“The purpose of art is to create wonder”.

Over 50 years ago Harold Balazs quit his day-job. Armed with talent, ambition, an art degree, and an acetylene torch, he set out to make a living making art in Spokane, Washington. He has succeeded, but not without struggle. Mastering the economics of an artist’s life led him to master an incredible array of media. Harold Balazs is a sculptor, a painter, an enamelist, a jeweler, a woodcarver, a calligrapher, a public artist and more. He defies categorization.

Balazs’ architectural and public works can be seen all over the Northwest. His contributions to architecturally integrated art, often utilizing new materials and techniques, helped revive the importance of the individual craftsman at a time when civic architecture seemed its most anonymous. His collaborations with important regional architects have made an indelible impression on Northwest architecture. By the mid 1960’s Harold Balazs had become the leading liturgical artist in the Northwest.Harold Balazs artwork

His experience in public art led to three terms as a Washington State Arts Commissioner. He helped draft Washington State’s “percent for art” legislation.

Harold Balazs is internationally known for his large-scale enamels on steel. His ingenious techniques and ability to adapt studio practice to industrial settings has broadened the approach many artists use in enameling, expanding the possibilities for the medium.

Through his wide ranging artwork, his technical innovations, his generosity towards other artists and his omnivorous humanism, Harold Balazs has made himself an asset in the arts. His story is of value to us all.

“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.

Baltimore Clayworks is a community-centered ceramics institution in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Our organization was founded by nine artists in 1980 and in 1984 received its nonprofit 501(c)3 status.

We are known for our attentiveness to our city, and possess a national and international reputation for artistic excellence, artists’ support, and community involvement. We envision a welcoming and creative community where all people can access and experience joy through clay.

Our mission is to develop, sustain, and promote an artist-centered community that provides outstanding educational, artistic, and collaborative programs in the ceramic arts. Its core values are artist-centeredness, excellence, inclusivity, integrity, and joy.

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.

Lowell’s Boat Shop builds and restores wooden boats for clients as we’ve done since 1793, but we also teach a variety of classes to welcome both beginners and experienced woodworkers who want to hone their skills. The week-long class for adults featured in this video is “Building the Peapod Dory“, and we look to give each student the opportunity to put their hand in every step of the building process as the boat comes together.

Other classes we’ve had in the recent past include make-your-own charcuterie board, building a toolbox, basic navigation on the water, and building a kid-sized rocking boat (similar to a rocking horse).

This video highlights the breadth of opportunities available in Pittsburgh, PA to see, make, and buy craft.

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