October 22, 2009
Metal Artist to speak at UW Libraries
Mary Lee Hu, retired UW professor of metal arts will speak at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30 in 101 Suzzallo. Her talk is this year’s Anne Gould Hauberg Libraries Artist Images Lecture sponsored by UW Libraries and the UW Alumni Association.
The talk will be followed by a reception with the artist. The event is free, but advance registration is requested. For more information and to register online, visit www.UWalum.com.
Utilizing traditional techniques such as wrapping, coiling, weaving, knitting and twining, Mary Lee Hu creates intricate and sophisticated wearable art from 18 and 20 karat gold.
Her work is in collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Renwick Gallery, the American Crafts Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. Hu has received three National Endowment of the Arts Craftsman Fellowships. Her work is included in several important books on the subject of jewelry in the 20th century. She is the winner of the 2008 Irving and Yvonne Twining Humber Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
Hu was introduced to jewelry and metalsmithing in high school. She was also exposed to small scale metalworking during a summer camp program. She was immediately attracted to the scale of the work, the processes and the image of herself wearing what she made. She went to University of Miami, Ohio for two years and then went to Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield, Michigan to complete her undergraduate degree.
During her study, Hu found wrapped, braided and netted wire in sword handles from medieval Europe and Asia. Tibet provided an inspirational chain pattern composed of densely knitted wire. She found similar forms in work from Palestine and India. Even American Indian basketry used twining techniques (a weaving method where the weft is twisted in the process). In short, she found enough starting points upon which to base a lifetime of investigation.
Established in 1989, the Anne Gould Hauberg Libraries Artist Images Series celebrates prominent artists from the Pacific Northwest. Past honorees and lecturers include Dale Chihuly, Patti Warashina, Trimpin, and Norie Sato.
