Robert Ebendorf: Astonishing Adornment by Noelle Backer

More than a year has passed since I met Robert Ebendorf at the final jury session for the 1998 Smithsonian Craft Show, where he was a juror. The day had been spent watching hundreds of slides flash before my eyes, while Ebendorf and two other jurors handled the monumental task of selecting 120 artists from a pool of 1,600 applicants. I realized I was experiencing the work of some of the most talented artists in the country. After the session, Ebendorf and the other jurors gave a slide presentation of their work to a public audience. The audience members, myself included, were dazzled by the jurors' work. But when Ebendorf presented the slides of his work, my eyes widened with surprise, and some audience members even gasped in amazement. An entire year later, Ebendorf's work still pops into my head at occasional, indiscriminate times, stirring up the same wide-eyed amazement.

Robert Ebendorf

Necklace made of silver, 24 kt. gold, coral, 18 kt. gold and a red squirrel paw. Ebendorf preserved the squirrel paw by immersing it in salt to draw out the moisture and mummify it.

What is so astonishing about Ebendorf's work? Have you ever seen a petrified squirrel paw clutching a large diamond? A crab claw with a precious gem cradled between its pinchers?

For Ebendorf, this surprising mixture of materials is not at all uncommon. "It is exactly this sense of astonishment that gives my work its value," says the 61-year-old Kansas native. "I'm not afraid to put diamonds around a squirrel's paw." He doesn't harm any animals to do it, either; he uses whatever he finds on the ground -- crab claws from the beach, squirrel paws carefully collected from roadkill, wire hangers discarded in parking lots.

Ebendorf's slightly bizarre approach to his work has attracted more than just my attention. Museums in 14 states and eight countries, including the Smithsonian Institution's Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., the American Craft Museum in New York City, the National Museum of Modern Art in Seoul, Korea, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Kunstindustrimuseet in Oslo, Norway, carry his work in their collections. He has participated in more than 60 national and international solo and group exhibitions since 1965. He has been named by more than a few jewelry and metal artists as their most influential mentor, he has been referred to as one of the grandfathers of recycling ordinary materials into craft, and he has earned luxuriant praise for his willingness to share everything he knows with anyone who asks.

FOLLOWING HIS HEART

Despite Ebendorf's popularity, his work has not made him rich. "I choose to follow my heart," Ebendorf says, "so sometimes it's hard to pay my rent."

Collectors and museums have been his primary support system, as well as colleges and universities.

For many of these successes, Ebendorf credits his "tight network" of peers. A large part of this network, which Ebendorf says still exists today, was brought together through the birth of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) in 1970. Ebendorf was the youngest founding member, and after the organization's first year, he took over as SNAG president, a position he held for many years.

SNAG's efforts to organize international exhibitions made Ebendorf many contacts overseas. But Ebendorf also made many contacts through his own efforts. He learned at an early age that you might be surprised at what you get if you just try.

Crab claw necklace, with silver, 14 kt. gold and a diamond in the claw's grasp. Ebendorf cleans the crab claws out with tweezers and then fills them partially with fine sand, sealing them with caps, to support the hollow structure.

After being encouraged to pursue jewelry by a high school craft teacher, and breaking the news to his father that he wanted to turn down offers for football scholarships to do it, Ebendorf began working toward his bachelor of arts degree at the University of Kansas. "I flourished in the creative experience," says Ebendorf, "but the academic journey was both very traumatic and very tough." Severely dyslexic, Ebendorf's grades in his required academic courses -- such as English, history and art history -- were rarely passable.

This frustration stayed with him as he pursued his master's degree at the same college. It almost got the best of him, despite his passion for jewelry making. "My senior year, early in the fall, I saw a poster on campus about the Fulbright Scholarships that said you could study abroad in Greece, Italy, Finland ... " he recalls. "I stood there thinking how I was such a poor student, and thought that the Fulbright Scholarships were for 'scholars.' I remember walking away thinking it was completely out of my reach."

