New Work

A couple pieces I finished up for crit on Tuesday. Actually, I finished the slate piece a few weeks ago, but just now got it photographed. A big, big thanks to Jennifer Wells, who was kind enough to model for me.
As always, more here.

Birthday!

A very happy birthday to Mr. Bob Ebendorf!

Process Shots

Process Shots of the Week

Sorry for the irratic posting and short absence this week. It just got away from me. Looking back, I can't even tell you what I did, other than teach, go to class and work on stuff for an up coming crit.
I also applied to and was rejected from Rebel, a annual local publication/show. All the work that got accepted (at least in Metals) is all very traditional, and all but one weren't jewelry. Which got me thinking about traditional vs. non-traditional or avant-garde work. Most of the student work here is very traditional and very representational. I have some jumbled thoughts on why certain work gets into certain shows, and why other work doesn't, what defines a piece as good. Mostly I'm begining to wonder how my work holds up on a larger stage, as opposed to the narrow niche of this particular university.

Gfits!

It's always nice to come in in the morning and find lovely gifts on your bench! This morning I found a necklace by Bob Ebendorf waiting for me, along with a geode from friend Marissa Saneholtz! I gave Bob this crab claw last week, and am tickled that he made something for me out of it! Marissa is one of the featured artists on Crafthaus this week, so be sure and check out her amazing and hilarious work!

Goose Creek, NC

Quote of the Week

"I am not a human being. I am dynamite."
~ Nietzsche

Process Shot of the (Last) Week

I did these Friday and I'm pretty excited about them. I don't know what they're going to be yet, but they make me happy.

This picture is sideways.

Sorry I was MIA for a few days, but it was a really rough and exhausting week here for just about everybody. I was still fighting off the last bit of sickness from the weekend so that the the three consecutive 13 hour days I put in really just wiped me out. I spent all day Wednesday grading my design student's first project, and got some sad news on Thursday that a good friend was moving out of town today.
But it wasn't all bad. We had a potential grad student join us for seminar and help us with artist statements. It was really cool because he didn't know any of us, and hadn't seen any of our work. I went to a great lecture given by Jen Swearington. I took my students since it was during our class time, and it got a few of them really excited, so that was good. I also toured the Biology Department's specimen collection, greenhouse and saw their scanning electron microscope which we have access to through the proper channels. I'm going to try to scan some fossil limestone I have. I also went over to the Geology building for the first time and saw some of their collections.
My camera battery was dead, so I didn't get any pictures. But I'm going to go back and hopefully get some then.

Tektite

Tektites (from Greek tektos, molten) are natural glass rocks up to a few centimeters in size, which most scientists argue were formed by the impact of large meteorites on Earth's surface. Tektites are typically black or olive-green, and their shape varies from rounded to irregular.

Tektites are among the "driest" rocks, with an average water content of 0.005%. This is very unusual, as most if not all of the craters where tektites may have formed were underwater before impact. Also, partially melted zircons have been discovered inside a handful of tektites. This, along with the water content, suggests that the tektites were formed under phenomenal temperature and pressure not normally found on the surface of the Earth.

Artist Statement

We had to do artist statements for seminar today, so I thought I'd post mine:

This work is driven by a deep personal interest in the science of stones, rocks, geologic process and the shaping of the physical earth. From small stones found on the beach to mountains and caves, rocks symbolize a timelessness. They are the foundations on which all life is built. They are the beginning of time and will be the end of time. They are part of our past and our everyday. Both eternal and ephemeral.

Many contrasts exist within this work: hardness and softness, permanence and fragility, precious and worthless, mundane and revered. By pairing common rocks with enamel, gold, silk, and diamonds, they become elevated beyond their common state. The garden-variety rock or dirt is elevated to something to be considered, instead of overlooked. There is spirituality as well as beauty in something so magnificent and so unspectacular as the earth beneath our feet.

Nuit Blanche

I found this about a month ago via Amy Tavern's blog, and kept forgetting to post about it myself. The Metals Guild of Canada is accepting submissions to their Nuit Blanche exhibition. They are calling for artists to send in their scraps, test pieces, things that didn't turn out, etc. Their goal is to collect and install 10, 000 pieces to represent the 10, ooo hours it takes to become a "master".

