Paying Homage through Making
Thanks to financial aid, Steven Kaplan-Pistiner is growing as an artist and honoring his grandfather, who fled Nazi Germany and passed down his love of making.
Introduced to the craft of carpentry by his grandfather, Steven Kaplan-Pistiner MFA 20 JM has chosen Jewelry + Metalsmithing for his creative practice. “My grandfather Lew was a third-generation German Jewish carpenter, and everything I learned in childhood about making was from him,” he says.
“It wasn’t until I was older that I fully understood why it was so important to him. When he came to America during World War II and the Holocaust, he had lost his home, contact with his family and any belongings he couldn’t carry. Like many displaced people, my family doesn’t have heirlooms,” adds Kaplan-Pistiner. “The silver Judaica and ritual objects so important to our sense of self and cultural identity were lost, but his skills and stories told us who we were. I attribute my interest and work to his lessons and love of material and to growing up amidst perpetual construction.”
His grandfather’s influence continues to resonate. “My work has evolved from my training in metalsmithing to hand-carving wood. My thesis body of work consists of carved wood knots, nets and folds that exist in conversation with the body as brooches, pendants and necklaces. I am interested in exposing their power to reinforce or destabilize how we see ourselves, one another and the systems we exist in,” he explains.
Kaplan-Pistiner earned his BFA in metalsmithing and print media at the University of Wisconsin. After connecting with RISD faculty member Timothy Veske-McMahon and guest lecturer Lori Talcott, he decided to pursue an MFA. “RISD promised an environment that would allow my voice to develop, provide allies and offer critical feedback,” he says.
Kaplan-Pistiner earned his BFA in metalsmithing and print media at the University of Wisconsin. After connecting with RISD faculty member Timothy Veske-McMahon and guest lecturer Lori Talcott, he decided to pursue an MFA. “RISD promised an environment that would allow my voice to develop, provide allies and offer critical feedback,” he says.
Kaplan-Pistiner receives financial aid from the Windgate Foundation, the Gene Verri Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund, the Robbins Company Today, Inc. Scholarship Fund and the Dorothy Nisbet Kison Scholarship Fund. Without this assistance, RISD would be an impossible dream for this independent young artist from the rural Midwest.
“A Graduate Commons Grant, RISD’s competitive grant program for graduate students, allowed me to spend the summer working as an artist assistant and intern for jeweler and internationally renowned artist Tanel Veenre in Estonia. This experience changed my work and outlook, and I developed a more international and diverse community and dialogue for my work and my practice,” he says. “Through my teaching assistantships and roles as instructor of record, I have confirmed my passion for teaching and will pursue
a faculty position and residencies after graduation.”
