Be Bold: Finding Your Own Style Thursday at Wash U

(CA) is pleased to announce Charon Kransen, owner of the New York gallery Charon Kransen Arts, will be speaking Thursday at the Mildred Lane Kemper Museum at .

The lecture will be held at 6:30 pm.

Kransen was born in Holland and now resides in New York City where he works as a curator, art-dealer and agent for over 150 international contemporary jewelers in North-America. He has also been working in the field of contemporary jewelry since 1969, after he received his training at the Bezalel Academy of Fine Arts Jerusalem Israel, Fachhochschule für Gestaltung Pforzheim, Germany, and at Juhls Kautokeino, Norway.

Kransen has also been Professor of Jewelry Design at the University of Utrecht, Holland and chaired the Jewelry Department at the University Arts Amersfoort, Holland, and he frequently lectures at universities, colleges and art organizations internationally.

Kransen is committed to promoting exciting jewelry from around the world and presents various collections of jewelry, hollowware and accessories by both renowned and emerging artists whose work may be found in museums and private collections world-wide. His focus is on the artists' personal vision and innovative approaches, such as the use of a wide spectrum of materials from paper to precious metals.

In addition to the sale and promotion of contemporary jewelry, Kransen distributes nearly 800 titles of books and catalogs in the field of contemporary jewelry, metal, and design. This collection is considered to be the most comprehensive array of international titles in its field, leading Charon Kransen Arts/Books to win several awards, like the 2009 New York Award in the Books category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

For the past 20 years, Kransen has dedicated himself to helping educate aspiring, emerging, and mid-career artists. He frequently lectures on contemporary jewelry and gives master-classes to students and professionals in the USA, Europe, Australia, Asia and South America and conducts master classes geared towards jewelry and craft artists.

Kransen encourages artists working in the craft media to discover and eliminate those barriers that keep them from becoming the kind of artist they aspire to be. He also endeavors to help prepare artists for those important tasks they are so often ill-equipped for, such as approaching galleries, dealers and clients. 

In his upcoming lecture, Be Bold: Finding Your Own Style, Kransen focuses on the idea of being bold in the development of personal taste and attitude through the collecting and wearing of jewelry made by international studio artists. Kransen’s experience in the field is a unique and well developed one, having invested more than 40 years as a goldsmith, agent, dealer, and educator in the field of contemporary jewelry.