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PMA Contemporary Craft Show Series: Kate Dannenberg · philly has heART

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This is Robert Marsh, and you're listening to
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Philly Has Heart Podcast. In this podcast, we
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sit down with the artists, gallerists, educators,
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curators, and other creatives who comprise the
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Philadelphia art world to discuss upcoming performances,
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exhibits, and other events and initiatives that
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are not to be missed. The art scene in Philadelphia
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is so rich that it can seem daunting. Consider
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this your weekend cultural recommendation. With
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me always is my producer, Lucinda Daggerlin.
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Buongiorno! And today, we have Kate Denenberg.
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Welcome. We're so happy to have you. Thank you.
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Great to meet you. Thank you. Thank you. So,
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Kate, could you take us through the journey that
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brought you to the visual arts? I can try. What
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moments, big and small, directed you to where
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you are today? I almost feel like I didn't...
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I never wasn't in the visual arts to some extent.
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I mean, I think every kid is an artist. That's
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sort of what the earliest education is so arts
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-based. And my family is full of artists and
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art appreciators. And so I just sort of always
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stuck with that. My mom is an artist as well,
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not professionally, but she's dabbled in a lot
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of things. I think she kind of always comes back
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to watercolor. She meets up with the Urban Sketchers
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Philly group sometimes. Oh, cool. And, like,
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all of her sisters are also artists. She has
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three sisters who, you know, one is really into
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beading necklaces, all of that kind of thing.
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One does, like, paper crafts, and one's another
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visual artist who actually studied at Temple.
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Tyler. Grandmother on my mom's side, also an
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artist, a quilter, and a faux painter. I was
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always around a lot of artists. You had a lot
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of options. Yeah. And then on my dad's side,
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again, a lot of artistic tendencies. My grandmother
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was a textile lover and a textile artist, crocheted
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for kids and grandkids, and also a huge appreciator
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of the arts and a collector. I grew up around
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a lot of art and craft in particular. Did you
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go to any schooling for your art? And can you
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walk through what you studied along the way?
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I went to high school at Friend Select, where
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they have a small metalsmithing program. And
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that was my first formal education in metalsmithing.
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And I totally fell in love with it. At the time,
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it was just one class that you could take for,
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I guess, a year. I was so into it and a few of
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my classmates were so into it that they added
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a metalsmithing too. And then I did it as an
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independent study as a senior. I'm still in touch
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with my high school metalsmithing teacher. She's
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definitely a mentor to me and was really instrumental
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in helping me find the right program for college
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to continue my metalsmithing education. Where
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did you go to college? Because I could not find
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this about you online. I went to RIT in Rochester,
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New York. They have the underground tunnels.
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Yes. Because it gets so cold. But not connected
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to the art buildings. Oh, no. And not connected
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to the dorm I was in the one year I lived on
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campus. Wait. It's that cold? It's cold. Got
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that lake effect. Yes. Oh, my God. Yeah. But
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as I was saying to Robert coming up the elevator,
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I love wearing sweaters. So it was a great spot
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for me. So autumn is your Super Bowl. Oh, yeah.
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So you went to RIT. And when you landed on campus
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as an undergrad, did you know that you were going
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to continue studying art? Or were you open to
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other possibilities or maybe other mediums if
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you were intending on metal? I knew I was going
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to continue studying art. If I remember correctly,
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I was pretty sure it was going to be metalsmithing.
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I don't know when you declare a major, but I
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think I was in that program, even though you
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don't really start taking classes freshman year.
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But I also remember that I chose RIT so that
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I wouldn't be in just an art school. I sort of
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had it narrowed down to two programs that seemed
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great, and one was in an art school. And I was
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like, well, I want to meet other people and maybe
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take classes. That are more academic, which,
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of course, once I was there, I never left the
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studio. Math who? That was definitely like how
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I ended up there was wanting a bit of a broader
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access to more than just the arts. So we're diving
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in through through this college experience. And
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then what what stuck with you through that process?
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The metal work. I had wonderful professors. Len
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and Carlos were running the program at the time.
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I just really connected well with both of them
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on different things. Sophomore year in that program,
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one of the long -term projects is making chasing
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tools and then learning chasing. And making tools
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has become a part of my practice and is something
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that I love to this day. And you're making these
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tools to then work with the metals. Wow. That's
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meta. That is. Yeah. And I think it's something
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that most jewelers do a little bit anyway. Traditionally,
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there's just a lot of more tool modification
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than making from scratch. I think it's a very
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natural part of metalsmithing and jewelry making.
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And I think that's one of the things that I really
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love about metalsmithing and jewelry making.
