Crystal Hartman

@CrystalHartmanArt

CV (PDF)

Through drawing and sculpture techniques rooted in endurance, I share multi-media art pieces informed by the natural world, movement practices, and traditional womens work. Gathering shapes, patterns, and common threads to create experiences of embodiment and reflection, I am interested in harmonious living and the richly textured path within it.

I grew up in a family of stonecutters and jewelers who delight in all creative practices. I carve primarily in sustainably-harvested beeswax and cast in reclaimed fine metals. I was taught by my father, John Hartman with guidance from Kate Wolf, Veleta Vancza, Gary McVean, and Bill Anderson. I work with natural, high-grade stones, heirloom gems, and alternative materials ranging from grasses to recycled television screens.

In all work, the concept of beauty fascinates me. I studied color theory, painting technique, and human anatomy as apprentice to Stanton Englehart and Dr. Ronald Ritz. At the University of Colorado at Boulder, I studied sculpture and printmaking with Emily Bivens, Chris Lavery, Clint Cline, Zane Wilson and drawing with Sally Elliot.

Recipient of an UROP research grant for Femininity: Context and Connotations, I traveled to Argentina where interviews with vast and varied groups of locals opened my eyes to generalizations, ideals, and the power of the stories we tell. This began a lifelong inquiry into perspective and relationships.

I draw with pencil and pigments, install sound and video, fiber pieces based on endurance, and host community events. I believe that artwork is best when it is alive - living in the dark corners of our homes and living quietly and vibrantly within community.

I work with and donate to The Prairie Rivers Network, Defenders of Wildlife, Project Coyote, Women for Wolves, Wilderness Workshop, and Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots you can join me. If you would like for a percentage of your purchase to go to a specific organization on this list, please make a note and it will be my honor and pleasure to make that happen.

BIO

Crystal Hartman (b. April 9, 1983, Durango Colorado, USA) grew up behind a jeweler’s bench at the mouth of a canyon in southwest Colorado. She began carving wax, cutting stones, and forming metal as a young child. After apprenticing with artist Stanton Englehart, she earned her BFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Recipient of a UROP grant for academic research on Femininity in Latin America, she cultivated a reverence for community and conversation. Hartman filmed professional and amateur skateboarding in Spain (2005-7), studied site specific craft in Thailand (2008), and founded/directed Durango Open Studio (2009-11, Durango, CO.) In 2011, the artist received the Merwin Altfeld Memorial Award for Storytelling in the Arts from the National Watercolor Association. Her artwork has exhibited at the CCCB, Barcelona Spain, the National Palace of Culture, Sofia Bulgaria, BMOCA, Boulder Colorado USA, the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada CO, and the Denver International Airport, Denver CO, among others. Her work can be found globally in arts and literary publications, as album art through independent labels, and book covers from Oxford University Press, London, and A5 Publishing, Madrid. Crystal Hartman Art Jewelry, sculptural jewelry designs carved of sustainably-harvested beeswax ethically cast in fine metals, have been featured in Art Jewelry Magazine, and exhibited at locations such as the Lilstreet Art Gallery, Chicago IL, Kathleen Sommers, San Antonio TX, and through the Society of North American Goldsmiths. Hartman currently lives and works in Urbana Illinois and offers workshops on Light and Alternative Photographic Processes each spring through The Farms: an Allerton Folk School. 

Current Community Project : Art Direction + Facilitation at The Cohen Exhibition Workshop

Current Memberships

ACC . American Craft Council

CLCU . Craft League of Champaign Urbana

SNAG . Society of North American Goldsmiths + Exhibitions Committee

JEWELRY MAKING PROCESS

In the Lost Wax Tradition, I create elegant, strong, earthy stand-alone pieces and stackable stories.  

Materials:

Wax - primarily working in sustainably-harvested, local beeswax

Reclaimed sterling silver, bronze, gold, and palladium

Heirloom Metals and Stones

Sourced Stones -natural, post consumer, dead stock, conflict free and/ or mined and cut here in the USA.  Most of the turquoise that I work with is cut by my father and brother -John Hartman and Dillon Hartman- in Durango Colorado. 

Process:

Borrowing from traditional practices in drawing, book-making, and metal-smithing I create wearable sculptures. Drawing in sustainably-harvested beeswax, I build up sculptural forms by adding line on top of line to create highly textured surfaces. I carve back into them and new layers obscure the details of the old, stories built through botanical, entomological, and mammalian forms soften, hints of what was there before breathe with growth… roots, water, grasses, coral, and deer run through these design.

Each body of work emerges through drawings and paintings before carving in wax, each wax takes on a life of it’s own. The drawings turn into exhibitions and the wax carvings are turned into reclaimed fine metals through the Lost Wax Process.

The Lost Wax Process: Once we have a wax carving, we remove the stones that are not strong enough to Cast in Place, stones that are strong enough can stay (exp. pieces covered in little diamonds, rubies, or sapphires as seen in my work for Hitchcock Madrona, Seattle WA). Once stones are removed or checked for casting safety, we build a tree of designs by connecting the carved waxes with little sprues/branches to a wax trunk. This Wax Tree is placed in an iron cylinder. The cylinder with tree in it is filled with Investment (similar to plaster) creating a mold. That mold is placed in a kiln and heated, melting away the original waxes and leaving an empty cavity where they were. With the mold still hot, we melt bronze, silver, gold, or palladium to just above 1900 degrees F. When the metal is at it’s proper fluid heat, we pour it into the flask. spin it centrifugally to harness the force of gravity or pull oxygen through it in a vacuum process to help the metal make its way into all the little details and designs. Now the empty cavities created by the original waxes are filled with metal (the wax is entirely replaced with metal). After cooling, the flask is quenched in water and the mold is broken away to reveal a metal tree of sculptures.

Each little sculpture (rings, earrings, pendants, bunnies, butterflies, moth…) is clipped from the tree, pickled, filed, sanded, oxidized, buffed and polished. Stones are cleaned up and set, a final finish and polish are applied.

On certain designs and line pieces I work with Valerie Graham at Tiny Desk Customs and Michael Berry at Hutch’s of Albuquerque to deliver the best experiences and share the abundance of labor with friends and colleagues.

From beginning design to completion, each piece may take several weeks to months to complete, and is always tested for comfort and wearability as well as for quality and character.  

Harmonious living and conscious creation are my core values, I am committed to listening, learning, and growing. For special projects and specific requests please reach out.

Custom Design Inquiries? Please be in touch

Custom Designs begin at $500 and include personal consultation.