We are excited to properly introduce Tom Finneran as one of the Featured Artist presenters at our Fall Gathering! | | Tom Finneran sometimes thinks of himself as a,“frustrated forrest ranger.” Growing up in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Tom loved nothing more than exploring the woods. If youthful misguidedness and disillusionment in the engineering perquisites for forestry school weren’t strong enough headwinds, being drafted in 1972 changed his course. While he was the last to be drafted in the whole county, Tom had just enough luck to land a clerk position at West Point, flying mostly under the radar aimed at the cadets. In 1978, a career in passive solar design and carpentry brought Tom out west where the craft scene would pique his interest in stone cutting. | | Pic by Tom of Taos Mountain | | Tom's Reliquary for the Wicked Witch of the West, Siberian Nephrite Jade, Damascus and blued steel, smokey quartz (7.5"x 2.5") | | After using the GI Bill to earn a gemologist certification from the Gemologist Institute of America in 1984, Tom moved to Boulder, Colorado to work in a custom goldsmith retail shop. It was there that he met Lew Wackler, a dedicated craftsperson who brings inventiveness and precision to his metalsmithing and stone cutting. He took up complex turning with the purchase of a Holtzapffel lathe in the mid 80’s when few resources were available in the craft, later incorporating the skillset into his work by adapting a rose engine for fantasy stone cutting in the early 90s. Lew had found a niche as someone people brought challenges to. Their two personalities meshing well together, Tom went to work for Lew cutting cabochons. Lew told Tom he would teach him everything he knew about either metalsmithing or stone cutting, but he had to chose one—it wasn’t a hard choice. | | In 1994, Lew received his first contract from Andreas von Zadora-Gerlof, an eccentric stone carver determined to make objects of wonder and opulence that hadn’t been seen since the fall of the Romanovs and the decline of the House of Faberge. Zadora had built a rolodex of acquaintances to commission these objects and was assembling a network of craftspeople to pull them off. Lew, Tom, and master goldsmith Bill Brinker would form the Boulder satellite of this network, receiving concept sketches that had already been sold to the client with large down payments and dizzying deadlines. | | The Art of Zadora by Janet Zapata and David Behl showcases many of the projects Tom and the Boulder crew worked on. | | Tom turning jade, a messy process | | Recognizing early that ambitious work such as this required a skillset much broader than contemporary jewelry skills, Lew had made Tom take machining courses and pushed the Boulder crew to study historical techniques and industrial processes. Tom and Lew developed systems of cutting large hardstones on the lathe and mill using silicone carbide grinding wheels. Tom ran with the techniques. The results are classical architectural motifs and elegant forms cut into stones like quartz, citrine, and jade, a material Tom would fall in love with. These stone components combined with Bill’s gold work, and the work of other scattered craftspeople, to form over-the-top compositions unlike anything else made in the last thirty years. | | |
Zadora mouse clock with rutilated quartz cheese block and plate (via MS Rau)
Scale replica of the Delacorte music clock that tops the gates of the Central Park Zoo in Rhodochrosite, one of four in different stones (via Christie's)
| | | Tom center with Bill Brinker top left, Lew Wackler bottom left, CAD designer Randal Fird bottom right, and jeweler Carson Dietz top right | | 150th Kentucky Derby Trophy in 14-karat gold with jade base | | In the years since the Zadora work came to an end, Tom has made his home in Taos, New Mexico. While he still does larger turnings, including the jade base of the Kentucky Derby trophy, his main focus has become wearable sculptures that reflect the natural beauty of his surroundings. There are avion skull pendants, and cuffs with carved shapes and textures that exhibit both precise intention and organic randomness. They are relics, his “jade bones,” discovered in stone between long walks in mountain forests and brushy, desert valleys. | | | | | Nevada nephrite jade "Wrist-Bone" | | |
Mottled Wyoming grey-blue jade
"Camo Raven" pendant
| | Wyoming black jade with inlaid argentum silver cuff | | Lavender Brazilian agate cuff | | The question of lost craft knowledge brings to Tom’s mind the image of a Scoutmaster he had as a kid who could recite epic poems around the camp fire. Our histories and cultures were once handed down in memorized verse, an ability among many obsolescent disciplines almost completely lost in our world of immediacy. “The chain has been broken.” It has been broken at times in the past, and all that remains are the rhyming cuts in stone. | "Liquid Crystal" pendant in rutilated quartz | | Rutilated quartz pendant with liquid and gas inclusions | | Go follow Tom on Instagram under his moniker "Jade Bones" for more of his work. | |
The Fall Gathering is less than a week away!
We are just about full, but we may be able to squeeze you in if you reach out right now.
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The Plumier Fall Gathering will be held October 17-19 in Saltsburg, PA.
The program will begin Friday morning at 9 and conclude Sunday at noon.
Tickets for the weekend are $650. Plus-one tickets are $150. This will include lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday.
To register, please email jackie@plumier.org.
| | Please consider contributing to our scholarship fund, which is sponsoring young craftspeople to attend. | | |
Support Ornamental Turning, Support Plumier. You can donate through the Join Us! page on our website, Donate Here.
We have also set up a Go Fund Me page which accepts donations of any size with more flexibility. It can be found here, Donate Through Go Fund Me.
A check sent to the address below is also a welcomed form of donation.
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