Hello! I'm Kara
I am a jeweler/metalsmith turned craft historian. After graduating with my BFA in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I became interested in the interaction between craft practitioners, educators, academics and the institutions that house them. My curiosity about the evolution and effects of these institutionalized relationships upon emerging contemporary practitioners—especially jewelers—drove me to pursue an MA in History of Design at the Royal College of Art and Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
My graduate research examines the evolution of the craft disciplines in America historically through the lens of the American Craft Council and the Society of North American Goldsmiths, two of the most influential organizations guiding the growth of craft and contemporary jewelry instruction, exhibition and practice in America. I seek to challenge the dominant institutional language that favors discussion of craft either as an idea or hierarchically in relation to fine art and reveal the cultural, economic and political influences that have manipulated formalized educational initiatives. I endeavor to reintroduce the voice of the maker into contemporary craft discourse and consider it in a new more broadly accessible language.
