Metalsmiths Unite Artist Spotlight- Mario Cesari

Metalsmiths Unite is a large group of artists from around the world- Today we get to visit Pennabilli Italy, home to the Mario Cesari, metalsmithing artist. As an artist, Mario is fortunate to call Italy home from which  he has been able to do a good bit of traveling and learning diverse techniques in their original origins.  The following is my recent interview with Mario- Enjoy!

 
MBZ: How would you describe what you do as an artist?

Mario Cesari: I make objects that I like, mostly in metal, I research, I teach.
 "Whoever does not love his work cannot hope that it will please others"-anon.

MBZ: what inspires your designs? 

Mario Cesari: Venezia (Venice) is my home town. Byzantine decoration filled my eyes since I was young.
 Later I was conquered by Japanese art, admiring it in the Oriental Art Museum of Venezia.
 Finally when I was in London I discovered Celtic metalwork. 

Presently the rationale of nature plays a large part in my creations, I live in the country and love macro photography. 
Things made by fellow craftsmen are often a great source of inspiration. 
When I create a new object, be it pen, knife, box, ring etc., I make a few versions of it till I'm satisfied, technically and aesthetically, I rely on some kind of serendipity, until it is finished you can't judge it. How many sketches or pages painters and musicians had to make before their final versions? (Adams Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep)



Mario and friends in Nepal

MBZ: how long have you been involved in this type of making? (how did you start?)

Mario Cesari: When I was younger I was a radio officer as well as my brother. Once he disembarked from a ship going to decommissioning, bringing home an antenna, made of strands of copper wire. Having no better use for it, he started to make rings, bracelets and necklaces, then he silver plated them and sold them on the streets. I helped him and was hooked to metalwork, I attended a free class on copper engraving and printing, taught myself raising and sinking and the most common bench techniques.


Feeling the need to learn the various techniques in their place of origin, I traveled a lot coupling work and study: in London, I registered with the Goldsmiths' Hall, and learned blacksmithing, repoussée and chasing; in Kathmandu, invited by a nepalese silversmith, I learned small-scale sand casting and other traditional Nepalese techniques. I studied granulation and other ancient Etruscan techniques in Tuscany Forty years later I'm still learning: I learned Kum-boo from one of my students. (Ford : "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty." )

beautiful Pennabilli Italy

MBZ: where are you located?
Mario Cesari: In the early eighties I went to live in Pennabilli (http://www.pennabilli.org/dove-en.html), in central Italy, a village in the hills of the Mareccchia river valley, surrounded by woods near Monte Carpegna. The zone is rich of historical buildings, dating back to roman and medieval time. In Pennabilli there's a very important museum on the history of numbers (www.mateureka.it).

MBZ: do you have a website or etsy/artfire/etc store?
Mario Cesari: 

About 10 years ago I learned html and made my site www.pennabilli.org .

I sell in Etsy, http://www.etsy.com/shop/pennabilli
and Boticca, http://boticca.com/pennabilli/ 

I also have a blog  in Ganoksin, http://ganoksin/blog/pennabilli 
tutorials in Picasa web albums, https://picasaweb.google.com/pennabilli
and a FB page Mario Cesari's Page

MBZ: what other ways do you market your work?

Mario Cesari: I participate in fairs and markets in my zone, half a dozen times a year. I sell to private customers, sometimes to participants in my classes



MBZ:  ah, so you teach? where can one find a class with you?
Mario Cesari: I teach in my studio (here's a list of classes on my website) which is small so I can have one or two students at a time. Usually they come for a short class, a couple of days exploring some technique. Now and then I teach classes in private schools.



MBZ: You have so many diverse experiences! Do you have any sage advice for newcomers that you would like to share?
Mario Cesari- Yes! Three sage advices:
- Art and craft are two different realms (http://www.pennabilli.org/testi/Koplos_EN.htm), neither one is superior to the other; there is bad art and there is good craftsmanship.
An artisan must know well tool, technique and material. (Chesterton The artistic temperament is a disease that affects amateurs). 
I hope that you enjoy creating things new, leaving the mark of the tools and of your imagination on your pieces. 

Don't think you need the latest tool or product, (good one Mario! -MBZ) have only what is necessary; make yourself simple tools, modify to your needs the worn out or cheap ones.
-
If you have patience, read this page by Octavio Paz (Octavio Paz essay), it is inspiring.



MBZ: where do you envision your work going in the next year? (artistic direction)

Mario Cesari- I will hopefully finish writing a book on cuttlefish bone casting (and find a publisher), I will pass to a CMS for my site, must organize and put online a lot of content that's almost ready and waiting
! There will certainly be a project that will engage me, don't know yet which. In the past years the important projects that I carried on have always been unexpected commissions: making fibulas, knives, calla shaped jewels, buckles, a cross for a bishop... asked for different techniques, forging, forming, chasing, cuttlefish bone casting.

   

 

MBZ: Thanks so much for this interview Mario- it's been good to get to know you a little more through these answers! Before we sign off, is there anything else you would like to share? 

(Gaudi Originalidad es volver al origen). The state of the art cannot be shared, you have to practice yourself. I can't stop exploring cuttlefish bone casting and forging. The former gives you  a variety of textures, and design possibilities; the latter is the fastest way to make objects and has a charm of its own. 





We will look forward to seeing the fruits of your experimentation in the future! Thanks again for your patience with me (MBZ- I took a really long time getting this together- so sorry) And thank you for sharing yourself with the Metalsmiths Unite community (and beyond)
Ciao! or, as Mario says, "Chow" -

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Thanks everyone who reads these interviews- we look forward to reading your comments!

