Talya Baharal and G ene Gnida, her husband and creative partner.
Talya Baharal se
ifiaug
h
i
sculptor and jeweler, found her calling at the
Y. Born in Tel Aviv, she cam e to N e w York
as a young woman to work for C B S N ew s.
After about a year, she realized the corporate
treadmill wasn't for her, so she found temp
work, and on a lark, signed up for a jewelry
class at the
9 2
nd Street Y.
"As soon as I
took that class my mind just went
flying," she says. "The instructor told us to go
home and draw things that you want to make
- and I
drew things that were impossible to
make, of course, but I
filled up my sketchbook
in a week."
Just as she finished the course, she met G en e
Gnida, a furniture designer, fine woodworker,
and sculptor, w ho would becom e her
husband and creative partner.
G nida loved Baharal s early projects and
w as impressed by her design sketchbook. He
pushed her to keep going and helped her set
up a studio.
The two worked side by side yet
independently until Gnida, hampered by
arthritis, gave up woodworking in favor of the
less physically demanding ceramics. That's
when the two decided to combine efforts.
N ow , more than two decades on, Baharal
continues to make her one-of-a-kind jewelry,
wall pieces, and sculptural objects; Gnida
creates sculptural ceramics. Together they've
built a
ewelry collection they've exhibited at
A C C shows for more than
2 5
years.
The base of Baharal's work is sterling silver,
often combined with bronze, copper,
and stainless steel. "Our work is definitely
based on the sculptural qualities of metal,"
she says." People w ho are attracted to our
work are not looking for an intrinsic value;
rather, they are drawn to the form and the
combination of the metals."
In her work, she fuses, heats, and layers
the different metals to develop textures and
coloration. Her recent "skin forms" and
"connective tissue" collections - purely
sculptural work - incorporate handmade
flax paper, which she uses as a kind of
skin over a skeleton of steel wire. Her
"urban landscape" collection includes
ewelry and sculpture that explores the
Deauty of decay. G nida makes steel wall
pieces that allow the work to be hung and
displayed rather than worn.
Baharal says being self-taught has its
advantages and disadvantages.
"You
are always a bit of an outsider," she says.
"You have to find your own path, which is
wonderful, and difficult."
Perhaps it's the source of her inventiveness.
Otherwise, how does she keep her work
fresh? "Let me tell you," she says, "many times
I
feel I've fallen into a rut. O n e rut is when you
achieve an accomplishment in your technique,
and it gets too good and loses the soul and
the excitement. It takes a lot of confidence not
to be too involved in something being more
and more and more perfect."
O n e w ay Baharal shakes things up is by
working in another medium. "You reconnect
with that child that discovers a new material,"
she says. "I like making well-crafted things,
but I
like breaking rules and I
like stretching
the boundaries of craft. It is not just about
perfection. The idea of perfection is something
that evolves, just like beauty."
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