Here's a few of the pieces I sent in. I would love to see this show installed. I had several discussions with a professor of mine last semester about the 10 year/ 10,000 hour theory.

The Metals Guild of Canada is accepting submissions though this Friday, September 18. Details here.

Exploration #2 and #3

Sorry I've been short on blogging, I was sick over the weekend. How annoying. At any rate, here are the next two explorations I gave my class to do. Most of them hated #2, because apparently picking stuff up off the ground is gross but a few of them were really into it. I guess it takes all types.

Exploration #2: Daily Walk
Collect objects as you walk around campus, down town, the park, or anywhere else your daily travels take you. Look for things as you walk your dog. If you don’t go for many walks, get out there and explore! Take a walk someplace you’ve never been. Look for small changes in the paths you tread everyday. As you walk, pick up objects you find interesting. These could be leaves, seeds, scraps of metal or plastic, dead bugs or whatever YOU find interesting. Collect 30 objects, and bring them to class next week. We will be using these for a future exercise.
Alternative: If you have access to a digital camera, you may also take pictures of things you find interesting, but can’t physically bring to class, along with your actual objects. Examples of this would be patterns, or bits of architecture. If you chose to do this, you may have no more than 15 pictures as part of your collection of 30 objects.

Exploration #3: One Thing
Select an everyday object. This can be an object you found for Exploration #2 or another object that you have. Look at the top half for fifteen minutes and record everything you see there in detail. Then do the same for the bottom half. The longer you look, the more you will see.

“If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.”
~John Cage

Keri Smith also has another book that just came out: This is Not a Book. It's more like a 2nd Wreck this Journal as opposed to the Explorer of the World book. I recommend that you check it out.

Process Shots of the Week

Mesh fabric components stitched and filled with sand, the stitched together.

Quote of the Week

"First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is."

~Donovan

This song in a mix CD a friend of mine made and which I've been listening to non stop in the studio the past couple days. Whenever I hear this line, I think "Mountain building events!" I'm such a dork.

Crafthaus

So I was on Crafthaus before they started charging a subscription fee. Crafthaus is kind of like Facecrack for artists. They feature new artists every week, you can join discussions, groups, post pictures of your work and connect with other artists all over the world.

I quit being active on it because I didn't want to pay the fee, and I thought they would just delete my page, but as it turns out they didn't! I'm trying to get back into it since a bunch of my friends from here are now on it. So, if you feel like it, look me up, laugh at my goofy profile picture and friend my if you want.

Crafthaus

Explorations

I've been giving my Design I class an assignment from How to be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith each week. I thought I would post them here in case anyone is interested in them. I also try to include the quote from the book that goes along with the exercise. Here's the first:

Exploration #1 Right Where You Are Sitting

On a separate sheet of paper, write or type ten things about where you are sitting that you hadn’t noticed when you sat down. Use your senses. Do it quickly. Dot not censor. If you think something you notice is silly or dumb or not worth mentioning, WRITE IT DOWN ANYWAYS. Do this for five different locations.

“The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity. (One is unable to notice something, because it is always before one’s eyes.” ~Ludwig Witgenstein

And One More. . .

Also, I like this otter.

Some shots of my bench. Necklaces in process, and a necklace completed. Though I'm not sure how I feel about it. Also, a shot of the wall in my new space.

What I Did This Summer

I spent a lot of time at the beach this summer (yeah, I know, you're jealous, aren't you?). I spent a week in Coralla, and later, I spent a weekend in Hatteras, both on the Outer Banks. I also took a couple trips to Atlantic Beach and even went beach camping on Assateague Island with friends. We built a fire on the beach, made slightly sandy s'mores and slept a few yards from the ocean. It was great!

All this beach time resulted in about 150 pictures of sand. Here's just a few that I took on the four wheel drive beach up above Coralla. It was really windy, and the sand was just being picked up and tossed around. At one point, an area of sand on the wall of the dune I was watching, started to give and fall to the bottom of the dune. It was so cool. It was watching actual geologic processes in action!

In these photos, the black sand in heavier than the white sand, which creates these patterns.