Current Board Members
CoMA is run by a volunteer board of metalsmiths of varying experience, all sharing in the belief that connecting artists is the key to building and maintaining our vibrant metal arts community in Colorado. Board members are elected at the Annual All Members meeting for two year terms, even if they are appointed when positions become vacant, before our Annual Meeting. If you are interested in joining the board or volunteering in another capacity (we can always use help!), contact our President, Kevin McConnaughey, at president@coloradometalsmiths.org.
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For 2025, the board will meet from 12:30 - 2 PM on the third Sunday of the month in February, March, April, May, June, September, October, and November. Traditionally, we hold a board retreat in January, and an annual members' meeting during our conference in July. Please note that dates and times are subject to change at short notice, but we will communicate such changes to our CoMA members.
Kevin McConnaughey
he/him
President
Kevin is an amateur silversmith, jeweler, and lapidary artist. He designs and creates jewelry and small metal art objects in gold, silver and bronze and a variety of precious and semi-precious stones. His work combines traditional lost wax casting, digital modeling, and precision 3D printing with traditional metal working and jewelry fabrication techniques. Kevin is particularly interested in using lost wax casting to create jewelry and small architectural castings.
Kevin currently work full-time in the Spectrum Business group for Charter Communications in Greenwood Village, CO and has worked in the telecommunications space since 1982. Kevin has previous non-profit experience as a volunteer with Boy Scouts and as a volunteer with his church.
He has personally benefited from participation in COMA conferences and the associated community of COMA jewelers, metalsmiths, instructors and fellow students and would like to help strengthen and grow that community.​
​Alec Schweiger
he/him
Vice President
Alec Schweiger investigates the ways in which objects and interior domestic spaces function in our understanding of ourselves and the spaces we inhabit. The sculptural, wearable, and functional objects within his portfolio rely on an intensive exploration of materials and a variety of making methodologies best suited to particular conceptual goals.
Alec studied metals and jewelry in addition to ceramics en route to earning a bachelor of fine arts from the university of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He is currently an MFA candidate with concentration in metals and jewelry at colorado state university in Fort Collins, Colorado.
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Lori Baer
she/her
Education Chair
Lori Baer is a retired cartographer from the USGS/Mapping Division at the Denver Federal Center. She earned a Bachelors Degree in Earth Science and a minor in Fine Art. As a college student and in the following years, she balanced science and art, making sure her brain was equally balanced! Lori has been a member of CoMA since its first conference in Salida, CO in 1996! She has always had a passion for the knowledge of how things are made, as she started making jewelry and beading with her older sister when she was quite young. Those hobbies are still the ‘go to’ when time allows, and when the creative outlet is screaming.
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Lori was on the CoMA Board for three years before becoming Co-Chair of CoMA in 2011-2012. She enjoys the jewelry community, the artists, and the makers, as well as the organizing and communication experiences that come with volunteering for a non profit organization she is quite passionate about.
Lori is honored to participate on the board again as Education Coordinator. She is open to all ideas and suggestions as to what we can do to ‘spark’ CoMA's mission in our state and in our communities. Truly, the networking aspect of this organization is exceptional, and communication is key, so helping to create and support events that encourage students and others to participate in this incredibly special, talented, and recognized nationwide nonprofit organization.
CoMA email
303-881-6126
Denallie Moore
they/them
Treasurer
Denallie Moore received their BFA from the University of Wyoming and apprenticed under their uncle, a master goldsmith based in Minneapolis. During their time in Minneapolis, they taught and volunteered at the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center. Denallie also spent years as a volunteer (and once upon a time, an intern) for the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation in Cody, Wyoming. Through these experiences, they've developed a love of melding metalsmithing with community engagement as well as a deep appreciation for the stories art and objects can tell.
While they work as a jeweler for their day job, they attempt to capture the futuristic alongside the mundane in their personal work. Combining new technologies with old techniques helps to create the nostalgic sci-fi imagery that they hope to portray.
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Baleigh Acebo
she/her
Exhibitions Co-Chair
Tinkering with craft and jewelry began for Baleigh Acebo as a wee adolescent, growing up in the lush green mountains of Vermont. After pursuing a BFA in Creative Writing, she realized she had made a terrible mistake on a very expensive education because what she wanted to do was work with her hands. Baleigh then enrolled in the North Bennet Street School’s Jewelry Making & Repair program in Bahston, MA and everything was good again.
She was technically trained to craft her own tools, fabricate intricate pieces from scratch, handset diamonds & precious gems and repair fine jewelry.
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As a process jeweler, Baleigh is turned on from the problem solving involved in designing intricate pieces and setting weird stones. Her work employs bold colors, clean lines and lots of geometry.
