“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.

he Living Treasures Project Committee keeps a vetted list of candidate artists and art advocates, each of which has met the selection standards it set down at the start of the project. In short, anyone selected for a project must be a leader, mentor of other artists, motivator, and innovator. It should be no surprise that Lloyd Herman has always been near the top of that list. As founding director of the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery in 1972, Lloyd’s dream was to have craft, art and design join its rightful place among the Smithsonian’s family of museums in the heart of the nation’s capitol for all to learn and enjoy the world over. He’s done that, and much more.

In the thirty-one years since retiring from the Smithsonian Institution, he has continued to curate exhibitions on craft and design topics for such clients as the United States Information Agency, the Smithsonian Institution and various museums and traveling exhibition services. He has lectured on American crafts throughout the United States, and in Australia, Canada, England, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Japan, and has juried numerous art competitions in the United States and abroad.

He is an Honorary Lifetime Member of Northwest Designer Craftsmen, a member of the American Alliance of Museums, an honorary member of the American Society of Interior Designers, an honorary Fellow of the American Craft Council, trustee/secretary of the Highline Historical Society, and has been decorated by the monarchs of Denmark and Belgium for exhibitions that he organized on the crafts of their countries.

Tip Toland is a courageous ceramic artist and sculptor, both in the scale of her work and her choice of subjects. Her work is in many major collections across the country, including the Renwick Smithsnonion Gallery and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This documentary tells the story of her life, through the good and hard, which formed the artist she is today…

Enjoy this documentary on the life of Seattle jewelry artist, teacher, and world traveler, Ron Ho. He enjoyed local and national prominence as a contemporary jewelry artist and teacher. His work is in the permanent collections of several museums, including the prestigious Houston Museum of Fine Arts Helen Williams Drutt Jewelry Collection, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Tacoma Art Museum Studio Art Jewelry Collection. An oral history of his life is also held at the Smithsonian Institution.

“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.

“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

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