Nancy Worden

Nancy Lee Worden (November 29, 1954 – February 17, 2021) was an American artist and metalsmith. Her jewelry art is known for weaving together personal narratives with current politics. She received many awards and honors. Worden exhibited internationally, and her work is represented in collections around the world,[1][2][3] including the Smithsonian American Art Museum[4] and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.[5][6][7]

Nancy Lee Worden
Born(1954-11-29)November 29, 1954
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedFebruary 17, 2021(2021-02-17) (aged 66)
Seattle, Washington
Known forMetalsmith, jewelry maker

Education and early life

Worden was born in Boston, Massachusetts on November 29, 1954.[8] She was raised in Ellensburg, Washington. Her parents were both academics. The family lived near Worden's grandparents, who lived on a small farm.[9] There Worden learned to use hand tools to express her creativity. While in high school, she studied art under Kay Crimp, and in her junior year took her first jewelry class. During her senior year she enrolled in undergraduate metalsmithing classes at Central Washington University.[10]

Worden started making jewelry when she was in high school.[11] After high school, Worden enrolled in a degree program at Central Washington, earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1977.[1][12] There she studied with Ken Cory, who taught her jewelry fundamentals and encouraged her to develop her own personal artistic style.[13] In 1980 Worden enrolled in the University of Georgia to study jewelry and metalsmithing under Gary Nofke. He encouraged her to develop a unique creative voice that was expressed through technique and materials. Worden received her Master of Fine Arts later in 1980.[14]

Career

After graduate school, Worden worked in retail jewelry and art galleries. This provided her training in the business aspects of jewelry as an art.[15] During the 1980s, Worden organized shows for other artists, and refined her own style. In the 1990s, she developed a regional reputation.[16][17] She began teaching herself to electroform in 1995.[11]

By the late 1990s, she won national notoriety for her distinctive style that merged personal and political themes.[16][18][19] In 2014 the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) acquired her necklace "The Family Reunion 2012."[20] Several more of her pieces were acquired by (SAAM) as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign.[21]

  • The Family Reunion by Nancy Worden
    The Family Reunion by Nancy Worden
  • Seven Deadly Sins by Nancy Worden
    Seven Deadly Sins by Nancy Worden
  • Repairing the Nest by Nancy Worden
    Repairing the Nest by Nancy Worden

Exhibitions

From June through September, 2009, the Tacoma Art Museum presented a major retrospective of Worden's work, titled Loud Bones: The Jewelry of Nancy Worden.[11] The exhibit featured 41 pieces from throughout Worden's 30-year career. It was accompanied by a book of the same title. The show was then presented at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University from November 2009 to January 2010.[10]

Collections

Her work in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,[22] the Museum of Arts and Design, New York[23] the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston[24] the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,[25] the Seattle Art Museum,[26] the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Tacoma Art Museum.[27]

Death

She died February 17, 2021, in Seattle, Washington as a result of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.[12][28]

References
  1. "CWU | CWU Alumna's Artwork Featured in Museum Permanent Collections Throughout the World". www.cwu.edu. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  2. "Nancy Worden at the Traver Gallery". www.travergallery.com. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  3. "Nancy Worden - Profile - Crafts & Traditional Arts - Hatchfund - Artist Fundraising & Advocacy". www.hatchfund.org. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  4. "Nancy Lee Worden |". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  5. "Terminology". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  6. "Lend Me Your Ears". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  7. "Runnin Yo Mama Ragged". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  8. Doornbusch, Esther (10 July 2018). "Nancy Worden". Hedendaagse sieraden (in Dutch). Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  9. Updike, Robin (Spring 2001). "Multigenerational Themes". Ornament. 24 (4): 51.
  10. LeBaron, Michelle and Platt, Susan Noyes, Loud Bones: The Jewelry of Nancy Worden. Tacoma Art Museum, 2009.
  11. "Artfullhome Atelier Nancy Worden".
  12. "Remembering: Nancy Lee Worden". American Craft Council. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  13. Kangas, Matthew (Spring 2006). "Nancy Worden: Excavations". Metalsmith. 26 (1): 26.
  14. "Arizona Designer Craftsman - 2008-Nancy Worden-"Cold Connections"". www.azdesignercraftsmen.org. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  15. Biskeborn, Susan (October–November 1998). "Nancy Worden: Getting Personal". American Craft. 58 (5): 55.
  16. "Jewelry artists are flourishing in Seattle". seattlepi.com. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  17. "Nancy Worden (Atelier Nancy Worden) Artist Profile | Artful Home". www.artfulhome.com. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  18. [Anon] (November 2013). "Doer's Profile". Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist. 67 (6): 80.
  19. Kangas, Matthew (July–August 1996). "The Rematerialzation of the Art Object". Sculpture. 15 (6): 27.
  20. Goldsmiths, Society of North American. "Member Achievements – June 2014 - Society of North American Goldsmiths". www.snagmetalsmith.org. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  21. Savig, Mary; Atkinson, Nora; Montiel, Anya (2022). This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World. Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. pp. 228–238. ISBN 9781913875268.
  22. "Nancy Worden". LACMA Collections. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  23. "Museum of Arts and Design Collection Database". collections.madmuseum.org. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  24. "Lend Me Your Ears". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  25. "Nancy Worden". The MFAH Collections. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  26. "Nancy Worden". Seattle Art Museum. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  27. "Nancy Worden". Tacoma Art Museum. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  28. "Remembering the life of Nancy Worden 1954 - 2021". Seattle Times Obituaries. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
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