Modern and Contemporary Craft: Selections from the Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection

Artist Biography

“When I work, I consider the tactile connection, the relationship that will exist between object and boy,” says jewelry artist Rena Koopman. “Only on a body, only in context, will the jewelry finally come to life.” Koopman’s brooches, necklaces, earrings and bracelets in exotic metals combine technique and design in pieces that are geometric yet soft, the lines blunted by the overlay of jewels, etched metals and forms drawn from nature. Educated as an art historian at Vassar College, Koopman visited Japan in the early 1970s to learn metalworking techniques. Koopman was dazzled both by the workmanship she observed and by the Japanese design aesthetic, which has since been the dominant influence on her work. Koopman shared her passion for Asian culture with her late husband Rad Smith, a Japanese sword enthusiast. “I see his influence in subtle things,” says Koopman, “like the shape of a necklace, which looks like the stones in our Japanese garden, and the swing of some of my earrings, which are like miniature swords.” Koopman creates works of beauty and serenity that will endure. “Satisfaction comes to me from the way shapes fit together visually and technically,” says the artist, “from colors of gold meeting and overlapping from lines and gestures that reflect light on the surface of the metal.”