One of the first books Jamie Bennett remembers owning as a child was a small volume titled "The Art of Enameling." While the young Bennett was interested in the process of enameling - one in which glass is fused to metal under high heat conditions - it wasn't something he immediately wanted to pursue as a career.

Instead, he earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Georgia. While he was there, the idea of enameling surfaced again when he got involved with the metals program at the university.

"I remember asking the question back then, 'Does anyone do enameling anymore?'," Bennett said in a recent phone interview from his home in New York, where he is also a professor of art at the State University of New York at New Paltz.

Robert Ebendorf, a jeweler and metalsmith who was teaching at the University of Georgia at the time, answered Bennett's question by showing him a cabinet filled with old enameled pieces. (If Ebendorf's name sounds familiar, by the way, it may be because the RAM hosted an exhibit of his work back in 2004.) Encouraged by what he saw in his teacher's cabinet, Bennett took an enameling class that summer and his interest in the art form "just grew from there," he said.

"I eventually realized that I couldn't work with metal without incorporating color."

Bennett went on to get his Master of Fine Arts degree from SUNY and the result is a productive career in metalworking and enameling that has spanned more than 25 years and made him one of the most important enamelists working in the field today. Bennett's artwork - which includes both jewelry and wall pieces, as well as paintings and drawings - is included in the collections of more than 20 museums world wide, including London's Victoria and Albert Museum and the Renwick Gallery, National Museum of American Art, at Washington, D.C.'s Smithsonian Institution.

Closer to home

Starting this weekend, visitors at the Racine Art Museum will have a chance to see how the artist's work has evolved over the years when the exhibit "Edge of the Sublime: Enamels by Jamie Bennett" opens. The show, which runs Sunday through Sept. 6, is the first-ever retrospective of his work. It was curated by Jeannine Falino and organized by the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Mass., where it premiered. Since then, "Edge of the Sublime" has been shown at three other museums around the country and it will go on to the Bellevue Art Museum in Washington state following its stay in Racine.

For Bennett, the opportunity the retrospective gave him to see its more than 100 pieces all together in one place was both "cathartic and a little frightening" when he first viewed it.

"It was really overwhelming to see some pieces I had not seen in 25 or 30 years," he said. "You tend to forget things about them after all that time. And then, when you see them again, you recall moments from their creation. I think you become a little more honest when you've been away from them for a period."

"It was also interesting to see what (the curator) chose to represent my work," Bennett said.

For Racine, "Edge of the Sublime" allows viewers the chance to experience the creativity, innovation and technical expertise of an artist who Bruce Pepich calls "one of the primary people who have re-ignited the enamel medium in the second half of the 20th century."

Pepich, who is the executive director and curator of collections at the RAM, described Bennett's work as having a painterly quality and patterning that is "quite beautiful."

"There is an overlapping of color and patterned areas where they sort of meet, mingle and move on," he said.

Back to nature

A lot of the metalsmith's work features abstract elements that support natural forms and floral images, Pepich said.

"Some of his pieces have a very organic quality," he said. "They feel very much as if they came from the earth."

The use of floral and nature forms in jewelry seems like a logical progression to Bennett, who noted that one of the earliest forms of adorning the body was to put real flowers on it.

"It seems like a natural thing for me to want to continue as a jeweler," he said.

Bennett said he hopes that those viewing the exhibit will experience his work in a physical sense.

"It is not meant to be read, but meant to be felt and seen," he said.

"One of jewelry's roles is to be sensuous and seductive and enamel fulfills that role, I think," the artist said. "Enamel was developed to be beautiful."

Viewers can also gain an understanding of Bennett's working processes and conceptual development through "Edge of the Sublime," which features drawings, sketchings and notebooks by the artist, as well as 20 of his paintings.

RAM is also offering an opportunity to see the artist in action at a lecture/demonstration that Bennett will give when he visits Racine in May.

If You Go

WHAT: "Edge of the Sublime: Enamels by Jamie Bennett"

WHERE: Racine Art Museum, 441 Main St.

WHEN: Exhibit opens Sunday and runs through Sept. 6. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to

5 p.m. Sunday.

COST: Museum admission is $5 adults, with reduced rates available for students and seniors.

INFO: Visit http://www.ramart.org or call (262) 638-8300.

Meet The Artist

Visitors to the RAM can meet Jamie Bennett when he guides a behind-the-scenes tour of "Edge of the Sublime" at 6:30 p.m. on May 1. Early arrival is recommended as tour capacity is limited.

Bennett will also do a book signing immediately following the tour at 7:30 p.m. Copies of the exhibition catalog - a 150-page publication available in hard and soft cover - can be purchased through the RAM Museum Store.

Call (262) 638-8200 for information.

Lecture/Demonstration

The art of enameling will be the subject of a lecture/demonstration given by master artist Jamie Bennett from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 2.

The fee for the program is $60 for RAM members and $75 for

nonmembers.

For details and registration call (262) 636-9177 or go to: http://www.ramart.org