The modest suburban basement holds an assortment of well-worn industrial paraphernalia--several types of power tools, battered worktables, two small gas tanks attached to a welding torch, a "shop-vac," and bundles of different-gauge wire. In this unlikely environment Dalya Luttwak conjures up her strikingly original, and highly sophisticated, gold and silver jewelry. The contrast between this rather ordinary space and the glittering shapes Luttwak produces there reflects the paradoxical nature of this intriguing artist, who has achieved an impressive degree of technical expertise, critical acclaim, and commercial success in less than a decade.
Wide Recognition
Since her first exhibition in 1981, Luttwak, who works out of her home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, has become well-established both locally and beyond. Articles on her work have appeared in the Washington Post and in numerous other newspapers and magazines, and she is currently represented by eight galleries in six states, including such fashionable locations as Vail, Colorado; San Diego; and Manhattan's Trump Tower. Every two years Luttwak has a solo show of her bold yet graceful creations, which range in price from roughly $100 to $1,000. And for the past two years she has been president of the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths, a nonprofit organization of 150 artists and art lovers that sponsors regular exhibitions, lectures, and workshops on various aspects of metalworking.
But it was not always thus for Luttwak. For most of her life, in fact, she neither made jewelry nor considered herself an artist. Instead she was preoccupied with first acquiring practical career skills and later her work as a full-time wife and mother.
Dalya Luttwak was born on a kibbutz in northern Israel, but her family soon moved to Tel Aviv. As a child, she says, "I was always interested in doing things with my hands--sewing, fixing broken furniture, and so on." She also enjoyed weaving and working with clay, but was discouraged from taking this interest too seriously. "Growing up in Israel," she explains, "you feel you must be useful; you have to do something real, something that will make money, and that will contribute to society. Somehow, art never sounded like a good idea." So Luttwak attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where she studied law. At the same time, however, she indulged her interest in aesthetics, taking courses in art history. "People ask me when I started to make art," Luttwak muses. "I think I always did …. My interest in art was always there, but it had to be put aside."
Creating a Family
This interest remained dormant during the early years of her marriage to Edward Luttwak, a Romanian-born political writer whom she met when he came to Israel to research a book about her country's army. In 1973 the couple moved to the United States, and he began doctoral work at Johns Hopkins University. Both became naturalized American citizens, and they had two children--a daughter, Yael, now 15, and 12-year-old Joseph.
Once the children were in school, Luttwak says, "I started looking for something to do." First she enrolled as a part-time student at nearby Montgomery College, where she studied the basics of studio art in two- and three-dimensional design and color
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