Hand painted artisan crafted ceramic menorah. Featuring eight historic European synagogues, each with a candle sconce emergeing from the roof. Each building is identified with a small plaque attached to the front of the base. Titled "Lost Synagogues of Europe". Created by Maude Weisser.

Size: 15 x 2 1/2 x 5 in. 

Artist's Bio: 

I was "a Maker" long before the term was coined--still am and always will be.

My unique background, education, diversity of experiences and individual aesthetic shaped who I am and what I make today.

Born in New York City, I grew up surrounded by antique dollhouses and miniatures which fostered my love of small intricate things, which has stayed with me for life. Early in my career I studied Gold/Silversmithing in a 4 year European style master craftsman program in Toronto, Canada. From there I went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree from The Parsons School of Art in NYC, majoring in Light Metals/Sculpture; continuing my education with the Avant Garde Austrian Jeweler Peter Skubic in Salzburg and then apprenticing for Zelig Segal, a renowned Israeli silversmith and artist in Jerusalem for 3 years. All the while continuing to create fine one-of-a-kind jewelry and small intricate sculpture and fine art in my own right.

Combining my experience making dollhouses and miniatures with my skills as a jeweler/master craftsman, in 1991, I founded the company Cast Creations, Inc./Historical Miniatures of Jerusalem, Inc.; a decorative plaster casting company specializing in detailed miniature models of famous buildings around the world. I headed this company for 20 years, and was the chief model maker responsible for the design and creation of all the master models. Using a combination of hand model making and CNC cut parts, these intricate master models were molded in silicone and cast in small production runs of 500-1000 pieces for sale around the world. The business was sold in 2011 and closed shortly thereafter.

Building on my extensive experience, I returned to work as a model maker for both the jewelry and dental prosthetic industries, while concurrently creating custom order fine jewelry in my private studio and teaching private classes in jewelry making and stone setting.

In 2014 I took a hiatus from my studio, followed a dream, and turned my creative energies to an entrepreneurial food business; opening "Sticks and Cones", a seasonal ice cream and "waffle-on-a-stick" shop in Newport, RI. Here I was able to use my creativity and art training to create a brand: logos, packaging, interior design, web design, advertising, etc. In addition to the brick-and-mortar shop, I developed a unique line of artisanal ice cream for the wholesale market: "Sweet Veggie Ice Cream". This entailed everything from recipe development for creative flavors such as: Sweet Corn, Tomato Ginger and Turmeric; to packaging, logos, labels and tradeshow display booth design. My diverse creative skills, ability to make things such as displays, counters, booths etc., and previous entrepreneurial experience propelled this venture to success.

This past year, 2020-2021, presented an opportunity for me to return to school full time at IYRS School of Technology and Trades (The International Yacht Restoration School) in Newport, RI, for an 8 month intensive program in Digital Modelling and Fabrication. Learning new 3D printing technologies, Rhino 3D, Solidworks and Fusion360 have proven invaluable to me and have opened up new avenues of creative expression and controlled precision in my model making.

Over the years I have amassed a large and varied portfolio of work, some of which you can see here. Although very diverse, all of my work shares the unifying themes of creativity, technical mastery of fine craftsmanship and the intense desire to keep making.

Armed with years of experience in hand fabrication and a newfound knowledge of digital techniques, technologies and software there is nothing I can not make or model: From one-of-a-kind Jewelry, 3D printed prototypes to machined precision models.

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