April 2021exhibition review by sarah darro in metalsmith magazine
“The Figure of the Falling is a quiet meditation on corporality, memory, trauma, and the materiality of silver. This deeply personal body of work by Betsy Lewis opened at Brooklyn Metalworks as New York City shuttered in the midst of a pandemic that intrinsically altered our collective being. Lewis’s exhibition of silversmithed objects, both sculptural and wearable, examines personal loss and mines the material of silver as a conduit for memory.”
Read the full review here.
February 2021Work in Metal by kate lawless
The Williston Northampton School profiles Lewis in their monthly bulletin:
“Betsy Lewis’ metal work suggests the organic: a four-chambered heart, a slim length of spine, a silver wishbone wrapped in a silver strand. The pieces are arresting because they seem familiar, but differ enough from their muses to offer a brief surprise and an invitation to look closer. Ditto for her series of invented surgical implements.”
Read the full profile here.
november 2020Quiet Temperament opens at New York City Jewelry Week.
The permanence of making a mark. The conviction of a hammer’s blow. Silversmiths Valerie James and Betsy Lewis present Quiet Temperament, a two person exhibition of individual and collaborative pieces that recontextualize traditional jewelry and metal practices. James and Lewis are actively fabricating, forging, and engraving new works to rejuvenate established techniques in the field. This exhibition bridges critical craft theory, physical process, and studied gestures of the body to advance these practices in contemporary jewelry and object work. Contemplative habits and persistent repetition in making create the core of the work. Examining process and the virtuosity of technique, their work shares pathways of entangled memories and the quiet temperament of silver.
Quiet Temperament was exhibited for a period of 8 hours on November 8th, 2020, on the rooftop of the Lido Knitting Mills in Brooklyn, NY.
Visit the full exhibition here.
November 2020Commence Jewelry is founded.
Commence Jewelry is an educational initiative that serves to support and amplify recent graduate work through professional opportunities, virtual programming, inclusion in an annual Yearbook, and participation in a Graduate Showcase during New York City Jewelry Week.
Visit the site here.
August 2020The Figure of the Falling in the gallery at Brooklyn Metal Works
A witness from inside, I tell a lost truth. Cradling stolen moments of breath and bearing the weight of memory, The Figure of the Falling exhibits works that refer to the center: the core, the spine, the gut, and the heart. Metal objects and necklaces point to sites on the body to interpret the impossibilities of telling. Like the armor they have become, these works serve as protection and give testimony to the privacy of night. The heartbeats of these memories are transferred into the stillness of the work, and here I learn to breathe again.
View the artist talk here.