Biba Schütz
uses forged
copper, bronze, and silver in sheet and wire
form to create her finely wrought sculptural
jewelry that she aptly characterizes as "rough
yet refined/' And while the basic language
of her work has remained constant over three
decades - a fascination with texture, line,
and negative space - it has evolved through
her experimentation with materials and scale,
and her em brace and assimilation of her own
experiences.
Schütz first showed her work with the A C C
at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in
Rhinebeck, N.Y., in the mid-
1 9 7 0
s. She has
a soft spot in her heart for the San Francisco
show, where shes exhibited about
1
5
times.
Schutzs path to her craft career has been a
circuitous one. She earned her undergraduate
degree in design, worked as a graphic
designer, then left for M exico to study fiber art.
School soon took a back seat to travel and
exploration. Then "I felt a need to be serious
about w ho I
am/' she says, so she eventually
returned to N e w York to study printmaking at
the Pratt Institute.
"I never thought I'd be a maker of jewelry until
a friend asked me to design hair ornaments.
I
needed a w a y to support myself."
She moved on to other projects, working in
anodized aluminum, an experience she calls
"grad school for jewelry."
Like Sharon Rosenthal, Biba Schütz chooses
her materials not for their monetary worth, but
as a means to realize her creative vision.
The work has value, she explains, because
of the time, energy, and creative process
that she invests in it and the connection it
kindles between her and her clients. As the
cost of metals, particularly sterling silver, has
risen in the last year or two, she's begun to
experiment.
"I'm actually using a lot of steel now," she
says. "It has different properties and gives me
the freedom to do different things."
Four years a g o she introduced handmade
Daper to her one-of-a-kind work.
"This w as the
irst non-metal that I
consistently brought in,"
she says. "This has led me to other materials
that I'm mixing and using in a non-traditional,
non-precious way."
Schütz is especially excited about her new
body of work that explores the idea of aging
and the beauty of imperfection.
After nearly
4 0
years as an artist, how
does Schütz keep her work evolving and
interesting - not just to her clients but to
herself? She's constantly observing, thinking,
and internalizing new experiences to develop
new ideas.
A habitual doodler, she always keeps paper
or a chalkboard close at hand.
The brooches and necklaces of forged
silver, handmade paper, and steel
are blackened with oxidation and
manipulated into puckered,
deflated globes, cups as delicate
as eggshells, and pitted,
flaking disks, some strung on
hammered links of chain.
"I also do sculptural, non-functional larger
pieces," she says. "I like changing scale,
and it helps keep me fresh
in terms of materials and
ideas of relationship to
space. W e need to be
as creative as possible,
using every resource w e
can.