One week later, Ebendorf found himself standing in front of the application desk asking if there were any Fulbright scholarships available that wouldn't require him to speak another language. "I could barely master English," Ebendorf laughs.

At the time, he explains, America was experiencing a new popularity of Danish modern design, and Scandinavia had always been celebrated for its gold and silversmithing, as well as its enameling. So, he applied for a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Norway. Later that year, Ebendorf was making plans to begin his trip overseas; his success in his jewelry studies and projects had earned him the recognition. "Literally," says Ebendorf, "the Fulbright changed my life. I was standing there at the award presentation alongside the other recipients who were all scholars of mathematics, history, English literature, science, realizing what I had accomplished. It was all about self-esteem, reaching out for something you might not even think you're worthy of; it was about risk taking and setting goals."

Necklace made of silver, trilobite fossils, a pull-top from a lid, coral beads and a silver spoon, measuring 4.5 by 1.75 inches.

GAINING A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

Two years later, Ebendorf applied for and received a Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant to return to Norway to study with a design company (a company he had worked for briefly during his first stay in Norway), another experience that changed his life.

"Having the opportunity to work in a large company made me very aware of how different it is from being an independent studio artist ... there is a design team, the talented craftsmen who execute the designs, the marketing experts, the engineer, the vice president," he explains, "and all these people sit at a meeting and decide whether or not a proposed design would be worthwhile to produce at a certain price point. As an independent studio artist, you're responsible for all of it, and it made me very aware of the kind of work I'd be involved with."

Ebendorf is constantly finding objects like pull-top lids, crab claws and wire hangers along the beach, in parking lots and on roadsides. In fact, his daughter said she'd always remember his butt and his elbows, because he is always bending over picking something up.

It also gave Ebendorf a different perspective to share with the students who were fast becoming a big part of his life. He had left a job at Stetson University in Florida to go to Norway with the Tiffany Grant, and had already lined up a job at the University of Georgia for his return to the United States. Except for a nine-year stint where he focused on his studio work, he has been teaching ever since, and has been recognized for his devotion and success. In an article about him in Ornament magazine in 1989, Contributing Editor Ettagale Blauer wrote, "Make no mistake, Robert Ebendorf was born to teach."

He spent nearly 20 years helping to develop the now internationally acclaimed metals program at the State University of New York, New Paltz, and has given workshops at craft schools across the U.S., like Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Arrowmont School of Crafts in Tennessee and the Southwest School of Arts and Crafts in Texas. He even spent time teaching at Seoul National University School of Art in Korea (another opportunity that found him through his network).

Most recently, Ebendorf received the Belk Distinguished Professorship Chair from East Carolina University of Art in Greenville, N.C. As the recipient, he will create national and international projects for the school, oversee the guest artisan program and exhibitions, as well as teach and work on his own projects.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Robert Ebendorf 109 S. Jarvis St. Greenville, NC 27858 (252) 329-0136 Sienna Gallery 80 Main St. Lenox, MA 01240 Exhibition: July 14-Aug. 4 Artist lecture: July 18 (413) 637-8386

CELEBRATING LIFE

In the meantime, Ebendorf is content getting in a few hours at the bench at 5 a.m., before heading off to teach, and spending his days off working on his own projects, including work for an upcoming exhibition at the Sienna Gallery in Lenox, Mass., in July. "Sometimes I feel like I lose my balance in society and with friends, with all the time I spend at my bench," he explains, joking that he sometimes feels a bit like a drug addict who can't break free from his jewelry addiction.

But overall, he couldn't be happier. "When I reflect back over this journey, it's amazing to me that from the time I went off to college to study art, I've been doing what has been my passion and what I love," Ebendorf explains. "I've never had to be disgruntled about having to go off to some job I didn't like, like selling cars or selling insurance, and that's pretty awesome. I've seen the dark days, for sure, and I've seen the bright days, but I've had the blessing of being very clear about where my joy is."

Noelle Backer is senior editor of The Crafts Report.

JUNE 1999:

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