Jeffrey Lloyd Dever
biography |
portfolio | artists listing
b. 1953, Taunton, Massachusetts
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2008 Fiber Arts Explored II, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Interweave: Innovations in Contemporary Basketry, Salt Lake Art Center,
Salt Lake City, UT
2007 Beyond The Basket, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Heart of the Matter, Facere, Seattle, WA
Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, New York, NY
All Things Considered IV, National Basketry Organization Exhibition, Arrowmont School
of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
2007 Beyond The Basket, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Contemporary Baskets, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2005-06 Selected Works, Featured Artist, Function + Art, Chicago, IL
2004 50<>50: The Craft Continuum, Lynn Tendler Bignell Gallery, Brookfield Craft Center,
Brookfield, CT
An Exploration of Polymer Clay, Kentucky Museum of Arts and Design, Louisville, KY
2003 Polymer Possibilities: Jewelry and Beyond, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD
Moves in Polymer Clay, Lynn Tendler Bignell Gallery, Brookfield Craft Center,
Brookfield, CT
2002 Seeing Spots, Florida Craftsmen Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL, and Houston Center for
Contemporary Crafts, Houston, TX
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2008 Art Jewelry. March. “Cross-Pollination”.
500 Pendants & Lockets. Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
Create Magazine. March/April. “Passion: All Work and Lots of Clay”.
2007 Art Jewelry. September. “Gallery”.
2006 500 Baskets. Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
The Art of Jewelry: Polymer Clay. Duncan Aimone, Katherine. Lark Books,
Asheville, NC.
Art Jewelry. September. “A Rarefied Medium”.
2005 500 Brooches. Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
2004 400 Polymer Clay Designs: A Collection of Dynamic & Colorful Contemporary Work.
Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
1999 American Style. Summer. "Movers and Shapers".
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jeffrey Dever received his BFA degree from Atlantic Union College in 1976. He is founding partner and creative director of Dever Designs and its FreshArt illustration subsidiary in Laurel, MD. He has been on the contract/adjunct faculty of Maryland Institute College of Art since 1986, where he has taught illustration and graphic design. Jeffrey's polymer clay vessels and jewelry have been represented in several national invitational exhibitions and he is much sought after as an instructor.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
All my baskets and vessels are sculptural studies, born of my personal aesthetics at the intersection of art and the natural world. Nature is my muse, and for me imbued with profound spiritual implications. The act of creating a piece of art is at times meditative and reflective, or on occasion, epiphanous and even tumultuous. My work is an attempt to give voice to the reverence, power, and awe of nature.
Through archived notes and sketches on random scraps of paper a piece is born. Nurtured through material selection and sculptural studies, a fabrication plan evolves. Various polymer clay sections are built as hollowware pieces over custom built forms, or crafted on armatures using my personal techniques. Wire frames are formed as skeletal ribs and wire wrapped to create the basket forms or leather cord may be glue-fused into a web for a different effect. Pieces are built through numerous and varied, often experimental, fabrication cycles and can take weeks or even months to complete. The colors, patterns and lines that ornament my work are not surface applications of paint, but rather the color of the materials used. The result is a painstaking process that results in a luminous and complex finished work.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2008 Fiber Arts Explored II, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Interweave: Innovations in Contemporary Basketry, Salt Lake Art Center,
Salt Lake City, UT
2007 Beyond The Basket, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Heart of the Matter, Facere, Seattle, WA
Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, New York, NY
All Things Considered IV, National Basketry Organization Exhibition, Arrowmont School
of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
2007 Beyond The Basket, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Contemporary Baskets, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2005-06 Selected Works, Featured Artist, Function + Art, Chicago, IL
2004 50<>50: The Craft Continuum, Lynn Tendler Bignell Gallery, Brookfield Craft Center,
Brookfield, CT
An Exploration of Polymer Clay, Kentucky Museum of Arts and Design, Louisville, KY
2003 Polymer Possibilities: Jewelry and Beyond, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD
Moves in Polymer Clay, Lynn Tendler Bignell Gallery, Brookfield Craft Center,
Brookfield, CT
2002 Seeing Spots, Florida Craftsmen Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL, and Houston Center for
Contemporary Crafts, Houston, TX
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2008 Art Jewelry. March. “Cross-Pollination”.
500 Pendants & Lockets. Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
Create Magazine. March/April. “Passion: All Work and Lots of Clay”.
2007 Art Jewelry. September. “Gallery”.
2006 500 Baskets. Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
The Art of Jewelry: Polymer Clay. Duncan Aimone, Katherine. Lark Books,
Asheville, NC.
Art Jewelry. September. “A Rarefied Medium”.
2005 500 Brooches. Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
2004 400 Polymer Clay Designs: A Collection of Dynamic & Colorful Contemporary Work.
Lark Books, Asheville, NC.
1999 American Style. Summer. "Movers and Shapers".
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jeffrey Dever received his BFA degree from Atlantic Union College in 1976. He is founding partner and creative director of Dever Designs and its FreshArt illustration subsidiary in Laurel, MD. He has been on the contract/adjunct faculty of Maryland Institute College of Art since 1986, where he has taught illustration and graphic design. Jeffrey's polymer clay vessels and jewelry have been represented in several national invitational exhibitions and he is much sought after as an instructor.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
All my baskets and vessels are sculptural studies, born of my personal aesthetics at the intersection of art and the natural world. Nature is my muse, and for me imbued with profound spiritual implications. The act of creating a piece of art is at times meditative and reflective, or on occasion, epiphanous and even tumultuous. My work is an attempt to give voice to the reverence, power, and awe of nature.
Through archived notes and sketches on random scraps of paper a piece is born. Nurtured through material selection and sculptural studies, a fabrication plan evolves. Various polymer clay sections are built as hollowware pieces over custom built forms, or crafted on armatures using my personal techniques. Wire frames are formed as skeletal ribs and wire wrapped to create the basket forms or leather cord may be glue-fused into a web for a different effect. Pieces are built through numerous and varied, often experimental, fabrication cycles and can take weeks or even months to complete. The colors, patterns and lines that ornament my work are not surface applications of paint, but rather the color of the materials used. The result is a painstaking process that results in a luminous and complex finished work.