Linda Threadgill

Linda Threadgill (born 1947) is an American artist whose primary emphasis is metalsmithing.

Born in Corpus Christi, TX, her early interests in art explored both ceramics and painting. She became interested in working with metal while an undergraduate, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Georgia in 1970, where she studied with noted American metalsmith Robert Ebendorf. A portfolio of work based on her experimentation with photo-etching and electroforming led her to study with innovative metalsmith Stanley Lechtzin at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, where she was awarded the Teaching Assistantship in the Metals Department, and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1978. In 1979, she was awarded a Florida Fine Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship based on her studio work. Later this same year, she was invited to join the faculty of the Art Department at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. In 1983 she was named a Distinguished Member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths, and in 1984, received a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts Fellowship.[1] In 1994, she received the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Research. During her tenure on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin, she also received 11 University of Wisconsin Faculty Research Grants, and was awarded the University of Wisconsin Outstanding Research Award in 1987, 1995 and 1999. She served as a Craftsman Trustee to the American Craft Council from 1996-1999, and in 2000, she was designated Trustee Emerita. In 2001, she was named an Artisan Member of the Society of American Silversmiths. She headed the Metals Program at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater from 1979-2003, and is Professor Emerita. In 2005 she was named a Fellow[2] of the American Craft Council.

In 1984, she developed a small-scale portable spray etching machine based on technology used for the etching of printed circuit boards in the electronics industry.[3][4] This etching machine's simple yet functional design led to its adoption by many university metals programs as well as by numerous private studio artists, enabling them to rapidly and accurately etch and pattern non-ferrous metals for jewelry and small sculpture.[5] Threadgill has shared the technology, techniques and practices associated with her etching machine in over 80 workshops and technical presentations in the United States, Canada, England and Korea. Her work and process are also included in the 1996 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWELRY TECHNIQUES.[6] Her role in advancing the die-forming process has been lauded by such other studio art jewelers as Jan Baum.[7] She now lives and maintains a studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 2015, she was named Master Metalsmith by the National Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis, TN, who mounted a major retrospective exhibition of her work in late 2015.[8][9][10] This exhibition is illustrated in the catalogue "Cultivating Ornament."[11]

Her artistic metalwork is included in the collections of The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England, The Swiss National Museum, Zürich, Switzerland, The National Museum of American Arts of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, The Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, The Walker Hill Art Center, Seoul, Korea, The Racine Arts Museum, Racine, WI, the deYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA, The George and Dorothy Saxe Contemporary Craft Collection, Palo Alto, CA and many others. Her work has included both teapots[12] and rings[13].

References
  1. 1984 National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowships, American Craft Magazine, Dec.84/Jan.85
  2. American Craft Magazine, American Craft Council, Oct/Nov 2005
  3. TECH TEXT: A COMPILATION OF SNAG TECHNICAL ARTICLES, 1975-2010, Society of North American Goldsmiths, 2010
  4. "Spray Etching Techniques", Monthly Crafts Magazine, Seoul, Korea, Vol. 1, No. 6, 1988
  5. "Linking Our Lineage" Society of North American Goldsmiths, 2016, Victoria Lansford
  6. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JEWELRY TECHNIQUES, Jinks McGrath, Quarto Publishing, London, 1996.
  7. Le Van, Marthe, ed. The Penland Book of Jewelry: Master Classes in Jewelry Techniques. Asheville, NC, Lark Books, 2005, p. 140.
  8. LINDA THREADGILL UPENDS NOTIONS OF DECORATION, UTILITY IN 'CULTIVATING ORNAMENT', Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN, Sept. 22, 2015, Frederic Koeppel
  9. METAL WORKS CHALLENGE NOTIONS OF DECOR, UTILITY, GoMemphis, Memphis, TN, Sept. 25, 2015, Frederic Koeppel
  10. ART:THE YEAR'S 10 BEST EXHIBITIONS, GoMemphisVisual Arts, Memphis, TN, Dec. 21, 2015, Frederic Koeppel
  11. CULTIVATING ORNAMENT, LINDA THREADGILL MASTER METALSMITH 2015, Metal Museum, Memphis, TN, 2015
  12. Meilach, Dona. Teapots: Makers and Collectors. Schiffer Publishing, 2006, p. 159.
  13. Le Van, Marthe, ed. 1000 Rings: Inspiring Adornments for the Hand. Lark Books Division of Altamont Press, 2004.

General References

“Conceptualizing Ornament", Metalsmith Magazine, Vol. 29, No. 3, 2009.
Contemporary Women Sculptors: An Illustrated Bibliographical Directory. Phoenix, AZ, Oryx Press, 1985.
Hardy, Saralyn Reese. A Creative Legacy: A History of the National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists' Fellowship Archive. Washington, DC, The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1997.
Rainwater, Dorothy. Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers, 5th edition. Schiffer Publishers, 2003.
Smith, Paul J. and Edward Lucie-Smith. Craft Today: Poetry of the Physical. New York, American Craft Museum: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986.
Taragin, Davira S. Contemporary Crafts and the Saxe Collection. Hudson Hills Press, 1993.
“The Structural Origins of Ornament." Ornament Magazine, Vol. 34, No. 4, 2011.

  • lindathreadgill.com Society of American Silversmiths Society of North American Goldsmiths American Craft Council
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