Charles Lewton-Brain

Available at the Alberta Craft Gallery - Edmonton & Calgary

Master goldsmith Charles Lewton-Brain (Calgary, AB) has trained, studied and worked in Germany, Canada and the United States. Since 1986 he has lived in Calgary and served 19 year as the head of the Jewellery and Metals Program at the Alberta College of Art + Design. A distinguished Fellow of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, Charles has lectured and taught in England, Australia, and across North America. A tireless innovator, Lewton-Brain created his own publishing company, Brain Press, cofounded Ganoksin.com, which has become the world's largest free online resource for jewelers. He has served on the boards of the Canadian Conference for the Arts, the Canadian Crafts Federation (president for two years), and the Alberta Craft Council.

Charles’ work is concerned with process, beauty, function and the tensions between nature and structure. Using a ‘printmaking’ approach to working metal, it is completed in separate steps, in groups and layers, building towards the finished piece. Charles has also developed an innovative series of techniques new to the metalsmithing field which allow rapid development of three dimensional surfaces and structures using simple equipment, called ‘fold forming’.

The Canada Council for the Arts 2012 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts awarded Charles the prestigious Saidye Bronfman Award for his lasting mark on fine crafts both in and outside the studio. In 2005, Charles received the Alberta Craft Award of Honour for his contributions to Alberta's fine craft culture. 

ACC Exhibitions: Go Figure (2000), Creative Spirit (2002), In Our Own Backyard (2004), The Nominees (2005),Body Ornament West(2005), Sparks! (2006), Unity & Diversity (2009), Cheongju Selection (2010), Hitched (2010), THIRTY (2010), Earthly Elements (2013), Continuum (2014), Here and There (2015)