New York Orchid Dinner report

Jewelry Discussion
1

I just returned home from tonight’s Orchid Dinner in New York City.
We had a great group and wonderful Indian food thanks to the
arrangements made by Kenneth Singh. Thanks to all who attended and
to those who helped make it a great evening. We look forward to a
bigger and better meeting next year.

This is also to remind you who are going to be in the St. Petersburg,
Florida area in two weeks, that there will be another Orchid Dinner
on Friday evening, March 19th at 8:30 PM at the Columbia Restaurant.
This coincides with the annual SNAG Conference being held in St.
Petersburg.

http://www.ganoksin.com/events/snag-dinner-04.htm

Please join us, $35 per person. If you can make it please email me
directly and let me know. Also go online to Ganoksin.com and go to
the Orchid Shop and have a look at the 10 different Orchid pins by
Sumner Silverman. Buy one and help support Orchid and Ganoksin.

Joel

Joel Schwalb
@Joel_Schwalb
www.schwalbstudio.com

2

Hello Orchidians! I have been doubly blessed, first by Tucson and now
the Big Apple, to once again meet up with old friends and make new
ones. We had 35 people at our dinner, which was a nice size for
talking and show and tell. Kenneth did an amazing job with the
restaurant which served excellent buffet style Indian food. We had
some excellent “Orchid Mead” that was bottled especially for the
Orchid Dinner. Hanuman, I am sending a bottle to you through the
mail. It had its own speciality Orchid labeling.

The Orchid Pins, just freshly launched onto the Ganoksin site, were
worn proudly by many Orchidians. Sumner Silverman did an amazing
job of designing these incredible pins. Thank you Sumner! Donna’s
Shimazu’s was in the case at our booth at MJSA and admired as well
for their delicacy and beautiful rendition. Please, if you have
wanted to donate to Orchid, to keep our costs manageable, this is a
great way to show your support. Jewelry Making e-books - Ganoksin

One of the truly nice things about an Orchid Celebration, is beside
the wonderful Orchid members who show up, is the opportunity to
speak to the spouses and friends. One person pulled me aside, and
was truly struck by the friendship and comaraderie of this group.
As makers and artists, there was none of the often felt snobbery and
large ego that is experienced in other art gatherings. Everyone in
that room was easy and pleasant to talk to. Topics of conversation
ranged from new wax formulas, cooking and recipes for various
eggplant dishes, articles in magazines and past thread topics on
Orchid. We are certainly a diverse bunch!

This year, Ganoksin had its first booth space, generously donated by
MJSA. Situated in the hallway with the AJM seminars, Ganoksin had
many inquiring minds about what exactly what it did. I have to
confess, I get so used to my daily fix of Orchid, that I forget what
an incredible library and archived material is out there. When is
the last time you went to the home page? Hanuman has really worked
very hard to make it easy to find and I felt extremely
happy when the library and archives found some odd and esoteric
subject. If you haven’t been to the archives recently, do so. The
amount of exchange from 1997, and the advancements in
jewelry technology have really progressed.

I am really looking forward to next year’s event. Michael Coan,
faculty of the Fashion Institute of Technology, is working with
Ganoksin to have the Orchid Celebration on the 8th floor of their
school. They can have the event completely catered and the
discussion of a silent auction is in the works. So stay tuned.

On a personal note, I would like to thank the following people.
Kenneth Singh who is simply one of the nicest people I have ever had
the pleasure of meeting, Joel Schwab, whom I had not met before but
found utterly delightful. Mary Whalek, Tina, Heather and Rich
Youmans of AJM. Thank you for your donation of the booth. The
support of AJM of the efforts of Ganoksin is truly appreciated. We
will be back next year. Thank you Rio Grande for the lovely Ganoksin
Banner!

-k

Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
50 Guinan St.
Ph. 781/891-3854 Fax 3857
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Jewelry/Metalarts School & Cooperative Studio

3

A note of thanks to Kenneth Singh for arranging a lovely evening in
NYC on March 1st. It was a pleasure to meet Kenneth, who very
impressively remembered everyone there by name! Nice to see Karen
Christians, Kate Wolfe, Sumner Silverman, and the large array of
Sumner’s orchid pins adorning attendees. My apologies for an early
departure from the group in order to catch a train back to
Philadelphia. My regards to all of the Orchidians I met. A very
interesting, enthusiastic, and talented group! Again, my thanks to
Kenneth.

Margery F. Cooper, Narberth, PA

4

I am only now recovering from people overload at MJSA. Karen and I
sat the Ganoksin booth for the entire time. I returned to a full day
of my psychology practice, doctor visits (bad tooth) and taxes
(really bad tooth).

But it was exciting! I know that more than 4/5 ths of people
attending were going though it by rote. You could see in their eyes
that they were bored by the routine. For me it was only the second
time. I could see the difference between those that had passion for
the work and those making a living with a trade that they had fallen
into or inherited. Of course, the former group was the people that
had interest in Ganoksin. And, what interest they had! I had a case
full of my neatest stuff (including all ten orchids) and Karen had
hand outs for the website and for Metalwerx. We had a fairly
constant buzz around us.

I find that any trip that I make to New York is a catalyst for deep
reflection. This trip was even more so. This is a time of
transitions for my wife and I. We are selling our home in Cambridge
(keeping a small one-bedroom apt) and building a house on Martha’s
Vineyard. Sally will be working on her stained glass, and I hope to
continue my psychotherapy practice, plus have master classes through
Metalwerx, do my jewelry and grow a fair amount of my own food.
Wonderful, you may say (we say so also), but scary. At the very
lovely dinner that was hosted at the Shaan Restaurant (57 W 48th,
between 5th and 6th, exceptional Indian food, thank you Kenneth),
people came up to me and recognized me by my posts and my orchid
pins. A new experience for me.

I have worked for the last thirty plus years as a psychotherapist. I
have been known as a psychologist. My art work has been known to a
small but appreciative audience. But now, I find that I am greeted
with, “Oh, you’re Sumner Silverman, I love your work and have been
dying to meet you”. Aside from being very embarrassed, I am
disconcerted (certainly pleased) by the identity change that has
found me out. All thanks and blame goes to orchid with the moving
forces of Charles, Karen, Ton and Hanuman. It amazes me to see the
power of community combined with technology. I continue to have a
psychology practice, for which I also have a great passion. However,
I find that it is becoming more national (I do much of my work on
the phone) and that I am saying no. At this juncture I focus on my
specialty, working with people in the creative arena and not having
a general practice. It is exactly the people that attend orchid
dinners, peruse Ganoksin, and use their hands and minds that I
really want to spend my time with. The dinner was small this year in
New York, but the size was perfect. Each person there was able to
get up and say something about themselves. The conversations were
easy and moving from one person to another brought new
entertainment. I guess I am becoming addicted to this new stage in
my life. Thank you so much, each and every one of you.

Sumner

5

Just a quick note.

It was a pleasure to meet everyone at the dinner. What an amazing
and terrific group of people, the talent, the kindness and the
comraderie surely added some glorious new lights on Broadway.

Sumner’s Orchid pins were glorious pieces of work, and they were a
few other pieces of jewelry roaming about that were also lovely.

I wanted to thank everyone for all their generous compliements about
the “Orchid Mead” and the cordial. It was delightful for me to be
able to share these with everyone. Hopefully, by next year there
will be another batch ready.

If anyone ever wants to try their hand at brewing or cordial making
please feel free to write me off-list, or perhaps we’ll publish some
recipes in the great Orchid Cookbook when it comes to fruition.

It was wonderful to meet you all, and I look forward to doing it
again next year.

Joel