Artwork by J Taran Diamond

J Taran Diamond (MFA ’23) will present the capstone lecture and a breakout session workshop at East Carolina University's 2024 Material Topics Symposium. Diamond will present their workshop, “Stacked Surfaces,” on January 13 and will present the lecture “Object as Actor” on January 14. East Carolina University's Material Topics Symposium is one of the best known jewelry and metal smithing conferences in the United States. The symposium reliably draws attendees from all over North America, including over 45 universities and institutions.

Lecture Abstract, “Object as Actor”

What happens when we grant objects the capacity to feel, want, and act in ways we normally reserve for human beings? How does the world in which those objects exist change them? How do they change it? In this talk, interdisciplinary craft artist J Taran Diamond will discuss the ways in which material culture informs and is informed by ideas of community, dignity, identity, authenticity, and violence, as focused through the lens of their own studio practice and the experiences of marginalization that their practice draws upon.

Workshop Details, “Stacked Surfaces”

When working with metal, surface finishing is often thought of as straightforward and given less attention than it deserves. In this workshop, interdisciplinary craft artist J Diamond will discuss ways in which surface treatments can be combined for greater effect. Diamond will work back and forth between electroplating and powder coating to create rich, complex, and engaging surfaces.

J Taran Diamond

Artist Bio

J Taran Diamond is a metalsmith and craft educator based in Baltimore, Maryland. Diamond holds an MFA from the University of Georgia, in addition to a BFA from the University of North Texas. Diamond’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at New York City Jewelry Week, the Czong institute of Contemporary Art in Gimpo, South Korea, and the National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. Diamond has also completed residencies at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and the Baltimore Jewelry Center, where they are currently a Teaching Fellow. Outside of the studio, Diamond is an advocate for black people in the fields of craft and academia, and works to help achieve equity and accessibility within those fields.

About the Material Topics Symposium

The 2024 Material Topics Symposium: Shift in Values is organized by East Carolina University MFA candidates Emily Booker, Tracey Lagomasino-Bell, and Chase Shotton.

The Material Topics Symposium has been a production of MFA students within the School of Art and Design at East Carolina University since 2009. It was initially founded by Laura Wood and has been organized in past years by Nicolas Hesson, Anthony Naimo, Kat Cole, Laritza Garcia, Marissa Saneholtz, Danielle James, Alison Bailey and Sarah Loch-Test, Barbara McFadyen and Hosanna Rubio, Holly Roddenbery and Joanne Lang, Adam Atkinson and Nadia Massoud, Carolina Sephra Reyes, Carolyn A Buss, Lauren DelBrocco, Kerry Guan, Nikki Purcell, among others (if you’d like to be recognized in this list, please send an email to ecusymposium@gmail.com). The ECU Printmaking Guild generously helps us hand-print our famous t-shirts.

Our efforts to create a dynamic and inclusive symposium have been generously funded in part over the years by the Gray Gallery, the College of Fine Arts and Communications via Dean Linda Kean, and the School of Art and Design via Director Kate Bukoski.

Initially, we invited students and faculty from only seven universities. Now, we host students and faculty from over 45 institutions ranging from California to Florida. Our 200+ attendees are beginners, hobbyists, sculptors, professional jewelers and metal artists, and current and retired faculty members. Presenters/lecturers are not repeated, and they are nominated and voted on by members of the ECU Metals Guild, then chosen by the incoming committee.

We have a history of bringing in workshop presenters and lecturers who are blazing new trails in the craft fields. Almost all the artists we invite have some tie to the metalsmithing field, but have sometimes branched out to sculpture or other craft fields. We also are bringing in more curators, collectors, and gallery owners to discuss their views on contemporary art and craft, in particular where it intersects with adornment and metalsmithing.

Another part of our mission with this symposium is we want to bring an affordable symposium to the south-east. Students are on tight budgets, so we feed you along with your registration. A closing party is part of our community building at the end; it is important that we allow artists –student, faculty, or otherwise– a place and time to mingle and let loose!