Ivan Barnett in Dialog – Artwork Jewellery Discussion board

As AJF travels to Santa Fe, NM, US, this week, it’s the proper time to interview new AJF member Ivan Barnett—who’s primarily based in Santa Fe—about his consulting enterprise, Critical Play.

For over 25 years, Ivan Barnett has formed the narrative of up to date craft and design by his work with the Santa Fe establishment Patina Gallery. As co-founder and director of Patina Gallery, Barnett helped construct an area that championed unconventional voices within the discipline of artwork jewellery and design. However his artistic attain extends past curating. Via his new enterprise, a session agency referred to as Critical Play, Barnett explores storytelling, nostalgia, and revitalizing creativity with a definite sense of wit and texture. On this dialog, Barnett discusses the evolution of Patina Gallery, the ethos behind Critical Play, and the way he balances the roles of artist, curator, and cultural steward in right now’s fast-shifting panorama of up to date artwork.

Melis Agabigum: Critical Play is a singular enterprise. How did you give you the idea for this new enterprise enterprise?

Ivan Barnett: The concept for Critical Play emerged naturally from my 25 years at Patina Gallery, the place I had the privilege of working not solely with extraordinary artists, but in addition with the galleries, collectors, and establishments who helped carry their work into the world. Patina held a singular place—we handled artwork jewellery as superb artwork, and that perspective formed all the pieces we did.

Exhibitions like Oxidized and Decoration as Artwork weren’t simply reveals—they had been immersive experiences. I collaborated carefully with artists and companions to create considerate narratives and new methods for the general public to attach with the work.

After I stepped away from the gallery in 2022, former colleagues and artists started reaching out. That’s when Critical Play got here into focus. I spotted that mentoring, curating, and shaping concepts might proceed in a brand new and deeply private method.

Critical Play presents each artistic teaching and consulting. Teaching helps the inner path: unlocking creativity and reconnecting with objective. Consulting is strategic, with a deal with branding, pricing, and planning.

The actual pleasure is assembly artists and gallerists precisely the place they’re and serving to them take significant steps ahead.

I really like the identify Critical Play and what it implies concerning the artistic observe. Inform us extra.

Ivan Barnett: The identify grew out of years of observing what actually fuels creativity, in each studios and galleries. I had the good privilege of working with visionary artists on the earth of artwork jewellery. I noticed that those that thrived had been those who knew tips on how to play significantly. They pushed artistic boundaries whereas staying rooted in self-discipline and craft.

Exhibitions like The Rigidity of Opposites—co-curated by Ivy Ross,  A Season of Blue, and Starry Evening had been reflections of that. The artists took daring dangers with kind and which means, and we matched that vitality on the gallery. It was all the time critical work and was curated with care and deep intention.

Audiences really feel that. When creativity is each playful and rigorous, it’s genuine and that authenticity is what attracts folks in.

Critical Play is about serving to creatives keep curious whereas shifting ahead with objective. And that’s the place the magic lives—all the time has.

Your mission states: “Critical Play seeks to raise their inventive careers whereas sustaining a steadiness between inventive integrity and industrial success.” It looks like the objective is to supply a private mentorship expertise that caters to every consumer’s particular person wants whereas nonetheless placing the inventive observe within the forefront.

Ivan Barnett: The concept is that artists and gallerists shouldn’t have to decide on between artistic integrity and industrial success. That steadiness is delicate, however completely doable.

Notably by exhibitions like Indicators of Life, Unearthing New European Makers, and Silver and White, we noticed how jewellery may very well be each sculptural and conceptual. That meant understanding the artist’s imaginative and prescient and collaborating carefully with galleries and collectors to current it meaningfully. It taught me that mentorship isn’t a system; it’s a relationship.

Once I start working with a Critical Play consumer, I begin by listening—deeply listening. I need to perceive the place they’re, what excites them, and what’s getting in the best way. Some want technique, some want house to replicate. My job is to satisfy them the place they’re and supply the best help on the proper time.

What I discovered at Patina and carry to Critical Play is that when artistic imaginative and prescient is supported by considerate technique, significant development follows. Each mentorship is a collaboration rooted in belief, curiosity, and a shared dedication to honoring the work and the journey behind it.

You’ve had fairly a little bit of success all through your profession working with artists in varied capacities. As an illustration, in your function as co-founder and artistic director of Patina Gallery, you interfaced with many artists each rising {and professional}. How has an expertise like that guided your endeavors with Critical Play?

Ivan Barnett: The years I spent working carefully with artists and gallerists laid the groundwork for Critical Play. I had the privilege of collaborating with extraordinary makers of artwork jewellery and the gallery group that supported them. These relationships taught me tips on how to actually hear—to the artist’s imaginative and prescient, the gallery’s function, and the collector’s curiosity.

