Artist Talk: Cary Schwarz

In person and online

Saddlemaker and leather artist Cary Schwarz will present on the development of his craft.

Schwarz is featured in the Craft in America episode, WEST. Schwarz attended a saddlemaking trade school in the early 1980s and continued to diligently pursue his studies, crediting influences such as Ray Holes Saddle Company, Dale Harwood, and Chuck Stormes for shaping his approach, which prioritizes both function and art. Schwarz is a founding member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association (TCAA), a non-profit dedicated to preserving and promoting traditional cowboy crafts. He has received recognition for his work, including the Governor’s Award for the Arts by the Idaho Commission on the Arts in 2010 and being named Saddlemaker of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists in 2009. In 2026 he was named an NEA National Heritage Fellow.

Please email rsvp@craftinamerica.org to attend in person or register to join the webinar online.

This talk is presented in conjunction with the Craft in America Center exhibition, Cowboy Craft: Traditional Art of the West, on view June 13 through September 12, 2026.

Opening Receptions—Cowboy Craft: Traditional Art of the West and Marques Hanalei Marzan: Entwine

Please join us to celebrate the openings of two exhibitions related to the Craft in America WEST episode.

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Cowboy Craft, features artwork made by bonafide members of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. Founding member, saddle maker, and NEA Fellow Cary Schwarz helped to organize the exhibition.

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Marques Hanalei Marzan: Entwine is a premiere solo exhibition of Marzan’s work on the mainland. The exhibition offers a rare chance to see his intricate work in person. Marzan will give an Artist Talk before the reception.

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Top images: Left: Beau Compton, Cowboy Stein. Right: Marques Hanalei Marzan, from the Pu’lei series.

Skateboarding the Canyons, Plains, and Asphalt-banked Schoolyards of Coastal Los Angeles in the 1970s

Pioneering skateboarders reacted to newly created subdivisions throughout Southern California in the 1960s and 70s. In their pursuit of new surfaces upon which to express bodily movement, they exploited a capital-intensive urban landscape to create a sport that today has tremendous economic, political, and cultural implications. This talk will focus on archival material drawn from Skateboarder Magazine from 1975 to 1980 to help situate the ways in which skateboards sought out particular urban spaces and responded to them in particular kinetic ways. The skateboarders and those who documented their emerging sport through photography and writing, expressed deep awareness and understanding of urban space. Topography and new suburban morphologies influenced their understanding of, and reaction to these spaces. The asphalt-banked schoolyards of Los Angeles in particular provided an unintended playground for skateboarders and served as a starting point for the modern-era of the sport.

Lorne Platt focuses on urban history, city planning, and cultural geography. Over the last few years, he has examined skateboarding and suburban development, alongside other forms of alternative movement and micro-mobility (including scooters and e-bikes). Another area of interest is the transformation of semi-natural landscapes into cultural/human spaces, including golf courses, university campuses, and sports stadiums. Lorne holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and is currently a Lecturer in Urban Planning at UC Irvine and Geography at UCLA.

Images courtesy of Hugh Holland (M and B Photo)

In Conversation: Build it and Ride it—How Skateboards Began

Todd Huber, skateboard historian and founder of the International Skateboarding Hall of Fame, will present a brief look into the handspun origins of one of the world’s most popular sports. From metal wheels and 2 by 4’s, stolen roller skates, and a plethora of makeshift materials and construction approaches, skateboards are rooted in the DIY, from how they are made and built, to a total outlook, philosophy, and culture. This talk will explore how sidewalk surfing and American ingenuity went from garages to the Olympics.

Huber is the Founder and CEO of the International Skateboarding Hall of Fame and a lifelong advocate for skateboarding culture. In 1997, he opened the world’s first Skateboarding Museum in Simi Valley, California, preserving the sport’s history and honoring its pioneers. Through the creation of the annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Huber has built one of skateboarding’s most respected institutions, attracting thousands of fans and industry legends from around the world. His leadership continues to elevate and celebrate the legacy of skateboarding globally.

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Silversmith symposium

Meet rawhide braider Jeff Minor, engravers and silversmiths at the silversmithing traditional cowboy arts symposium organized by the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Bonus video from the WEST episode.

Archival courtesy of William Mullins / Alamy, Trhett / Pond5, Idaho Commission on the Arts, Ernie Marsh, Diane Scalese, David Alderson, Wyatt Cook, hdnaturefootage / Pond5, Traditional Cowboy Arts Association, Scott Hardy / Leslie Hardy photograph, Cary Schwarz, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Wilson Capron / Caleb Royer photograph.

Ubaldo Vitali & Paul Revere House

Silversmith Ubaldo Vitali welcomes us to Maplewood, New Jersey, where he makes his home and business as a fourth-generation metalworker from Italy. Vitali makes original work and restores historical silver, including the work of Paul Revere, whom we learn more about from the Paul Revere House. Segment from the EAST episode.

Lost wax casting

Lost wax casting at Ubaldo Vitali‘s studio. Bonus video from EAST episode.

Blacksmith to Hollywood, Tony Swatton Studio Tour

Master Blacksmith Tony Swatton is a self-educated blacksmith who started making his own armor at the age of 17. Nine years later, he opened his first shop, where he made products for Euro Disney and Michael Jackson. He did his first film work for Hook in 1991. In over 30 years he has forged pieces for over 300 feature films and some of the largest franchises on the planet. His work can be seen in many films and TV shows, including Pirates of the Caribbean,Thor, Star Trek, Batman, Hellboy, The Last Samurai, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The tour will begin with a forging demonstration by special guest silversmith, Randy Stromsoe.

Tony will guide visitors through his showroom area of many famed props for movies and TV, and then demonstrate his specialties in his vast metalworking facility.

$20 fee for tour

By attending this studio tour, participants agree to hereby release and discharge Craft in America and Tony Swatton from any and all liability, claims, demands, or causes of action for injuries or damages arising out of participation in the studio tour.

Randy Stromsoe: Silver Stories & Restoration Roadshow

For over five decades, Randy Stromsoe has been crafting one-of-a-kind pieces in sterling silver, pewter, copper, gold, and wood.

Trained under renowned silversmith Porter Blanchard, Randy began his career working on prestigious commissions, including custom gold trophies and ceremonial pieces. His craftsmanship has since earned a place in the White House Collection of American Crafts, the Smithsonian Institution, and private collections around the world.

Randy will share about his experience of “baptism by fire” in the business and practice of working in silver and pewter in the 70s, when he was first emerging from his apprenticeship, as well as stories of working with Blanchard in his studio. In addition to talking about the legacy of silversmithing in California, Randy will open up for an Antiques Roadshow-style show and tell, in which the audience is invited to bring their own purchased or inherited silver pieces for Randy to explore and explain. He will discuss fabrication, form, history, and restoration, as applicable. 

This will be the first of two consecutive days to learn about Randy’s process. The following day, Sunday Mar. 1, he will make a cameo appearance demonstration during the tour at Tony Swatton’s studio.

Online Tool Talk #2

Tools of the Trades artists James Austin, Seth Gould, and Thomas Latané will present on their practices as blacksmiths, sharing about how their toolmaking dovetails with their studio practice and how they continue and build upon historical traditions. Craft in America Curator and Director Emily Zaiden will then moderate a panel discussion on the contemporary practice of toolmaking in this age of increasing digital technology.