Esther Ervin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Somerville, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | California State University, Long Beach, MFA Illustration; University of California, Irvine, BS Biological Science |
Esther Ervin is an American sculptor based in Seattle, Washington. [1]
Esther Ervin was born in Somerville, New Jersey. She earned a BS in Biology from the University of California at Irvine with studies at the American University of Beirut, and an MFA in BioMedical Illustration from the University of California at Long Beach. She focused on bio-medical illustration and sculpture. [2] [3]
Ervin has created public works for Liberty Bank, in Seattle. [1] [4] She consulted on the design of the Liberty Bank Building in Seattle's Central District. [5] [6] She earned a Gregory M. Robinson Scholarship for Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle. [3]
After a mediocre career in insurance and securities, Esther was awarded a residency and the Gregory M. Robinson scholarship at Pratt Fine Arts Center in 2008, where she studied jewelry-metalsmithing and welding. In 2009, she had a residency at the Dr. James W. Washington, Jr. and Mrs. Janie Rogella Washington Foundation, in Seattle, where she incorporated materials found there into new work. She acted as the director of the James Washington Foundation for four years, implementing capital improvements; hosting artists-in-residence, youth programs and tours. For these accomplishments, she was selected in 2014 to receive the “Living Legacy of Phenomenal People” award by the Central Area Chamber of Commerce. In 2020 she was invited to an Artist-In-Residence Collaborative at the same Foundation along with Christina Reed, Eve Sanford, Erin Shigaki and Carol Williams. As well as completing independent works based on the theme of "What Color is Color?" they combined their skills to create a three-dimensional piece that is permanently housed on the premises.
Esther continues exploring new techniques, and works in various mediums, often focusing on environmental or political subjects and abstract works. Her one-of-a-kind jewelry has been exhibited in Washington, Oregon, Beijing, China; Vilnius and Palanga, Lithuania and in Legnica and Gdansk, Poland.
She has 18 permanent 3-D pieces installed at the Liberty Bank Building on 24th Avenue and Union Street, Seattle, WA. These are 4 etched glass canopy panels depicting Seattle's redlined Central District, 11 concrete and tile benches and 3 bronze salmon sculptures in a water feature. She was also project coordinator and financial manager for the entire artistic project from 2016 to 2019. In 2020 Esther's work was installed at the Pavilion Marketplace, a 14' x 4’ steel panel titled “Cowrie Cloth,” on Jackson Street, near 23rd Avenue, Seattle, WA.
While consistently generating and exhibiting jewelry and mixed-media work, Esther has curated over 50 exhibitions; participated in numerous group exhibits in California, Oregon and Washington states; been on local and out-of-state juries and had five solo exhibitions. She is a member or participant in several arts organizations including the Onyx Fine Arts Collective and the Seattle Metals Guild.
She has also researched preservation of documents and photographs from the late 1800s to the present and printed "Self-Preservation of Documents and Photographs," 1st Edition, first presented for the Association for African American Historical Research and Preservation Second Annual Conference at the Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, WA., Feb. 5, 2005. Esther received a grant from the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, now known as Seattle Arts & Culture, to support this research.
In 2021 Ervin was one of five artists selected for Amazon's artist in residence program. [7] [8]
911 Media Arts Center is a non-profit media arts and access center located in Seattle, Washington. 911 Media Arts Center was incorporated on August 14, 1984, to support the expressive use of media tools through training, equipment, and access grants. The organization also provides a forum and venue for those working in the new media disciplines. The center is a member-supported non-profit organization and receives other funding from education tuition and state, city, and county grants, along with grants from private foundations and individuals.
Pratt Fine Arts Center is a non-profit arts education and resource center in the Squire Park area of Seattle's Central District. The center employs 155 teaching artists and conducts more than 600 classes annually.
Jean Louise P. Johanson was an American sculptor, mosaic artist, and jewelry designer.
Mary Lee Hu is an American artist, goldsmith, and college level educator known for using textile techniques to create intricate woven wire jewelry.
