The National Polymer Clay Guild is pleased to announce the jurors for the 2008 Progress and Possiblities Exhibition. There are four groups of jurors, one for each category:

Art Jewelry
Functional Objects
Sculptural Objects
Best of Show 

ART JEWELRY

Sarah Shriver

When a fledgling polymer clay community was developing in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sarah Shriver gained recognition for her intricate mille fiori caned beads and was invited to teach at a sewing school, an arts center and a local bead store. Eighteen years later she continues to make her distinctive beads and teach her techniques to a growing circle of people.

She has taught all over the United States, and in the past 5 years she has traveled and taught in England, France, Israel, and Germany, bearing witness to the growing momentum of polymer clay as a contemporary artistic medium.

Web site: http://www.sarahshriver.com

Robert Liu

Trained as an ethologist/ichthyologist, Robert K. Liu received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he worked on experimental gerontology and immunology in the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine. In 1975 Liu left biomedical research after founding The Bead Journal, which changed its title in 1978 to Ornament, a journal of personal adorment. Self-trained as a jeweler and photographer, the author is co-editor of Ornament and has written extensively on ancient, ethnic and contemporary jewelry and personal adornment. One of his specific research interests has been the history and technology of craft media used for personal adornment. He also lectures on and gives workshops on the photography of personal adornment.

He is the author of Collectible Beads, as well as over 600 articles or publications. Gerontology, ichthyology, animal behavior, military technology/history and construction equipment are other fields on which he has published, in addition to beads, other ornaments and personal adornment.

Web site: http://www.ornamentmagazine.com/  

FUNCTIONAL OBJECTS

Victoria Hughes

Victoria has been making and selling artwork for more than 30 years.  Her development and use of innovative techniques has influenced a generation of polymer clay artists both through her work and through her teaching career. In 1994, she began producing the first instructional videos under her screen name “Tory Hughes.”  She currently has 15 titles to her credit.  And this series can be credited as the first “training” program for polymer artists. Victoria’s book, Polymer: The Chameleon Clay, was published by Krause in 2002.

Web site: http://www.toryhughes.com/  

Jill Heppenheimer

Jill Heppenheimer is President and co-owner of Santa Fe Weaving Gallery, a business which is now 32 years old, and which she acquired in 1992 with her business partner. She is also co-director of Design with Heart, which promotes educational opportunities for fiber artists. Jill’s particular emphasis over the past 16 years has been in product mix management, product development, pricing and blending a myriad of distribution efforts to build a loyal client base. She earned her MBA at New York University in the early 80’s, after having completed undergraduate work in Urban Planning at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.

Jill currently serves on the board of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian and the advisory board of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln’s Textile and Apparel Dept., and has served in other board capacities with Surface Design Association and the Santa Fe Textile Arts Alliance. She has also taught entrepreneurship and strategic planning for artists at the community college level and through fiber-related conferences. Prior to undertaking an arts business, Jill worked in management positions in corporations on the East Coast. Now, she likes to put her classical business training and entrepreneurial spirit to help other entrepreneurs launch and expand their small businesses, and to assist nonprofits to strengthen their organizations. 

Web site: http://www.fiberbydesign.com/

SCULPTURAL OBJECTS

Marlaine Verhelst

The Netherlands: doll artist and teacher, industrial designer, NIADA Board Member, DABIDA Board Member.  Many of Verhelst's influences come from impressions of the work of puppeteers, the paintings of Arthur Rackham, the theater.

Web site: http://marlaineverhelst.com/

Also visit a week with Marlaine in Paris

Richard and Jodi Creager

Richard and Jodi's work is a collaboration of artistic visions -- two separate and different visions with one common thread. This thread is then woven into a collaborative concept of two minds….and a design is born! After designing the piece….work begins. Jodi sculpts and paints the heads and hands .. while Richard sculpts the torso and legs. Once finished with these steps, the Doll is joined together in an animated pose. Finishing touches such as costuming , shoes, wigging, and other needed accessories are created and added to complete the Doll.

Richard and Jodi have been designing Dolls together since 1977.Their appreciation and love of studying the customs and traditions of the Worlds varied Ethnic Groups, have given the Creager's a rich palette of characters to create from. They produce approx. 20-25 Art Dolls a year. In 1991, Richard and Jodi were elected into the membership of NIADA (National Institute of American Doll Artists). Their work is in the Private collections of Well Known Celebrities and in the Permanent Displays & Collections of Museums throughout the World. They have been featured in many Publications and Books over the years. 

Web site: http://www.creagers.com

BEST OF SHOW

Cynthia Tinapple

Cynthia Tinapple of Worthington, Ohio is the author of PolymerClayDaily.com, a blog that takes a highly curated approach to showcasing the best polymer clay art online. In its first two years the site has gained a large loyal audience and has helped build the polymer clay community worldwide.

Cynthia has worked in polymer clay since the late 1980's. In the early '90s Hollie Mion and Cynthia co-edited the newsletter for the National Polymer Clay Guild for several years.

Currently her day job as a webmaster and art director consumes much of her time and she has become more often a voyeur of polymer clay art. She partners with her woodworker husband, inlaying polymer into his turned pieces and creating inlaid wooden sinks, bowls, and furniture. 

Web site: http://polymerclaydaily.com