Did you know that AMCAW is managed and run by a large team of volunteers? All metal clay artists, they share their professional skills and energy to help AMCAW create and bring you more programs, tutorials, and fun. We thought you’d enjoy meeting some of these fabulous volunteers – and perhaps become a volunteer yourself!
Jeanne M. Keefe, Troy, NY
Like many other metal clay artists, Jeanne came to metal clay through metalsmithing. She trained to become a silversmith in 1968 and started teaching in 1975. Jeanne began taking metal clay workshops locally in 2008 after her arthritic hands began to inhibit her ability to silversmith.
Metal Clay
Jeanne’s transition to metal clay was a challenge: there weren’t a lot of local classes, workshops or tutorial materials at the start. Jeanne bought as many books as she could find and took any workshops she could afford, so she eventually became more proficient and confident.
In 2013 Jeanne traveled to Rochester, NY for a weekend RIO Certification Class with Patrik Kusek. The class was filled with people who had a variety of experience and professions. Patrik was so encouraging and helpful, Jeanne left brimming with design ideas and many practical tips and procedures.
Professionally, Jeanne retired in 2016 and has luckily been able to devote more time to her art since then. These days, she no longer does commission work, has an online shop or teaches, but she does occasionally exhibit her work if the show accepts the medium. Jeanne was finally able to move her studio out of the basement into the daylight!
Jeanne loves making hollowware beads and pendants. She stills find keeping the clay pliable her biggest challenge! Since she is intrigued by the stand-alone, sculptural qualities of metal clay, Jeanne will be starting her first vessel soon.
AMCAW Volunteer
Jeanne became a new AMCAW volunteer after she attended a potluck meeting in Pittsfield, MA with members from eastern NY and western Massachusetts. Linda Kaye-Moses generously hosted the meeting at her home and studio, where she spoke about volunteering. After hearing about the AMCAW Metal Clay Archives project, Jeanne let Linda know she was interested. Before she retired, Jeanne had spent 36 years as a visual resources archivist and librarian on various international image projects to make image collections available online, so Metal Clay Archives was a perfect fit.
Professional Background
For most of her adult life, Jeanne has been an artist and an academic archivist/librarian. She received a BA in Fine Arts/Museum Studies as a “mature returning student” in 1980 and was immediately hired by the Armenian Architectural Photographic Archives to preserve and microfiche 70,000 photographs of Armenian art and architecture. In her mid-30s, she became the Visual Resources Curator of the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She finished her MS in Appropriate Technology in 1988 from RPI. During this time, she was also a consultant for the Getty Foundation for the development of the Art & Architectural Thesaurus.
In 1999, Jeanne completed her MLIS (Masters of Library and Information Science & Archival Practice) from the State University at Albany; she then became the Digital Media Librarian and was eventually promoted to the Librarian of the Architecture Library at RPI.
Using Her Skills
Jeanne was especially happy to join the Metal Clay Archives project to continue using the skills she worked so hard to attain during her professional life. However, she is also gaining the friendship, camaraderie and advice of her fellow metal clay artists, which is so very important to all of us working in isolation.
In other skills updates, Jeanne once won the “Best Actress” award at an independent movie festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The producer/director was Argentinian, and the movie was shot in upstate New York. The movie won Best Picture.
If you are interested in becoming an AMCAW Volunteer, we’d love to speak with you. Please visit our volunteer page