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Baleigh is the Director of Alchemy at the artisan jewelry gallery, Balefire Goods, and can be found teaching metalsmithing and stone setting workshops in Colorado and across the US. She works out of her home studio in Denver, Colorado which she shares with her talented hubs Alex Boyd, along with their 3 adorable floofs.
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Alex Boyd
he/him
Exhibitions Co-Chair
Alex Boyd is a very serious artist. If you don’t get it it’s not because there’s nothing to get, it’s because you don’t understand art. He’s dealing with serious themes that challenge our preconceived notions of subjects and ideas relevant to the most pressing existential conundrums of modern existence and stuff like that. He’s a true iconoclast.
When he’s not smashing icons or being forcibly ejected from various houses of worship for smashing their icons he’s making art that your two year old couldn’t come close to making so don’t even try that it.
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Alex lives the life of a true bohemian in a neighborhood so hip he won’t say where it is so that the Philistines don’t move in and ruin it with their Starbucks lattes and Arby’s roast beef sandwiches. All he’ll say is that it’s somewhere in Denver.
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Helene Arendt
she/her
Secretary
Helene is the Artisan behind CSBmetalsmith – The Mountain Metalsmith. Her first mentor, her Opa, a master cabinetmaker from Austria instilled in her to always be inspired by nature and to value precision. Growing up in his Werkstätte, she learned early in life the importance of being meticulous and to always strive to create unique pieces of high quality. She understands the significance of having pride in putting her Mark on her pieces, just as Opa did on his.
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Despite working full time in IT, she devotes the remainder of her time to continuing to hone her craft in her own Werkstätte. She is a board member of several nonprofit organizations, however she values her role as Secretary of CoMA most, because she feels strongly about giving back to this community that has inspired her over the years. She enjoys interacting closely with her colleagues which enhances her creative world.
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Helene first achieved Roycroft Artisan status in June of 2020, an honor she is proud to have maintained. To remain a Roycroft Artisan in good standing she must continue to follow the rigorous standards of: excellent hand craftsmanship, outstanding design, ongoing artistic development, uniqueness of expression and professional acknowledgement. Doing so allows her to continue to use the Roycroft Mark on her pieces. She maintains this status by applying each year to be juried by Master Roycroft Artisans and is striving to become a Master Roycroft Artisan herself, which requires at least 5 years of Roycroft Artisan status.​
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She exhibits her current work at The Kaleidoscope Gallery in Nederland Colorado, The Schoolhouse Gallery in East Aurora, NY and The Roycroft Copper Shop Gallery in East Aurora, NY.
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Ethan Schultz
he/him
Communications Chair
Ethan is primarily a lapidary artist who makes jewelry out of stone, but loves working in metal where he can! He has a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from MSU-Denver with a focus in jewelry and metalsmithing, and has been our President's, Kim Harrell, studio assistant since 2018. Ethan has been with CoMA since September 2019. He loves creating new connections and working with other artists to build and strengthen our community.
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John Sullivan
he/him
Member at Large
John Sullivan is an artist, metalsmith, jeweler, and educator, whose work focuses on psychology, neuropsychology, and interpersonal relationships. Working as a contemporary artist and metalsmith, John explores the themes and issues surrounding dysfunctional relationships, psychological disorders, and the transformative process of healing. John is an Affiliate Instructor of Metalsmithing and Jewelry and a Studio Technician at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, Colorado.
John attended graduate school at the State University of New York, New Paltz; the number one Metalsmithing program at a public university in the country. Prior to graduate school, John was the Sponsor Coordinator and a board member of the Colorado Metalsmithing Association and a board member of the Crypto Currency Knowledge Foundation. John was also the Lead Prep Carpenter at Blue Ridge Log Works and held gallery representation at Gallery 1505, Denver.
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John earned his Bachelor of Fine Art at the Colorado State University, Fort Collins and was an apprentice to artist Ira Sherman and an assistant to artist Nilda Getty. John has been a guest speaker and given demonstrations at events hosted by the Colorado Metalsmithing Association. As an educator, John has taught as a substitute art teacher at the private institute Kent, Denver, and as a Teaching Assistant at SUNY New Paltz, teaching Basic Metal in both a traditional setting, online, and hybrid classroom. After receiving his Masters, John taught Metalsmithing and Jewelry for the Highschool Summer Sessions at Snowfarm, The New England Craft Program.
John Sullivan has exhibited at a number of venues internationally and has also been published in SNAG’s Maker Profile of the Week, www.artsthread.com, NICHE magazine, and the CSU Collegian.
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