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But yeah, that was something I fell in love with
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pretty early on at RIT. And just... I mean, both
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of those professors are just expert craftsmen
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and the program, while it wasn't completely like,
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don't do anything conceptual. We don't want to
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hear what you're thinking. Like it was still
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an art school. I got that art school experience,
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but it was technically focused and they were
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like, this isn't polished, right? Like let's
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learn how to do things correctly and let's learn
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the right tools for the right processes. And
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like, it was the kind of program where you could
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really get out of what you put into it. So like
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if I, wanted to learn a process or a technique
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i just had to say that and we would make it happen
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it sounds like you would that would be something
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that you'd be inclined to do based upon the independent
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studies i read that you work with wood in addition
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to metals and before we ask what your favorite
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material to work with is did you get into wood
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while you were in school and how did that come
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to be yeah um i think Arguably, I got into wood
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first because I went to a wilderness summer camp
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and started whittling at age eight, sort of.
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So woodworking has always been sort of more of
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a hobby, I guess, almost, and not something I
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was doing in an art studio until more recently.
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It's also something that, again, comes from my
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family, my grandparents. knew wharton esherick
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a little bit who's a philadelphia area wood artist
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and have some furniture of his and like their
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home is really shaped by those pieces and by
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the wood itself it's such a directly natural
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material just like chopping down a tree and carving
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it and i think that really speaks to me as someone
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who just enjoys being in the woods and sitting
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in the dirt. Do you love the Museum for Art and
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Wood or what? Of course I do. It's easily one
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of my favorite museums in the city, in the world.
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Yeah, absolutely love it. Love them. What are
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your favorite types of woods to work with and
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what are your favorite types of metals to work
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with? with? So woods, I tend to work with hard
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woods because I'm doing mostly carving. I'm not
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constructing. I'm not making furniture. That
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resistance is really useful. It's the same for
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me when I'm carving wax for jewelry making. I
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like a harder wax, not something that's soft
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that's going to sort of smoosh around on me.
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And I work slowly. So with a softer wood, you
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can remove a lot of material really quickly,
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which can be, you know, a good thing and a bad
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thing. For wood, the main thing that determines
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what wood I work with is what I can get because
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I get all of my wood secondhand. I work with
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scrap wood from other artists a lot. I also work
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with scrap wood from construction projects a
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little bit. Not like lumber, but people will
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use exotic hardwoods for details in their home
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or even for flooring and millwork. For instance,
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we have a family friend who did a huge, beautiful
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deck out of Ipe. And I have a ton of Ipe scrap
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from him. And it's this really dense, difficult
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to work with hardwood that a lot of artists don't
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like because it dulls tools. really fast, like
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crazy. And then you're rebuilding them. Yeah,
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exactly. But you've got to sharpen them. But
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it's so dense that it's almost like stone to
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work with when it's finished. It polishes up
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so smooth. From the GC side, or from the construction
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side, Ipe, spelled I -P -E, just so you know,
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they like to use it a lot to make paralysis.
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Benches for outside. And it's a big cost driver.
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That too. It's really dense. It's really resilient
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because it has these oils in it, which is part
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of the dulling. But it's also just dense and
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tough. Some of my early loves in woodworking
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are the classics. Cherry is so beautiful to carve.
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Walnut is so beautiful to look at. You can't
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go wrong with the classics. I love that. I love
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that. And how about your metals? Not to be a
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cliche, but my favorite material to work in is
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gold. Nice. Because it's just so lovely to work
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with. But most of the gold working I've done
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is at a much smaller scale than the majority
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of my work, which is sort of tableware sized
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rather than tiny little jewelry. It really depends
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on the piece. The majority of my work is in copper,
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sterling silver, brass and bronze, a little bit
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of steel. The different metals have different
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properties, which make them better for different
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applications. So copper is incredibly soft, which
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makes it really lovely to work with if you're
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trying to move the metal around and get volume
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if I'm raising a vessel or just like making a
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really organic form. But that also means that
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it's harder to work hard in. So for like a delicate
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spoon, it's always going to be this like bendy,
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wiry thing, unless I put a lot of work into.
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Just like hammering it until it's hard. Gotcha.
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Wait, can we do a lightning round real quick?
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I'll say a metal and you say what you want to
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make out of it. Okay. Let's try it. When you're
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ready. I think I'm ready. Sterling silver. Or
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regular silver. It turns out I wasn't ready.
