An exhibition honoring the legacy of Mary Fischer Traver, featuring her work, as well as current collective work of faculty, staff, and students in Ceramics, Metalsmithing/Jewelry, & Textiles.

The University of Kansas Department of Visual Art & KU Endowment celebrate Mary Fischer Traver & the endowed gift that made possible the renovation and expansion of the Metalsmithing & Jewelry studios. This exhibition also commemorates the inaugural Mary Fischer Traver Metalsmithing & Jewelry Professorship recipient, Sunyoung Cheong.
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"The late Mary Fischer Traver was born December 3, 1935 in St. Louis, Missouri. She studied silversmithing and metalsmithing at the University of Kansas (BFA 1957). She studied under Sheldon Carey, Carlyle Smith, Evelyn DeGraw and Eldon Tefft, among others. She continued her studies at the Craft Students League in New York, New York before moving to Peru, where she taught at the Art Center of Lima from 1962-1975. In 1979, she returned to KU as a special student working with Jon Havener, professor of visual art. She learned new metal techniques, explored larger sculptural forms and incorporated other materials, including plastic and wood. 
Her work was showcased in numerous exhibitions including a four-year Smithsonian Institution National Traveling Exhibition from 1975-1977, a solo show at the Art Center Gallery in Lima, Peru (1970), and the "Young Americans Show," New York, New York (1963). Awards included Honorable Mention from the Sterling Silversmiths Guild of America (1982), and recognition at the KU "Kansas D.esigner and Craftsman Show" (1954, 1962, 1966). Traver was mother to three daughters and always maintained a home studio, where she created and sold her work. 
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Sunyoung Cheong is an artist and educator born in Seoul, South Korea. She is an assistant professor of metalsmithing and jewelry at the University of Kansas, and a KU graduate (MFA 2014, BFA 2010). She . • incorporates digital technologies with a traditional metalsmithing practice to create her visual narratives. Her work focuses on the honeybee and beehive to address issues of identity, belonging and building a sustainable community.
Cheong has developed and curated several recent exhibitions, including "Colorful Minds: Contemporary Enamel Jewelry and Objects," Seoul, Korea, and Baltimore, Maryland; "Mothers in Craft," Seoul, Korea; ahd "The Missing Link," Seoul, Korea. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Digital Meets 
Handmade, SUNY Press; Jewelry and Metals Survey Vol.3, Society of North American Goldsmiths; and Exhibition in Print Vol.37 No.4, Metalsmith Magazine. In addition, she has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, including "Inner Punk," a two-person show in New York, New York and "My Universe," an upcoming solo exhibition in Seoul, Korea."