The Niles District Library will host Rebecca Hungerford’s art collection “The Art of Pewter” at 7 p.m. Sept. 5 in the community room at the library, 620 E. Main St.

Hungerford established the Pewter Shop in the Box Factory of the Arts in St. Joseph, in 2006. At “Art on the Square” in Belleville, Illinois in May she received the Award of Excellence 2017. However, her metal work began in high school when she started working with gold, silver and pewter.

Hungerford earned a bachelor of fine art degree in 1972, from Miami University. She studied pewtersmithing in Fredericton, New Brunswick. In 1975, she opened the Pewter Shop in Bath, Ohio.

From 1981 to 2005, Hungerford lived in Kansas City, Missouri where her time was divided between pewtersmithing and motherhood. After pursuing traditional themes for 20 years, she began producing items with more contemporary lines in 1995.

Hungerford’s work has been seen at international competitions and the top national shows. This year alone, Hungerford plans to seven shows around the U.S., including the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington D.C.

Pewtersmithing constitutes one of the oldest forms of metalworking given that a pewter piece has been found in an Egyptian tomb of c 1450 BC. In Europe in the Middle Ages pewter objects came into extensive use, until they were replaced by porcelain. Pewter was used mainly for tableware but also often found in churches. Pewter itself is an alloy of the element tin. Alloys of various compositions have been used but most modern ones contain small amounts of copper and antimony. A pewtersmith uses all the metalworking methods including fabricating shapes from: pieces of sheet pewter by soldering; from sheet pewter by pressing a spinning disc against a mold; and casting molten pewter into molds made from a marquette (model). In this manner decorative, often functional, objects are generated that reflect both the skill and artistry of the pewtersmith.

For more information visit pewtershop.com.