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What don't I want to make out of silver? I really
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like working in silver. It's really expensive
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right now. It's really expensive right now. Disregarding
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the recent price hike, it's kind of the best
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of both worlds of being a little more approachable
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price -wise than gold, obviously. It's springier
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and more resilient than copper, but it's still
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a pretty soft metal, so I can move it a lot and
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get a lot of form and shape from it. All right.
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Okay, bronze, what you got? Bronze utensils.
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Okay. So like a salad set or a serving spoon.
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Do we talk about stainless steel? I think you
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said it was to a lesser degree. Yeah. I've sort
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of worked in steel for like chunks of time when
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I've got more access to like a blacksmith shop.
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I really enjoy blacksmithing. I really don't
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enjoy being hot, so I can only blacksmith at
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certain times of year. Yeah, I get that. But
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it's like alchemy, the way that you can just
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hammer a straight piece of metal into any shape,
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and it squishes and stretches, and it moves so
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much, and you can get so much transformation
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in the material, and that always feels magical.
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But it's sort of a different way of working than
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the majority of my practice because I'm working
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cold most of the time. Like even when I'm hammering
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and forging non -ferrous metals, they're cold
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while I'm working them, where with blacksmithing
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it has to be red hot so that it really can squish
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and move. Gotcha. What makes a ferrous metal?
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Iron. Okay, thank you. What about gold? Gold
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is just... It's so lovely. I would love to do
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like bigger pieces in gold than I've been able
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to. Like even just chunkier jewelry. The majority
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of the gold work I've done has been like really
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delicate just because costume materials is such
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a barrier. Or it's been bridal jewelry. For instance,
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the jewelry that I've been making most recently
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is all these vessel forms. And some of them are
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just sheet metal cut into the form of a vessel,
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but some of them I'm carving. in wax. I have
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a mini drill press actually from my high school
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metalsmithing teacher. I stole it from the shop.
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Don't tell. We can cut this part out. I set it
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up to be a mini wax lathe earlier this year so
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I've just been carving in the round and like
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I've got like the Met website. Fair use images
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pulled up on my computer to cast those in gold
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and have that weight. And once they're cast,
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I'm adding handles and feet and lips and spouts.
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So that, oh my God, it would be so dreamy to
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do those in gold. Wow. One last metal, brass.
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Brass. I've been enjoying casting in brass and
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bronze lately. Sort of small, again, tableware
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things. I did some candlesticks a few years ago.
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There's something just so, it's almost like an
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ancient human appeal, a like cast bronzer brass
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piece. That wraps our lightning round. I love
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this. Can you tell us about Night Shift Studio?
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I would love to tell you about Night Shift Studio.
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My friend Elise Bandillo and I founded it with
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some other folks. I wish I could remember if
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it was 2018 or 2019, but a little while ago.
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So the group of us who founded it were all recent
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-ish college graduates working in metalsmithing
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with jobs in the field and wanting to have time
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and space to focus on our own practices as well.
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We were finding that outside of... That school
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environment where you're in a studio with X number
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of other students, also working, you can bounce
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ideas off each other. You've got all this access
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to tools and materials. We were just finding
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it really hard to connect with our own work,
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trying to work out of makeshift home studios
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and in our spare time around our jobs. By pooling
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our resources, we were able to rent some studio
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space in the Bach Building in South Philly. Early
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on, we started doing little critiques with each
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other for our new work. And over the years, we've
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had a number of artists in the Philly area join
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and move on to their next thing and join and
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hang out. It's grown in a lot of beautiful, different
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ways. We are currently pushing our retail space
16:26
a little bit. We moved from the basement of the
16:29
Bach building to the second floor last year.
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So we have a little more foot traffic and we're
16:34
much easier to find and access. We have a lovely
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little display case and we're doing consignment
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for all of our members. I feel like we've been
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there before. I think so. Yeah. That's so great.
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That's so great. It's such a beautiful makerspace.
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Thank you. I just love those spaces. I like an
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adaptive reuse project. Yes. We want to make
16:59
sure that we cover the 50th annual PMA Contemporary
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Craft Show this week, the week of the episode
17:06
drop. It's going to be from November 6th to the
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8th. What are you bringing to that show? What
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are you excited about? Yes. I love the PMA Craft
17:18
Show, so I'm excited about all of it. Also, congratulations
17:20
on getting in. Thank you. This is not your first
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time getting in, though. No. My first year getting
17:27
in was 2020 during the pandemic when it was online.
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Oh, my gosh. But I've been doing it every year
17:32
since. And, I mean, I just love it. I am totally
17:36
biased because I grew up going to the show. I
17:39
would come with my grandmother most years. And
17:42
my parents come every year. And I just, like,
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I see people I know every year. And it's just
17:50
such a wonderful community there. What am I bringing?
