Eleanor Moty

born Glen Ellyn, Illinois, 1945

BiographyEleanor Moty received her BFA from the University of Ilinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1968 and her MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in 1971. She taught jewelry and metalsmithing at Moore College of Art, Philadelphia for several years and then at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1972-2001 where she is now Professor Emeritus. She has exhibited her work in museums and galleries worldwide and has received numerous awards including the Master of the Medium award from the James Renwick Alliance, Smithsonian Institution and in 2020 a Lifetime Achievement award from the Society of North American Goldsmiths.

In the 1960s and 1970s Moty pioneered the use of photoetching and electroforming metals then influenced by an exhibition of the work of jeweler Margaret de Patta she began developing a more formalist style working with semi-precious stones and precious metals. She has focused much of her attention on the brooch form creating minimalist but evocative sculptural inspired by the inclusions and veins within the stones she uses.

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