Mokume Gane, which translates as ‘wood grained metal with a burl grain’ is all about patterns and metalwork. George Sawyer creates a two dimensional image in three dimensions. His prototypes begin with copper and silver, and then different colors of gold are carefully added. The metals are layered, stretched and folded, then fused, then cut open, like a layered pastry. Sawyer manipulates the materials so that when it is cut open, the striated pattern is made visible.

“I’ve done so much pattern matching -- painterly techniques really. I try to tease it out. Many of my pieces have patterns that are suggestive of sunrises and moonrises, waterscapes and reflected images. I am trying to make poetry, music -- to make it sing, so that someone who knows nothing about Mokume or sculpture can appreciate it.”

The intricately wood-patterned Mokume Gane style was unknown in the jewelry world until the early 1970’s when George Sawyer began refining the technique to create the metalwork that has earned him recognition.

Visitors to Sawyer's website are treated to an excellent presentation about the Mokume process.

As a Humanities major at the University of Minnesota, George had studied Art History, History and English Literature. “I probably learned more as an Art History major than I would have learned from a studio art class.” When he graduated, Humanities majors were not much in demand, but since one of his hobbies was fast cars, he was lucky to find a job at Kar Kraft, a specialty car manufacturer in Brighton, Michigan that designed and built some of the most famous race cars of the time.

“At Kar Kraft, there were 25 designers and 25 metalworkers who could conceptualize, draw and build the car, start to finish. The cars were works of art, like big pieces of jewelry. I learned to work with tools and to visualize in different dimensions.” While he was working at Kar Kraft he took a night school class in jewelry making at the local high school. It was there that he found his calling -- using the metalwork skills he learned building cars, in miniature, for creating jewelry.

Sawyer has always been interested in Japanese art. Japanese Swords often had the appearance of wood grained patterns in the steel. “Japanese sword-makers were artists,” explains Sawyer. “They had signatures like Renaissance artists. You could tell a particular swordsmith by his patterns, except

they painted in steel.”

The technique was passed down in Japan but no outsiders were taught how to do it. Sawyer had seen a particular sword that was made in the 1930’s by a person who was considered the National Living Sword Maker of Japan, the “best of the best.” Sawyer found the metal work intriguing, and since he could not go somewhere to learn how to recreate it, he began developing his own techniques, creating jewelry out of multi-colored precious metals in the Mokume Gane style. Sawyer sold his beloved sports car that he had bought while working at Kar Kraft in order to fund his jewelry business. He sold his first jewelry creations to a gallery in 1972.

His signature pieces are his rings with their mirror image wood grain patterns, punctuated with gemstones and diamonds. “Everyone thinks of the rings when they think of my work, but I make many different designs that incorporate Mokume Gane in some surprising ways.” He has recently introduced the Koi and Wabi Sabi collections. These are collections of one-of-a-kind pieces, fusion bonded in a continuous seamless pattern. Koi and Wabi Sabi are impressionistic paintings in metal. Sawyer considers them the cousins of Mokume.

Last month, Sawyer moved his studio to the Casket Arts Building in Minneapolis, MN. The new studio is slightly smaller than his old studio with the big glass garage doors. The studio fills what was a semi-truck bay, and the customer area is slightly above the studio area -- “kind of like an orchestra pit and the stage,” says Sawyer. The Casket Arts Building and Carriage House are old industrial buildings that have been converted to studio space for more than 80 artists in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District.

Is Sawyer still into cars? Does he rebuild them in his garage at home?

“No, I don’t have the time to work on them, but I still love cars!”

For Further Information about George Sawyer and his Mokume Gane technique:
Website
Tel: (800)440-5453

-CJDG Editorial