ABOUT
Cathryn Jasterzbski is a jeweler and metalsmith from the greater New York City area. Through jewelry, she explores her working-class upbringing as it relates to her contemporary jewelry practice. Her research is built upon theory relating to class construction, working-class identity, and repair. She conducts interviews with individuals participating within the working-class which function as primary source material for her practice. Cathryn’s attention to ethical metalsmithing is present in her jewelry through her use of reclaimed steel, which is the primary material from which her work is made. Through welding steel, in the format of jewelry, she reflects on the collision of class structures present in her life while affirming the equal value of knowledge and skills that both provide. After completing her undergraduate degrees, a BS in Visual Arts Education and a BFA in Jewelry + Metalsmithing from SUNY New Paltz, Jasterzbski studied with a Master Goldsmith David Walton in the Mid-Hudson Valley Region of New York. She recently completed her MFA candidacy in Jewelry + Metalsmithing from Rhode Island School of Design. She is a recipient of the MJSA Jeweler’s Scholarship and attended the Penland Winter Residency in 2017. She continues to teach jewelry and metalsmithing and visual arts education at Snow Farm New England Craft School, the 92nd Street Y, and will be attending the Baltimore Jewelry Center as a Resident for the summer of 2019. She was awarded the Marzee Graduate Prize in 2019 and continues to explore working class identity in her studio in the Hudson Valley, NY.