Visiting Artist Presentation by Akis Goumas at Harvard University

Online lecture via Zoom
Date: Friday, March 26, 2021
Time: 11:30 am EDT / 5:30pm Greece

>> Click here to check the video record of the lecture on Zoom.

Akis Goumas is a contemporary jewelry maker and researcher of mainly ancient crafting technologies of the Aegean region. He was born in Greece in 1952, and, after receiving his Diploma in Economics, he was trained as a goldsmith and later as a silversmith. From 1982 to 1986 he studied gemology and seal engraving. He is a member of the Greek Chamber of Fine Arts, and from 1989-2005 he was the designer of ONAR S.A. (Jewelry and Object Company). Starting in 2000 and continuing to the present-day he has taught creative jewelry at the Chalkis Jewelry School. Since 2016 he has collaborated with the Alchimia Contemporary Jewelry School of Florence as a visiting teacher. In 2020 he participated in the European Michelangelo Foundation, and he is a member of Homo Faber Guide 2020-21. During the last 15 years he has participated in more than 30 exhibitions in Greece and European countries. Since 2006 he has been a member of a multidisciplinary team of archaeologists, scientists, and conservators studying and researching the following:

• Prehistoric metal technologies of the Aegean region (in collaboration with the National Archaeological Museum of Athens and the Museum of Cycladic Art)
• Hellenistic gold smithing techniques (in collaboration with the Benaki Museum)
• Minoan seal stone engraving (in collaboration with the University of Heidelberg)

In all of these collaborative projects his task is to trace tool marks in order to identify tools, techniques, gestures, and rhythms of making. He is also interested in learning as much as he can about the prehistoric craftsman.

His appreciation, philosophy, and way of thinking about art has been influenced by these research projects, and, as a consequence, he is actively looking for ways to translate this experience into a contemporary way of making jewelry and objects. Through this experimentation he came into contact with the impact of time and environment on the materials, particularly the effects of erosion and the beauty hidden in the tiny details. This profound impact on his point of view and aesthetics led Akis into a recent body of work where he strives to free himself from technical restrictions, following new paths of making. He seeks to keep the memories of these journeys embedded in his final creations. 

Furthermore, he is interested in recording the passage of time into the minuscule details of a larger synthesis, into the layers of erosion, and into the failures that become an essential part of the creative process.

During his presentation he will take the audience on a journey, highlighting the strong links connecting archaeological research projects with his personal creative work.

>> More information