Olaf Skoogfors

Olaf Skoogfors was an artist, metalsmith and educator until his death in 1975, at the age of 45.

Early life and education Olaf Skoogfors was born in a backwoods iron center in Bredsjo, Sweden, on June 27, 1930. When he was four years old, he and his family came to the United States and settled in Wilmington, Delaware. After three years the family moved back to Sweden and returned to the United States, Philadelphia, at the beginning of World War II.

He studied drawing at the Graphic Sketch Club and graduated from Olney High School in 1949.

He continued his education with Virginia Wireman and Richard Reinhardt at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art. Having served in the U.S. Army from 1953 till 1955, Skoogfors began his studies at The School for American Craftsmen in Rochester, New York.

Material and cultural impact Skoogfors felt the most important concern in his work was the technique/means he used to express an image. He worked with assemblages and used imagery from nature. This imagery manifested in texture and surface related to landscapes or sensuous forms of the human body. His intent was to create jewelry incorporating a meaningful statement about form, texture, color, and image. He regarded his jewelry as compositions and the scale was determined by the human body. He embellished his compositions with moonstones and pearls.

Skoogfors often used the lost-wax casting process. He was also strongly influenced by another master craftsman at Rochester, Danish trained Jack Prip, with whom he remained lifelong friends.

Death On December 21, 1975 the age of 45, Skoogfors died from a heart attack at his home.

Awards 1963 Contemporary Jewelry International 1967 $1,000 Tiffany prize "Two aspects of jewelry interest me the most, the image itself and the characteristics of the material from which it is made."