Patina promises a big impression at SOFA Chicago this coming November, with a larger booth, more artists and a bolder presentation. Confident of its unique point of view and commitment to high design, Patina turns up the volume with an exciting roster of artists from around the world.

The gallery will present some of today’s most important studio jewelry artists, alongside beautiful sculptural objects and wall pieces in fiber, clay and wood sculpture, a juxtaposition of scale that has become Patina’s hallmark.

Last year, Patina presented works by 15 American artists and won many fans with their singular style and sophisticated presentation. This year, Patina brings works by 20 master artists.

Patina is especially excited to introduce the work of New Mexico sculptor Polly Whitcomb, an artist who has never had representation before her discovery by Patina. Whitcomb creates design-rich assemblages and wall sculptures using her own fabricated clay elements and found materials.

Another found materials artist is the dynamic Boris Bally, who fabricates furniture, wall sculpture and jewelry from decommissioned highway signs. Examples of his work reside in the permanent collections of the Museum of Art and Design, the Victoria and Albert and the Cooper Hewitt, among many others.

The majority of Patina’s roster has never before exhibited at SOFA. Several are from Europe and include jewelry artists Victor Syrnev from Kyrgyzstan, Ramon Puig-Cuyas from Spain and Carl Heinz Reister from Italy. Also showing with Patina are Germans, Hochstrasser and Patrick Malotki, Wilhlem Buchert, Austrian Isolde Baumhackl-Oswald, and the seminal British artist, Jane Adam. All these artists have works in important European and some American public collections.

Returning with Patina for a second year is Laura Foster Nicholson, a long time Chicago area resident and first fiber artist ever to have exhibited at the Venice Biennale. Her hand woven tapestries reflect a colorist’s eye and love for domestic simplicities, open landscapes and gardens.

Also returning to SOFA with Patina is American jewelry artist, Harold O’Connor, who has recently been interviewed by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art for its oral history program.

Michael Wisner is a clay artist from Colorado whose hand-incised vessels are patterned with a strict precision that lends an almost mandala like quality to the piece. Another Patina artist designing with pattern is wood artist Michael Shuler, whose segmented vessels are fabricated with tiny pieces of wood, some as slender as a human hair. His turned pinecones reveal the “simplexity” and elegance of Nature.

American studio jewelers are also represented by Patina at SOFA this year. Boston artist, Alexandra Watkins understated pieces in 18k, sometimes incorporate colored stones. Barbara Heinrich, a New York based artist is known for her frequent use of high carat gold and high grade gems. Another Chicago area artist, Carla Reiter, literally knits necklaces, bracelets, earrings and brooches with oxidized silver wire. Also working primarily with oxidized silver is artist Sandra Enterline from the Bay area. Her work is found in the Oakland Museum collection.

Finally, we have Ivan Barnett, gallery director for Patina and artist of stature within the American craft movement. For more that forty years Barnett has worked within the world of craft, originally and continuing as an artist, and also a writer, advisor, gallery director and authority on the history of the American craft movement.