Anne Wolf - metalsmith, mokume gane geek, educator

Anne Wolf Mokume Gane
I have been teaching jewelry/metalwork classes and creating custom mokume-gane wedding rings, jewelry and one-of-a-kind metal art objects since 1991. I earned my Masters of Fine Art in Jewelry/Metals in 1999, training primarily under Helen Shirk and Arline Fisch at San Diego State University. From 2003-2014 I taught a four-level jewelry/metals course at Southwestern College in Chula Vista. In 2007 I met a group of mokume artists working in Northern California - Toshiyuki Kawai, Earl Bushey, Jerry Blanchard and Gene Novagratsky. With them I learned to fuse, forge and pattern mokume gane using traditional Japanese methods. I've also taken workshops with and had instruction from James Binnion, Chris Ploof, and Hiroko-Sato Pijanowski. My work has been shown across the U.S. and in international venues such as the Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus in Hanau, Germany and the Tsubame Industrial Materials Museum in Tsubame, Japan.
I enjoy teaching mokume gane workshops in my home studio and around the country, at places like Danaca Design, Idyllwild, Mendocino Arts Center, Diane Weimer Studio, Metal Arts Guild Georgia, Metals Arts Society of Southern California and Colorado Center for Metal Arts.  
Connect with me on Instagram @annevillestudio.
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I've had my studio here in Liberty Station San Diego, Barracks 15, #209, since 2013. The studio is where all the mokume magic happens - fusing, fabricating, rolling, patterning etc. All of my mokume gane rings and vessels are made right here, using the solid-state diffusion bonding method. This is also where I meet with potential ring clients. It's a great place to see an overview of the mokume gane process, try on finished rings and discuss custom design options. I'm available by appointment, usually after 11am Tuesday-Saturday but please call/text first. (619) 488-7540
Although I mostly teach mokume gane workshops online and at metal arts schools across the country, once or twice a year I teach small groups in my studio, usually in February. See classes & workshops.

Artist Statement

It is important to me to create my work with the traditional hand tools that allow me time to see the work as it progresses, to focus in on the small details. This process to me is a meditation, but also a form of connection to the planet, to nature, to time. Every shape I create, every hour I spend sanding or hammering the metal, is just a shadow, an imitation of what nature does every day. My humble imitation of nature is my way of paying tribute. The metal technique of mokume gane is especially meaningful in this regard - as I pattern the metal, my tools are imitating the geologic processes of our earth. My chisel is the river, carving through the rock. My hammer is metamorphosis, compressing and deforming. My stamp tool is uplift. My file is erosion, making the patterns visible like the layers of rock in the grand canyon.

A little Anneville history ...

PictureAnneville Jewelry Lab, 2018-2020
In the fall of 2018, the space across the hall from my studio became vacant. At the time, I was becoming weary of the rules and paperwork of the local college where I was teaching classes, but I could only fit about 5 students in my studio if I were to teach privately. It seemed a natural thing to expand, and thankfully my wife Ame Stanko was interested in being a business partner too and handling much of the logistics, design, and managing of the new space. With the new room, we doubled the size of the studio, and more than doubled our monthly rent. We quickly discovered that the only way to make the space profitable was to offer LOTS of classes. An early highlight was when we brought Ford Hallam, master of Japanese metalwork, over from England to teach two week-long workshops (March-April 2019). For a year and a half we brought in lots of visiting and ongoing instructors - I got to spend a fair amount of time interviewing and mentoring new and continuing jewelry teachers; basically doing the work of a department chair. It was fun, fast-paced, and exhausting; we were having a lot of fun creating community, but had little time for ourselves to reflect, create our own art, or even take a vacation. Covid brought all that to a crashing halt. We were devastated at the time, and consoled ourselves with online classes and the well-received Metal Arts Adventures and Sawing Circle. Writing this here in spring 2022, we still miss our students and the community we created, but we are reaching out in new directions. We are continuing to host online workshops together, and I am starting to schedule in-person away workshops - travel and mokume at the same time, what's not to love? Ame is happily pursuing her own artistic goals - doing more illustration work and video projects.
PictureThe Ray Street Annex, 2007-2013
I founded my first San Diego studio, the Ray Street Annex, in 2007. It was a rustic cement-floored space, 150 square feet, wedged behind a gallery and looking onto a bustling street in North Park. It was there I first began creating custom mokume-gane rings for clients. I also started teaching private classes (only 4 students would fit in that small space) on mokume gane and many other jewelry and metalwork topics ranging from fold-forming to hinged bracelets. The area’s restaurant and nightlife scene grew right alongside my business, and 2013 found me looking for more space and a quieter, more client-friendly environment. Thankfully I found the Arts District at Liberty Station, a non-profit organization dedicated to making the arts more available to all San Diegans. Now I work in a light-filled studio with free parking, elevators, custodians, suite numbers and windows that look out onto a grassy tree-lined promenade. Not to mention all the shops, events and amazing restaurants just steps away.  It was a dream come true for this mokume gane artist!
"Mokume gane patterning with chisels was one of the most enjoyable courses I've ever done."
~ Helen M, Sydney Australia