Myra Mimlitsch-Gray was born on July 11,1962 and is an American metalsmith, artist, critic, and educator living and working in Stone Ridge, New York.
12 Facts About Myra Mimlitsch-Gray
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Myra Mimlitsch-Gray was first introduced to metalsmithing and jewelry in high school when she participated in a summer program at Carnegie Mellon University.
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Myra Mimlitsch-Gray went on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1984 where she studied with Sharon Church and majored in Metals and Jewelry.
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Myra Mimlitsch-Gray is on the faculty and is the head of the Metal Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
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Myra Mimlitsch-Gray has influenced notable students such as Lauren Fensterstock, Anya Kivarkis, and Lola Brooks.
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Myra Mimlitsch-Gray has taught workshops at Penland School of Crafts, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, University of the Arts, Rhode Island College, among others.
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Myra Mimlitsch-Gray has received awards for her work and contributions to the metalsmithing community, including election to the 2016 College of American Craft Fellows by the American Craft Council, and being named a Master Metalsmith by the Metal Museum.
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In 2018, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray received another Chancellor's Award of Excellence from SUNY New Paltz for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Studies.
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Myra Mimlitsch-Gray has received fellowships from public and private institutions.
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Rather than make a chalice, candlestick, or other item common to traditional silversmithing or hollowware, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray creates negative impressions of these objects which are split into two equal halves and embedded in wooden or metal block forms inspired by shaker design.
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Myra Mimlitsch-Gray plays with this history, and the exaggerated hammer marks in Magnification act as a fetishized signifier of labor and its perceived virtue.
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In part, this transformation is anthropomorphic; Myra Mimlitsch-Gray describes them as "contingent, reflecting the anxiety of service", but these objects highlight the very nature of the material itself as one that is easily recyclable through melting and re-rendering.