Palm Beachers exhibit work in Armory's jewelry and ceramics show - Palm Beach Daily News
Resident April Carpenter’s daily three-mile morning walks on the beach at Phipps Ocean Park turned out to be more than good exercise. That’s where she picked up the sea glass and shells she used as the main attractions in a dramatic silver necklace she’s exhibiting at the Armory Art Center.
Palm Beach residents have figured frequently in a series of Armory shows this summer featuring its teachers and their students. The current exhibition, Connections: Jewelry & Ceramics, also includes examples by Carol Hirsch, Patricia Levey and Aya Bendat. They’re exhibiting with other students as well as ceramics instructor Mark Walnock and jewelry and metalsmithing teachers Lisa Johnson and Maria Tritico.
Carpenter made some jewelry in high school but didn’t take it up again until last fall after retiring from 35 years as a middle school orchestra teacher. She made the necklace in Tritico’s beginning metalsmithing class.
She hasn’t even worn it yet. “The second I finished it Maria grabbed it from me and said ‘It’s going in the show,’” she said. “I’m looking forward to when I can take it home and enjoy it.”
Hirsch based the red tulips in a yellow pitcher decorating her ceramic plate on a watercolor by her friend Anita Lovitt. She made a similar plate for Lovitt, but it was broken accidentally.
She’s learned a lot in Walnock’s Help! Handbuilding class. “He’ll give you help with anything you’re working on or inspiration if you can’t think of what to do,” she said.
When the show closes she plans to give the plate to Lovitt.
The show runs through Friday at the Armory, 811 Park Place, West Palm Beach. For information call 832-1776 or visit armoryart.org.
