A Genius at Work: A Field Trip to the Workshop of Ubaldo Vitali

The WPAMC Class of 2018 has made the transition from furniture to metals! As part of our new connoisseurship block, we embarked on a trip to Maplewood, New Jersey, to the workshop of Ubaldo Vitali. A fourth generation silversmith, Ubaldo is a master of his craft, receiving a “Genius Grant” in 2011 from the MacArthur Foundation. He works as a conservator on historical pieces and also makes many of his own creations.

Lucky for us, he took the time to explain many of the methods and techniques he and his team use.

We started our day with an introduction to the history of the craft and a look at the raw materials they use. Ubaldo gave us a tour of his workshop and explained many of his tools.

Raw, unmelted silver pieces and a selection of tools

Ubaldo’s forge

He then gave us a demonstration of the process of raising or hammering a flat piece of silver into a rounded or hollow form like a bowl or vase. As we passed around pieces of his work still in progress, we noted details and differences in how each form was made. But we also quickly picked out our favorites.

Ubaldo begins the process of raising a flat piece of silver.

Sara McNamara ’18 with her favorite bowl.

Next, we moved onto learning the process of sand-casting. Anthony, another member of Ubaldo’s shop, walked us through the many steps of creating a mold for a candlestick. He showed us how he would use existing patterns to create the hollow spaces that the molten silver would be poured into later. And he took the time to answer our many, many questions!

The first half of the candlestick mold

Anthony packs sand into the mold

Then it was time to pour in the silver! While we were watching Anthony make the mold, Ubaldo had prepared the molten silver that would create the candlestick. They use oil as a binder in the sand, which is what catches fire when the hot silver is introduced.

Ubaldo pours in the molten silver. 

Soon the silver had cooled and we could examine what had been created.

Candice Candeto ’18 holds the candlestick before the extra silver channels have been removed. 

Ubaldo and his team then walked us through the process of lost-wax casting as a comparison to the sand casting we had just observed. The rest our time was spent looking at finishing details. Ubaldo showed us turning on a lathe as a way to further shape pieces. We also learned about chasing and repoussé work as a way to add many of the decorative details found on silver pieces.

Ubaldo turns a silver bowl on a lathe.

Different stages of chasing 

We finished up our time at Ubaldo’s shop looking at many of his own designs that have earned him his master reputation and his Genius Grant.

A silver cowboy hat

Rachel Asbury ’18 with one of Ubaldo’s aquatic themed pieces.

We left Ubaldo’s far more knowledgeable about the craft of the silversmith. It was an excellent and fun introduction to the processes we will be discussing in metals block for the next few weeks. Silver might just be our new favorite metal!

The group outside Ubaldo’s shop.

By Rachel Asbury, WPAMC Class of 2018