What's Happening in Rosedale, MD…

Michael Izrael Galmer, whose work in silver is often argued to be the finest of any artist connected with Baltimore, is the subject of a new exhibit at the Evergreen Museum.

The exhibit presents at least one piece that should be familiar to Baltimoreans: the Preakness trophy. Galmer creates a new one each year for the world famous horse race. He won the commission after the Woodlawn Vase (the original prize) was relocated to the Baltimore Museum of Art.

When he is not working on the trophy, Galmer does other pieces, using a method known as repousse. In this technique, sheer sheets of metal are hammered or pressed onto a form, so they take on its shape. Galmer also has developed a process for casting the metal that replicates the repousse process.

According to Abbott, the repousse style was historically very popular in Baltimore, so much so that from the 1820s through perhaps the 1950s, silver made using the repousse process was known as Baltimore-style silver.

Galmer, an immigrant from Russia, arrived in Baltimore in the 1980s, with little to his name. Within two years, however, according to museum director James Abbott, Tiffany & Co., the legendary New York jewelers, had taken note of Galmer's work.

The exhibit runs through July. Museum officials could work with brochure printers to create a booklet about Galmer's work, to sell in the gift shop.