Faculty


Yevgeniya Kaganovich is a Belarus born, Milwaukee, Wisconsin based artist, whose hybrid practice encompasses Jewelry and Metalsmithing, sculpture and installation. Yevgeniya has received a Masters of Fine Arts form the State University of New York at New Paltz and a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Metal/Jewelry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Yevgeniya has been an active art practitioner since 1992, exhibiting her work nationally and internationally. Her work has received a number of awards and has been published widely. 

Yevgeniya’s interests in craft scholarship and pedagogy lead her to undertake curatorial projects, panel and symposium organizing, and other contributions to contemporary craft discourse. Yevgeniya has worked as a Designer/Goldsmith at Peggie Robinson Designs, Studio of Handcrafted Jewelry in Evanston, Illinois and has taught Metalsmithing at Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinois, and Lill Street Studios, Chicago Illinois. Currently Yevgeniya is a Professor in the Department of Art and Design, Peck School of the Arts, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she has been heading a thriving Jewelry and Metalsmithing Area with a graduate and undergraduate programs since 2002. 

Professor, Head – Jewelry & Metalsmithing Area, Head – Digital Fabrication & Design Area 

Email: yk@uwm.edu  |  Website: yevgeniyakaganovich.com  |  Instagram: 

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Erica Meier is a Wisconsin based Artist living near Milwaukee. She received her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2009 and received her MFA from the UW-Madison in 2013. Meier is currently the Studio Technician/Safety Coordinatorand Lecturer at UW-Milwaukee in Jewelry and Metalsmithing and Digital Fabrication; she teaches introduction to Jewelry and Metalsmithing and Advanced J+M courses such as, Casting the Multiple, Enameling, Construction and Fabrication, and Industrial Processes. Meier was a resident designer and frame builder at Waterford Precision Cycles developing and building internationally renowned and award-winning steel and stainless bicycle frames. She exhibits her artwork nationally and internationally and has been at UW-Milwaukee since 2018.

Lecturer, Jewelry & Metalsmithing Area Studio Technician and Safety Coordinator, Summer Workshops Coordinator  

Email: meier@uwm.edu  |  Website: ericaameier.com  |  Instagram: @adamhawk_ 

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Chad Bridgewater is an Lecturer in Digital Fabrication and Design at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.  Bridgewater earned his MFA at UWM with a focus in Digital Fabrication after receiving his BFA in Sculpture and Metalsmithing.  His work has been featured in Popular Mechanics and Metalsmith Magazine.  In his current work, impaired and discarded objects are combined with computer-numerically-controlled machine generated parts, fusing traditional and digital fabrication processes to create one-of-a-kind, hybrid art objects

Lecturer, Digital Fabrication & Design Area Technician  

Email: agabigum@uwm.edu  |  Website: www.melisbanu.com/ 

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Adam Hawk is a studio artist and an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts. Hawk earned his MFA in metalsmithing/blacksmithing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and BFA in sculpture and computer fine arts from Memphis College of Art. Previously, Hawk has served as an assistant professor at Memphis College of Art and worked as a blacksmith at the National Ornamental Metal Museum. His work has been exhibited at the National Ornamental Metal Museum, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, the HOW art museum in Shanghai, China, The Villa Braghieri in Italy, Walter Anderson Museum, the Fuller Craft Museum, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and LA Joaillerie par Mazio in Paris, France.

Assistant Professor 

Email: hawk@uwm.edu  |  Website: hawkforge.com  |  Instagram: @adamhawk_ 

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Melis Agabigum is an educator and studio artist from Michigan. She received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Intermedia: Jewelry/Metals, Installation art, Sculpture, and Fibers, and received her BFA in Art&Design from the University of Michigan. She has taught Jewelry, Sculpture, and 3D Fabrication courses at the University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Boise State University, and San Francisco State University. At present, Melis is the area head of Jewelry/Metals & 3D Fabrication at Earlham College.  

Provoked by an interest in material fiction, Melis’ work examines desire, loss, repetition, and the notion of burden that individuals carry from their relationships. Her soft sculptures explore the unseen tether of the physical and emotional weights that affect individuals in how they perceive their connection to others, their bodies, and space. Her work has been shown at the national and international level in the United States, Canada, Australia, Greece, Turkey, France, Portugal, Hungary, England, Romania, Spain, China, and Lithuania. Melis is an active contributor to Art Jewelry Forum.

Lecturer 

Email: agabigum@uwm.edu  |  Website: www.melisbanu.com/ 

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Jim Charles is an Lecturer in Digital Fabrication and Design at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.  Bridgewater earned his MFA at UWM with a focus in Digital Fabrication after receiving his BFA in Sculpture and Metalsmithing.  His work has been featured in Popular Mechanics and Metalsmith Magazine.  In his current work, impaired and discarded objects are combined with computer-numerically-controlled machine generated parts, fusing traditional and digital fabrication processes to create one-of-a-kind, hybrid art objects

Associate Lecturer, HBUT Program Coordinator 

Email: agabigum@uwm.edu  |  Website: www.melisbanu.com/ 

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