As longtime instructors in the metals department at UTSA Southwest, formerly the Southwest School of Art, Laura Quiñones and Alejandra Salinas Pérez have fostered the talents of many aspiring jewelry artists.
While both maintain strong ties to the school’s community education program, they have teamed up to bridge a creative gap with Flame & Form — a Pearl-adjacent space that promises to place “jewelry, workshops and good vibes all under one roof.”
An exciting development for the local metalsmithing community, the new venture follows an approachable model that complements structured classes with make-and-take events, “date nights” and open lab sessions — a game changer for experienced makers without home studios.
Before Flame & Form kicks into gear with the inaugural classes Color on Metal, Unlock the Power of the Press, Creative Metalsmithing and Back to the Bench, Quiñones and Pérez will welcome the community this Saturday for an open house complete with light bites and a vintage Vespa wine bar provided by MotoVino.
In addition to soldering torches, a hydraulic press, jewelry benches and a dedicated enameling room, Flame & Form includes a gallery space and shop which will showcase the work of Quiñones among other local artists.
“We’re hoping to have shows at the end of every semester so that people see the work that’s being made by the community — because right now, it’s not really shown,” Pérez told the Current.
In keeping with that supportive spirit, Quiñones plans to mentor students on skills that go beyond metalsmithing techniques — including submitting work to exhibitions, staging pop-ups and applying to juried events including Fiesta Arts Fair.
“Nobody teaches you the suffering of applications, photographing and displaying your work, or even just approaching a customer,” Quiñones said. “Some of us artists don’t do numbers. We like being in the studio, creating and making. But what do you do with all this stuff that you made?”
Echoing the importance of marketing and other practical conundrums, Pérez added, “There hasn’t been a class in a long time that goes over all of those things — even pricing your work. If you’ve never put up a tent or a table or set up for a craft show, you’re thrown in the pool — and there’s a lot that can go wrong.”
Free, 3-7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, Flame & Form Metals Studio & Gallery, 774 E. Locust St., flame-formstudio.com. — Bryan Rindfuss
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This article appears in Aug 21 – Sep 2, 2025.