ABOUT MAYA

Each day, when I look, I wonder where my eyes were yesterday - Bernard Berenson

Maya’s process stems from a belief in perfection and symmetry but with the knowledge that these qualities often hide within imperfection and asymmetry. She brings a love of research, a minimalist sensibility, and a sculptural approach to making. Maya investigates materials and their capacities to perform physically and poetically. Her work emerges from the belief that no material is static and that there is beauty to be found in the changing surfaces of objects as they are worn.

Maya was born in 1977 in Boston. She studied sculpture and literature before going on to receive a graduate degree in Metalsmithing in 2007 from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She lives in San Francisco, California where she is a studio artist, poet, mother and educator. Her studio is on the Sausalito waterfront.

MATERIALS

Maya uses recycled gold and silver to craft her pieces. Her studio will facilitate refining old jewelry using a sustainable process for credit toward the purchase of new jewelry. Maya Kini Jewelry supports the work of Ethical Metalsmiths and their efforts to ethically source both newly mined and recycled precious metals. In custom work, she works with clients to choose certified recycled and conflict free diamonds.

EDUCATION

CRANBROOK ACADEMY OF ART
Bloomfield Hills, MI
MFA in Metalsmithing, 2007.
2005-2006 studied with Gary Griffin. 2006-2007 studied with Iris Eichenberg

REED COLLEGE
Portland, OR
B.A. Spanish Literature, 12/2000.
Senior Thesis: “Painting Penance and Picturing Christ: the visual-verbal texts of New Spain”

SCUOLA LORENZO DI’MEDICI
Florence, ITALY
Coursework in printmaking, jewelry, sculpture and Renaissance and contemporary art theory, 1998-1999.

EXHIBITIONS

2023 Friendly Tides, Marin Civic Center, San Rafael, CA

2022 Hope is Resiliency Maker’s Guild/Industry City, Brooklyn NY

2022 Reimagined Heirlooms (solo) Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2021 Raising Gold (solo) Slidespace123/Mills Oakland, CA

2019 Maya Kini, K. Beale, B. Katz Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2019 Cast Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA

2018 Cut from the Same Cloth Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2018 Sculpture by Bay Area Women The Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2018 Modern Classics Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2017 Tiny The Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2016 The Men’s Show Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2016 Enamel Exhibition Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2015 All that Glitters Petaluma Art Center, Petaluma, CA

2015 So Fine! Facere Jewelry Gallery, Seattle, WA

2013 Or.Iron (co-curator) Marrs Building, Sacramento, CA

2013 Ferrous Velvet da Vinci Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2013 Silk (solo) Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2012 Maps and Mapping Tangent Gallery, Sacramento, CA

2011 Our House Galerie Louise Smit, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2010 Ju-Ju Magic Facere Jewelry Gallery, Seattle, WA

2009 500 Enameled Objects Velvet da Vinci Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2009 American Enamels Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA

2009 Something About Love Shibumi Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2008 Emerging Artists in Clay Oddfellows Gallery, Mendocino, CA

2008 9 Months Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA

2008 Equal Footing: materials + processes + concepts Nat’l Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis, TN

2008 New West Coast Design Velvet da Vinci Gallery, San Francisco, CA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

*italics indicate poems

2022 After the Fires, a Wild, Reckless Flowering, River Heron Review, Poems for Now

2022 Rip Curl, Wildfire Magazine, 2022

2021 Mother-Love, Bellevue Literary Review Issue 41, 2021

2021 Second Generation Crucible Magazine, 2021

2021 The Necklace Wildfire Magazine, 2021

2017 Cast, a book, Schiffer Publishing

2013 “Maya Kini: Silk” Art Jewelry Forum

2013 Ferrous catalog Velvet da Vinci and Crafthaus

2012 500 Rings Showcase, Lark Books

2009 500 Enameled Objects, Lark Books

2008 The Compendium Finale of Contemporary Jewellers, Darling Publications

2008 New West Coast Design: Jewelry + Metalwork, Velvet Da Vinci Gallery

2007 500 Wedding Rings, Lark Books

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

INSTRUCTOR
Penland School of Crafts
Penland, NC
Hybrid forms casting class (forthcoming), 6/2023

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR
California State University Sacramento
Sacramento, CA
Beginning jewelry with a focus on fabrication and casting, 8/2015-1/2017.

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR
Sacramento City College
Sacramento, CA
Introductory and continuing projects in small metals and jewelry, 1/2014- 5/2017.

INSTRUCTOR
University of California Davis Craft Center
Davis, CA
Instructor for Lost Wax Casting for small-scale metal pieces, 6/2009-8/2013.

RESIDENT ARTIST
Mendocino Art Center
Mendocino, CA

STUDIO MANAGER
Cranbrook Academy of Art
Bloomfield Hills, MI

GRANTS & AWARDS & RESIDENCIES

2022 Studio Assistant, Rebekah Frank Boxed/Unboxed, Penland School of Craft/Iron Studio

2021 Guest Lecturer, Gallery as Laboratory seminar, Mills College, Oakland, CA

2020 (2021) Summer Residency Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Deer Isle, ME

2020 Orion Magazine Environmental Writer’s Workshop

2018 Winter Residency Recipient, Penland School of Craft

2009 Emerging Artist Award, Sienna Gallery

2009 Searchlight Award from the American Craft Council

2006-2007 Ernest B. Toth Merit Scholarship, Cranbrook Academy of Art

2006 Bay Area Metal Arts Guild Student Grant

2006 Advancement in Craft Award Scholarship. Penland, North Carolina

2005-2006 Peggy De Salle Merit Scholarship, Cranbrook Academy of Art 2005-2006

1998 McGill Lawrence Grant for Social Service

CRAFT SHOWS

American Craft Council Show
2018 St. Paul, MN
2013 San Francisco, CA
2009 Baltimore, MD

Creek Arts Festival
2016, 2017 Denver, CO

Bellevue Art Museum Art Show
2015 Bellevue, WA

Smithsonian Craft Show
2013 Washington D.C.

Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show
2010, 2011 Philadelphia, PA

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Ethical Metalsmiths, Art Jewelry Forum, Bay Area Metal Arts Guild