As always, MU members are always welcome to be interviewed on this blog! The post will stay up for at least a week and we will add your website to our list of links. Anyone interested in this should contact me, Maureen BZ via Facebook messenger, or by email at MBZmetals@gmail.com

Please take some time today to read through some of our other blog posts- there are interviews with many of our fellow MU members, technical articles about metalsmithing, and some general metalsmith related posts.
Also- be sure to check out our pages (in the tabs at the top of this page)! Where you can find our mission statement, the rules that we follow in the group, and a request for donations, which help keep this organization alive and running ASAP (as smoothly as possible)
thanks!
Maureen

Jim Dunakin Interview

Today we are going to get to know another one of our very talented artist members of metalsmiths Unite: Jim Dunakin. Jim has been a member for a couple of years now- he is an active member, posting almost every day- is very open and helpful to other members and has been kind enough to share many ideas about techniques with us as well. He is a self taught metalsmith and Lapiderist (stone cutter) and creates delightfully colorful "eye candy", with impeccable craftsmanship.
So, without further ado....here's Jim Dunakin! enjoy!

MBZ (Maureen Brusa Zappellini) - Hi Jim- Thanks for taking the time to do this interview- I'm sure other Metalsmiths Unite members are interested in reading about you and your work.OK, for starters,  How would you describe what you do as an artist?

JD (Jim Dunakin) - Hi there- Well, I Generally describe myself as a jewelry artist, although studio jeweler would certainly work as well.

MBZ-what inspires your designs? (be it music, nature, beekeeping...)
JD- I think my primary inspiration comes from tribal cultures. There is no one tribe I would associate my work with, as I tend to draw from many different influences. I am careful never to co-opt specific tribal designs, as these obviously belong to those tribes, and can have significant meanings to them, both tribal and familial. However, we have all descended from one tribe or another, often forming new tribes along the way. I think this is important in that all humans have this in common. I believe this is one reason primitive styles and symbols can elicit feelings from so many people, even those who may no longer associate themselves with a specific tribe or culture. More often than not, these types of designs cross many cultures, and some have been in use in one form or another for many thousands of years. Again, while my work doesn't necessarily incorporate symbols, per se, the primitive influence is evident in much of my work.
On the other hand, living in the modern world, I've also been known to mix this primitive feel with modern influences such as architecture and mechanical devices.
In addition to these influences, several artists have inspired me. My two favorites are Albert Paley and Charles Loloma.

MBZ- how long have you been involved in this type of making? (how did you start?)
JD- I've been making jewelry in one form or another for about 38 years. I began by piecing coins, and turning them into pendants and earrings, in 1975. At about this same time, I made puka shell necklaces, which were all the rage at that time, and sold these and the coin jewelry at swap meets in Sand Diego, where I lived at the time.
Also during this time I had a friend who was doing some beautiful silver smithing work. He was self-taught, and had a unique style that I really liked. I asked him about teaching me this art, and he didn't feel that he would make the best teacher. However, he was very encouraging, and told me what book he had learned from (Indian Silversmithing, by Ben Hunt), and where I could purchase it. He did also give me many helpful tips and advice, both on the metal working and also with making tools and equipment.
I found this book to be very useful, because most of the techniques used in it were fairly basic, including soldering, stamping and so forth. It also had much information of making various tools like stamps and punches, and shaped dies for dapping.
Since that time, I've done a lot more reading on various techniques and methods, including repousse, chasing, raising, forging.

MBZ- where are you located?
JD-My wife and I live near the tiny town of Reed Point, MT, population 96. It sits along the Yellowstone River, in the south-central part of the state, somewhat in the foothills between the Rocky Mountains and the plains. Our home, which we've built ourselves, sits in a little valley that opens out to the south. We have a clear view from here, with open ranch land between our home and the Beartooth Mountains. Our nearest neighbor is about a mile away as the crow flies, but from here we can't see a single house or light in any direction!
It's a bit isolated, since we often get snowed-in during the winter, and more often we get get "mudded-in" in the spring, often for weeks at a time! During these times we do go out occasionally for groceries or to ship out jewelry orders. In those cases, we have to hike out, to a vehicle we leave up near the county road. It's a 1.5 mile hike each way, with groceries on our backs, but its a lovely hike up a beautiful canyon, so we always enjoy it. But for us it works, as we love the solitude and living so close to nature.


MBZ-do you have a website or etsy/artfire etc store? (put a link url here too if you want readers to click through to your site)
JD-We no longer have our own website, however, you can see our work at Dunakin Design on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dunakin-Design/214539771101?ref=hl
People can also contact us by e-mail at: dunakindesign@itstriangle.com

MBZ-what other ways do you market your work?(shows, galleries, brick + mortar stores)
do you teach? if so, where- (add a website link if you would like)
JD-About 80% of our sales are through the nearly 30 galleries around the nation that carry my work.

MBZ- just as a little treat I thought I'd add a link to Jim's recent internet radio interview with Jay Whaley on Metalsmithing Benchtalk... http://www.blogtalkradio.com/whaleystudios/2012/11/29/metalsmith-benchtalk-with-jim-dunakin

MBZ-any sage advice for newcomers that you would like to share?
JD-I think I would just tell people to follow their dreams. If jewelry is something you are passionate about, by all means you should pursue it.
- where do you envision your work going in the next year? (artistic direction)
At this point I've learned to be open, and just let God lead me where He will. I never know what direction my work or my life will be heading next, but it's always turned out to be something better than I could have planned myself!


MBZ- thanks so much for taking some time to introduce us to your work and give us a little more insight into the Jim Dunakin experience :-) I am very happy to have you as a part of our community!