Margret Craver (October 11, 1907 – November 22, 2010) was an American artist and arts educator. She was noted for her

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

and

holloware Holloware (mostly in American English) or hollow-ware is tableware that forms a vessel or container of some kind, as opposed to flatware such as plates. Examples include sugar bowls, creamers, coffee pots, teapots, soup tureens, hot food cov ...

as well as her educational and technical manuals on

metalwork Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...

Early life and career

Craver was born in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

on October 11, 1907. She became interested in metalwork while studying at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

, and after graduation traveled to Europe for study, as training in metalworking techniques was not available in the United States at the time. There she studied under Baron Erik Fleming, at the time the court

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exact synonyms, as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are (or were, at least) largely the same but differed in that t ...

to the

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is centred on the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the #IOG, Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. by law a constitutional monarchy, constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parl ...

. Craver established the department of jewelry and metalsmithing at the Wichita Arts Association in 1935, and throughout the 1930s she continued to travel the US and abroad for further training in the craft of metalwork. She was introduced to Charles Withers, president of Massachusetts-based Towle Silversmiths, in 1949, and the two were married the next year. She continued to be known professionally under her unmarried name.

Influence on US metalwork

While working in a military hospital during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Craver became interested in the teaching of metalworking as

occupational therapy Occupational therapy (OT), also known as ergotherapy, is a healthcare profession. Ergotherapy is derived from the Greek wiktionary:ergon, ergon which is allied to work, to act and to be active. Occupational therapy is based on the assumption t ...

for wounded veterans, finding that the repetitive movements were useful in rehabilitation. She left Wichita to organize metalworking workshops in veteran's hospitals in New York. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Craver developed a series of summer workshops, modeled on similar programs in England, to allow teachers of metalwork to develop advanced skills. She also created a number of films and manuals on metalworking techniques for use by instructors. Because of her efforts, Craver has been credited as instrumental in the revitalization of the craft of silversmithing in the United States.

''En résille''

In 1953, Craver first encountered the disused enameling technique '' en résille'', in which enamel-coated metal foil is embedded in glass. Craver revived the technique, researching it over the course of about thirteen years to reproduce and perfect it. Because the technique was not being practiced, and there were no instructional texts in existence, the work was slow, and Craver had to design her own tools. On the technique, Craver said "it took forever, because this was such an ancient technique and no one knew a darn thing about it. I just had to start out and do it myself."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craver, Margret 1907 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American jewellers 20th-century American women artists American metalsmiths Artists from Kansas City, Missouri University of Kansas alumni Women metalsmiths 20th-century American artists 21st-century American women American women jewellers