harold milbrath plaque

I finished the plaque for our annual Jewelry & Metalsmithing Award. This is a new award that is made possible by the family of Harold Milbrath. I started making the award last Wednesday afternoon and completed it by late Wednesday night. We will add the winners names to the plaque until it is filled up over the next ten years. We presented it to the student winners on Thursday night and the Milbrath family was there. I'll try to post of better shots of the plaque and some shots of the exhibition in the near future. For now, read through this impressive list of accomplishments:

Harold A. Milbrath graduated from Milwaukee Boy's Technical High School in 1933 and graduated with a B.A. in Art Education from Milwaukee State Teacher's College in 1938. From 1939 - 1940 Harold was a designer for the Milwaukee WPA Handicraft Project where he designed educational wooden toys. From 1940 -1941 he taught at the F.J. Gaenslen School for Handicapped children and from ‘41 – ‘45 he served in the US Army Corp. of Engineers by making topographic and 3D airplane target maps. From 1946 to 1949 Harold Milbrath taught art at Washington H.S. and in 1949 he attended Cranbrook Academy of Art and in 1950 received a Master of Fine Art in Design with an emphasis in metals. Upon completing his MFA he returned to Milwaukee and taught Art Metal, Jewelry and Silversmithing at Milwaukee Area Technical College for 30 years, where he also served as Instructional Chairmen.

During his time at MATC, Harold Milbrath designed and produced Liturgical Art for many churches and religious groups in Wisconsin, Illinois, Massachusetts, Arizona, Michigan and Missouri. His expertise was in silversmithing but also worked in gold, pewter, copper and bronze, often incorporating wood, ivory, and precious or semi precious stones, stained glass and enameled pieces into his metal work. Many of his pieces were exhibited nationally during his career. He was a longtime member of the Midwest Designer Craftsman and The Wisconsin Designer Crafts Council.