Member of the Month: Alison Antelman

Website: www.antelman.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aantelman/

Tell us a little about yourself.

As a studio jeweler celebrating 30 years in business in 2025, MAG played an integral part in my progression. In 1991, I enrolled in my first jewelry class, Metal Arts with Roger Baird, at City College of San Francisco and after three semesters I pondered the idea of pursuing metals/jewelry. Joining MAG was the first step. Immersing myself in the metals community provided many opportunities. I participated in my first exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California, Collectors Gallery, learned how to present images for juries, how to make displays—glue guns and irons are useful in that task, exhibition set up, and how to take constructive criticism…to name a few of the skills I’ve acquired.

Working out of my tiny Oakland apartment for several years, I was thrilled to move into the Sawtooth Building in Berkeley, California in 1999. I had entered a community of artists in various mediums including glass, clay, woodworking, painting, dance, and jewelry. In 2005, I began teaching intermediate jewelry at The Richmond Art Center for two years. During that time, teaching allowed me to hone my puzzle-solving skills, while being part of a long-time metals community. 

Throughout the years, my career has included participating in gallery exhibitions, selling my jewelry from my studio, at galleries, and craft shows nationally. My jewelry is published in myriad books, magazines, and social media. I’ve written numerous articles, given lectures, mentor and teach workshops.

The thread through it all is community.

Since relocating to Santa Fe, New Mexico, I am mesmerized by the spectacular colors, textures, and forms in the landscape and enjoy creating one-of-a-kind jewelry in my well-lit studio, as well as enjoying a very robust artist community. 

Finally, my work is inspired by cityscapes, geologic rock formations, and observations of both human-made and natural structures that reveal layers of history and time. My jewelry is hand-fabricated and forged, like the structures that inspire it, viewed as silhouettes on the horizon.

What is your favorite tool and why?

While I do love my torch and soldering, lately I’ve been working with my sinusoidal stake to create anti-clastic hollow forms in various shapes. The stake is a beautiful wave form, and its onomatopoeic name helps to convey a visual image of it. Working with my hammers, the stake and forming the metal, provides a satisfaction of both process and results that I am exploring.

What is your primary material to create with most and what is your attraction to using them?

I use precious metals: silver and gold, along with natural stones and stainless-steel cable. Non-Ferrous metals are so malleable; it’s freeing to be able to melt down and repurpose my materials. I oxidize the silver, creating an interaction between the luxe warm color of the gold and the darkened sterling. Twisted stainless-steel cable is durable and delicate with a nice kinetic movement. I’ve always been drawn to rocks and collected them as a kid. I use stones with all types of surfaces, from raw to refined, showing different facets of the same stone. The materials I use are mostly traditional, using them in contemporary ways to implement my artistic vision.