Photograph by Tom Davis.
The enthusiasm for enamels that swept the craft movement in the 1950s and ’60s has no exact parallel today. Yet the medium still has its supporters—notably the Enamel Arts Foundation led by Hal Nelson and Bernard Jazzar—and its leading lights. Sarah Perkins, now professor emeritus at Missouri State University, shines brightest of these. Like June Schwarcz before her (she considered the great California enamelist “a hero, an inspiration, and a friend”), Perkins makes vessel forms using a wide variety of techniques in a broad aesthetic range from the precise to the expressionist.
Some of her works captivate through raw texture and hard-edged metal; others are lyrically ornamental, with delicate patchworks of color across the surface. One of her favored forms is a closed vessel with ample tripod feet, evoking certain ancient Chinese bronzes. Despite the continuity of method and typology, each of Perkins’s works has an individual character, as pronounced as that of a living creature, even a fellow human being.
Ice Crystal Container in silver and enamel. Designed and made by Sarah Perkins, USA, 2018.
8" L x 6.5" W x 6.5" H
20.3cm L x 16.5cm W x 16.5cm H
SM8086
Frilled Bowl in copper and enamel. Designed and made by Sarah Perkins, USA, 2017.
6.5" L x 6.5" W x 4" H
16.5cm L x 16.5cm L x 10.2cm H
SM8087