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I'm bringing... A little bit of everything. So
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I am in the metals and wood category for the
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first time this year because I've been doing
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more woodworking and wanted to just like really
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push that and highlight that and kind of make
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space for it in my booth. So I've got, in addition
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to the utensils that your audience has seen previous
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years that are all metal or metal and wood, I've
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also got some all wood utensils. I'm working
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on some really cute little turned wooden bud
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vases that I'm very excited about. They're not
18:31
necessarily that exciting to look at, but I'm
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having a lot of fun making them. Perfect. Good.
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I'm also going to bring a few pieces of that
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vessel jewelry because I'm just too excited about
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it. I can't hide it away. That's great. That's
18:46
great. Oh, I love that. Kate, where can our audience
18:50
find you online? I am everywhere that I am. It's
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just my name, Kate Dannenberg. K -A -T -E. So
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you can find me on Instagram. Technically, you
19:02
can find me on Facebook. I don't know. how up
19:05
-to -date or active Instagram's been trying to
19:12
push me over there but if it includes Connor's
19:19
story I'm going so I've dipped in back to you
19:23
Kate you have an online store too right yes so
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if you go to kate dannenberg .com one of the
19:33
Headers is the store. It again is not necessarily
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as up to date as I would like it to be. So definitely
19:38
come to the PMA if you want to see everything.
19:40
And come to Night Shift. I'm there on Sundays,
19:44
but we've got retail hours Friday, Saturday,
19:46
Sunday. And yeah, I'll be in Philly the rest
19:49
of this year doing holiday markets and just around.
19:52
So email me. Absolutely anything. Keith, thank
19:56
you so much for sharing your time and your story
19:58
with us today. We'll be right back with Rapid
20:01
Fire Questions. And we're back with Kate and
20:07
Rapid Fire Questions. If you could collaborate
20:09
with any artist, dead or alive, who would it
20:12
be? I feel like the truest answer is... Just
20:17
with my friends. Like, Elise and I have talked
20:20
about collaborating on spoons. She's an incredible
20:23
enamelist. So, like, to have me forge a spoon
20:26
and then her enamel it. And then my best friend
20:30
from college and I have never really collaborated
20:34
on a piece, but we used to bounce everything
20:37
off each other. And I feel like someday, someday
20:40
it will happen. Yes, those are so special. The
20:43
Philadelphia art scene in one word. Community
20:47
-oriented. I love that. There's a hyphen in there.
20:49
Yes, definitely. Cheesesteaks, with or without?
20:54
Whiz or without. I have whiz or without here.
20:58
Yeah, that's wrong. How do you take your cheesesteak?
21:02
I take my cheesesteak with provolone, fried onions,
21:06
salt, pepper, ketchup. A slept -on Philadelphia
21:08
-based artist that the city needs to know about.
21:12
Okay, so this is the one that I remember hearing
21:14
in other episodes of the podcast. And the only
21:16
answer I can come up with is my mom. You can't
21:19
access her art anywhere. It's not like she's
21:21
in galleries. Just call her mom. She's the one
21:24
sleeping on her. She makes such beautiful work.
21:29
She's so talented. Would you like a real answer
21:31
that's actually helpful to your audience? No,
21:33
I'd love that. Just throw it in the Bach building.
21:39
Be like, Mom, I'm taking a couple of these, and
21:41
we'll throw it up in the studio. Perfect. Yes.
21:45
So set the scene. The city is on fire, but you
21:48
have the superpower to save one gallery or museum.
21:52
What do you save? My first thought was the Museum
21:55
for Art and Wood, partly because it seems so
21:58
flammable. Yes. Yes. But I do. I think that the
22:07
PMA is sort of the largest collection in the
22:10
city, so it feels like kind of the most bang
22:12
for your buck if you're only going to save one.
22:14
And just having grown up in Philadelphia and,
22:17
like, even if I had only ever visited on school
22:20
field trips, it's had a huge influence on me.
22:22
So everyone, each museum, every single one. Oh,
22:27
my gosh, the Wagner Free Institute, all -time
22:30
favorites. I guess that's not an art museum.
22:32
It's a science. It's all right. Whatever. I love
22:35
museums. Perfect. Perfect. Well, Kate, thank
22:39
you so much again. Everyone check out Kate and
22:42
check out the 50th Annual PMA Contemporary Craft
22:46
Show coming to you from November 6th through
22:49
the 8th. Thanks for tuning in to Philly Has Heart,
23:25
your weekly cultural update. Until next time,
23:28
keep creating, keep connecting, and remember,
23:31
Philly has heart. And art!