I shortly discovered that no two creatives want the identical help. Some artists wanted assist clarifying their story; others wanted steering on tips on how to navigate the market. Gallerists confronted their very own challenges, like staying related, discovering new voices, and evolving with their viewers.

That very same intuition now shapes my work. Whether or not I’m teaching a grasp like William Harper or consulting with a gallery redefining its path, I start with curiosity. I perceive the strain between making significant work and sustaining a artistic enterprise.

The strategies and practices that artists used to market and current their work has advanced a lot in the previous few many years. It seems like all the pieces is altering so quick, particularly within the age of social media. How do you personally keep updated with the totally different tendencies of the artwork world/artistic business, so as to supply the most effective steering to your clientele?

Ivan Barnett: Whereas I nonetheless have a tender spot for the times of printed invites and phrase of mouth, I’ve come to understand the facility of right now’s digital platforms.

I explored new methods to attach; by early digital catalogs, behind-the-scenes tales, and considerate outreach. The gallery exhibitions had been by no means simply concerning the objects. They had been about creating resonance, each in particular person and past.

Now, by Critical Play, I observe how artists and galleries use instruments like Instagram, digital reveals, and newsletters. Some purchasers are digital natives, others are new to it—however no matter platform, what issues most is intention.

Lots of the statements on Critical Play’s web site discuss with the concept of storytelling. Are you able to speak about your private philosophy on the most effective methods artists can inform a narrative?

Ivan Barnett: Storytelling has all the time been on the coronary heart of my work, and it’s the inspiration of Critical Play. From the beginning, I noticed each exhibition as an opportunity to inform a narrative—not simply concerning the objects, however concerning the arms that made them and the which means behind them.

Jewellery, particularly, is uniquely intimate. It lives on the physique, it carries emotion. That’s why reveals like 100 RINGS, Friendship Cast in Gold, and Heavy Steel had been so memorable. They had been narratives, not simply exhibitions.

Once I work with purchasers now, I all the time ask: What would you like your viewers to really feel? That emotional reality is the true story. For artists, it would imply rewriting a press release or sharing their course of extra overtly. For gallerists, it’s about how they form an exhibition and carry that message throughout platforms. In each instances, it’s about being clear, constant, and deeply human.

With Critical Play, the place does session start and collaboration take over, and vice versa?

Ivan Barnett: [I wrote about that in my] Klimt.02 piece, When 1 + 1 = Three, [which] got here straight from the center and displays what I reside day by day. Collaboration wasn’t occasional; it was important, particularly on the earth of artwork jewellery. Each exhibition, each relationship, was constructed on shared dialogue.

The gallery exhibitions weren’t simply curated—they had been co-created. My imaginative and prescient all the time expanded as soon as others’ views entered the dialog. That very same spirit carries into Critical Play. I’d start by providing construction, remodeling a website, pricing, or programming … but it surely’s when the consumer’s vitality enters that actual collaboration begins.

The shift is delicate. Consulting begins with technique, however when the change deepens and concepts start to circulation each methods, it turns into collaboration. That’s typically when artistic teaching emerges. It’s about asking the best questions, serving to purchasers discover their very own path ahead.

Trying towards the longer term, what are your hopes for Critical Play?

Ivan Barnett: Trying forward, for Critical Play, is straightforward, profound, and private—to hold ahead the spirit of what I dropped at the gallery, however in a extra direct, intimate method.

I constructed greater than exhibitions. I created relationships, tales, and emotional connections between objects and audiences. That perception within the energy of the maker, and the gallery’s function in elevating that work, stays on the core of what I do.

With Critical Play, I proceed that legacy as a sounding board, a strategic associate, and a gentle information for these shaping the way forward for modern craft and design. It’s an area for folks in transition or in search of readability to really feel seen and supported.

In a quickly altering artwork world, Critical Play presents a solution to transfer ahead with objective and integrity. I assist my purchasers keep related to their imaginative and prescient whereas adapting properly. That’s a future I’m proud to be a part of.

Has your outlook in your private artistic endeavors modified because you established Critical Play, and if that’s the case, how?

Ivan Barnett: Sure, it’s modified, and in methods I didn’t count on. Critical Play has given me the enjoyment of supporting artists and galleries, but it surely’s additionally quietly introduced me again to my very own artistic observe in a extra private method.

For years, my vitality went outward, curating exhibitions and collaborating with jewellery makers and gallery professionals. It was significant work.

Now, as I information others by questions of objective and id, I’ve began asking them of myself. I’ve returned to the studio—to not carry out, however to discover and to play. It’s been grounding and energizing.

In the present day, I see my artistic life and my function as a mentor as deeply related. That shift has introduced a way of renewal. After years of serving to others discover their method, it seems like coming residence.

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