Don Drumm featured at Smith Galleries

The metal sculpture of Don Drumm is a continuous feature at Smith Galleries on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Don Drumm was born in Warren, Ohio in 1935. After studying medicine for two years at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, he decided to pursue a career in art. He transferred to Kent State University where he received a B.F.A. and an M.A. He subsequently worked as a designer for the Industrial Design firm “Smith, Scherr and McDermott” for two years.

In 1960 Drumm opened his own studio, as a full time practicing Sculptor and designer/craftsman near the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. In 1971, together with his wife, Lisa Drumm, he expanded the studio to incorporate a one-room gallery. Since then the enterprise has grown extensively and now embraces eight buildings, providing gallery facilities for over 500 artists and studio space for three resident artists.

In the late 1950s Drumm pioneered the use of cast aluminum (aluminum) as an artistic medium. In addition he has been a pioneer in the use of contemporary building materials, and techniques for the creation of Arts and crafts. The 1960s brought about many teaching opportunities for Don as he was artist-in-residence at Bowling Green State University and taught at Penland School of Crafts.

He continues experimenting and constantly creating to this day. Drumm has won numerous awards along the way, including: Ohio Designer Crafts' “Lifetime Achievement Award”, “Outstanding Contributors of the Century”, to the Akron community by the Beacon Journal Publishing Company, first recipient of the Outstanding Visual Artist Award from the Akron Area Arts Alliance in 2000, and the first recipient of the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) “Artist and Craftsman Excellence” award.

Smith Galleries is located at in suite J11 of the Village at Wexford at 1000 William Hilton Parkway on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Gallery hours are 10 - 6 Monday through Saturday. 800.272.3870

The jewelry of Philippa Roberts is featured at Smith Galleries

Philippa Roberts

The jewelry of Philippa Roberts is a mainstay at Smith Galleries on Hilton Head Island. The gallery is featuring a special exhibit of her jewelry as part of their 26th anniversary.

Philippa was born in South Africa to a jewelry making family, she was naturally drawn to working with metals and stones. She graduated from Miami University (in Ohio) with a BFA in Metal Design and Photography. With California calling, she moved to San Francisco in 1994 to begin her career in jewelry design. Philippa started out working for different designers to develop and hone her jewelry and business skills. In 1996 Philippa established her first studio in the basement of her San Francisco apartment building. What started as a small, hopeful business has developed into a large design studio and retail store. She now works from a studio attached to her shop in Oakland.

Philippa’s signature look is simple, organic shapes combined with beautifully cut gemstones. Her love of the ocean plays a large role in the selection of clean, blue and green stones in many of her pieces. Philippa’s creativity stems from the nature around her, yet she also incorporates a feeling of the urban, with lines and patterns that imitate architecture and design seen around the city. Philippa creates all the original pieces by carving in wax or fabricating in metal. Her selection of new stones for each season defines how her collections will come to life. “I love going to the gem shows and being inspired by all the stones I see. To put the colors together and develop a collection is one of my favorite parts of the job.” Once the pieces are ready for production, her team of skilled crafts people make each piece by hand in her Oakland studio.

Using silver as her main medium, Philippa creates necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings that can be worn formally or informally, with an appeal to all ages. “I love to hear from customers that mine is their favorite everyday jewelry, or that they have been wearing one of my pieces for the past ten years. It is my goal to make jewelry that is beautiful, simple, wearable, and most importantly, timeless.”

Philippa Roberts jewelry is carried in specialty shops around the world. It has been a dream come

Necklace and Earrings by Philippa Roberts

true for her to be featured in such esteemed art museums as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the DeYoung Museum, and the Museum of Art and Design in New York City. Philippa lives in Oakland with her husband, Brian and their daughter Charlotte.

Smith Galleries is located in suite J11 of the the Village at Wexford at 1000 William Hilton Parkway on Hilton Head Island. Gallery hours are 10 - 6 Monday through Saturday. 800.272.3870

Swirl Stone Jewelry by Laura Timmins featured at Smith Galleries

Smith Galleries on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, features the jewelry of Laura Timmins.

Her work is influenced by a past career as a research scientist, from which she brings a unique discipline, attention to detail and a passion for investigating how things work. Other ideas that are impressed on her art are her interest in natural growing forms, patterns, and structures and the interrelationship between them.

Many of the processes used to create these pieces have been invented in her studio, and are unique to her work. Colored and translucent polymer clays are blended and layered together to construct the intricate patterning in each piece. Patterns often contain gold or silver leaf and other inclusions embedded in translucent clay. Patterned clay pieces are combined, creating a rich polymer collage. The collage is then sculpted into shape, using an internal wire armature for support when needed, and cured with heat. The spiraling design seen in many of my pieces is created by twisting the polymer collage between two glass sheets prior to shaping and curing.

Smith Galleries is a gallery of fine craft, art, jewelry, picture framing, and creative toys for children. The gallery is located on Hilton Head Island, SC, in the award winning Village at Wexford at 1000 William Hilton Parkway in suite J11 (UPPER LEVEL). Gallery hours are 10 - 6 Monday through Saturday. 843.842.2280 info@smithgalleries.com