Jean Shin is an American artist living in Brooklyn, NY. She is known for creating elaborate sculptures and site-specific installations using accumulated cast-off materials.
Frederick Warren Allen (1888–1961) was an American sculptor of the Boston School. One of the most prominent sculptors in Boston during the early 20th century and a master teacher at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Allen had a career in the arts that spanned more than 50 years.
Carol Milne is an internationally recognized Canadian American sculptor living in Seattle, Washington. She is best known for her Knitted Glass work, winning the Silver Award, in the International Exhibition of Glass Kanazawa Japan 2010.
Phyllis Yes is an Oregon-based artist and playwright. Her artistic media range from works on painted canvas to furniture, clothing, and jewelry. She is known for her works that “feminize” objects usually associated with a stereotypically male domain, such as machine guns, hard hats, and hammers. Among her best-known artworks are “Paint Can with Brush,” which appears in Tools as Art, a book about the Hechinger Collection, published in 1996 and her epaulette jewelry, which applies “feminine” lace details to the epaulette, a shoulder adornment that traditionally symbolizes military prowess. In 1984 she produced her controversial and widely noted “Por She,” a silver 1967 Porsche 911-S, whose body she painstakingly painted in highly tactile pink and flesh-toned lace rosettes. She exhibited it at the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery in New York in 1984 and drove it across the United States as a traveling exhibition in 1985. In 2016, she wrote her first play, Good Morning Miss America, which began its first theatrical run at CoHo Theatre in Portland, Oregon in March 2018.
Laylah Ali (born 1968) is a contemporary visual artist known for paintings in which ambiguous race relations are depicted with a graphic clarity and cartoon strip format.
Nancy Lee Worden was an American artist and metalsmith. Her jewelry art is known for weaving together personal narratives with current politics. She received many awards and honors. Worden exhibited internationally, and her work is represented in collections around the world, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Ramona Solberg (1921–2005) created eccentric yet familiar jewelry using found objects; she was an influential teacher at the University of Washington School of Art and is often referred to as the "grandmother of Northwest found-art jewelry". Additionally, she served as an art instructor and a prolific jewelry artist in and around Seattle for three decades.
Debora Moore is a contemporary glass artist. She is best known for her glass orchids.
Lauren Kalman is a contemporary American visual artist who uses photography, sculpture, jewelry, craft objects, performance, and installation. Kalman's works investigate ideas of beauty, body image, and consumer culture. Kalman has taught at institutions including Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Currently she is an associate professor at Wayne State University.
Barbara Noah is an artist who currently works with digital prints and mixed media, with past work in public art, photography, painting, print, and sculpture.
Margaret E. Jacobs is a Native American artist and member of the Akwesasne Mohawk tribe, known for her sculptures, jewelry, and sketching. She draws inspiration from her culture and upbringing. She values natural and synthetic objects and is inspired by buildings in the United States; they are a reminder of Mohawk ironworkers who left their tribes and communities to help build structures. Most of Jacobs' work has been based on the history of the Mohawks, her cultural heritage, and stories.
Adam Kuby is an American sculptor, visual artist and landscape designer, focusing on large-scale public art commissions and environmental art installations.
Jite Agbro is a Nigerian-American multimedia visual artist and designer based in Seattle, Washington.
Anna Mlasowsky is a German artist. She is known for her experimental and boundary pushing work in glass and is recognized as one of the leading female artist working in glass today.
Pat DeCaro is an American artist based in Seattle, Washington. She has lived in the Pacific Northwest since 1980, where her works are held in the collections of the Northwest Museum of Art, the Washington State Arts Commission, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, and the Pilchuck Glass School. DeCaro’s work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in the United States and Europe. She received the 2012 Twining Humber Award for lifetime achievement in the arts.
Cathy McClure is an American visual artist born in 1965, known for her kinetic sculptures and zoetropic installations. Her works often feature re-engineered mechanical toys, video, sound, strobes, and other lighting effects. McClure's art has been exhibited in museums, galleries, and public spaces around the world.
