"Earth Beneath Our Feet, Texas Horizon #1" by Harlan W. Butt.

Plan To Attend

What: Polished: Three Decades of Metal, an art exhibition featuring work by alumni, students and faculty members in the metalsmithing and jewelry program in the School of Visual Arts. The exhibition marks the 30th anniversary of the metalsmithing and jewelry program under the direction of UNT Regents Professor Harlan W. Butt.

When: Exhibition on display through Dec. 23. Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

Where: UNT artspace FW, UNT Health Science Center at 3400 Camp Bowie Blvd. in Fort Worth

Cost: Exhibition is free.

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- UNT's School of Visual Arts presents the artistic creations of alumni, students and faculty members in Polished: Three Decades of Metal at UNT, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the metalsmithing and jewelry program under the direction of Regents Professor Harlan W. Butt.

The event opens with a reception fundraiser today (Nov. 15) at UNT artspace FW, a gallery at the UNT Health Science Center, 3400 Camp Bowie Blvd. in Fort Worth.

The exhibition of jewelry, sculpture, wall-based works and functional objects will be on display through Dec. 23 at UNT artspace FW.

More than 100 works by 55 artists will be featured, including the sculptural, featherweight jewelry of Ingrid Psuty, a former UNT faculty member who now lives in San Diego, and the humorous narrative brooches of Christina Smith, a former teacher of metals classes at UNT in 1980 who now lives in Fullerton, Calif. Also featured in the exhibition is the work of Mark Herndon of Santa Fe, a former graduate student who earned a UNT degree in 2004.

"This exhibition demonstrates the excellence of the work done here over the years and highlights the achievements of our students," Butt says.

Butt joined the UNT faculty in 1976, after earning a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1972 and a master of fine arts degree in art and metalsmithing from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., in 1974. But his interest in metalsmithing began in high school, he says.

"Metal is rigid, but once you understand the material, you can do just about anything," he says. "It allowed me to make tangible the ideas that I had."

While studying in Japan, Butt spent a year working in the studio of master metalsmith Shumei Tanaka and at the Biso Cloisonne Company in Kyoto. His work is in the permanent collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, the Mint Museum of Art and Craft in Charlotte, N.C., and the National Gallery of Australia, among others.

UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Ellen Rossetti (940) 369-7912
Email: erossetti@unt.edu