atomic rabbit

Quote of the Week

2012-01-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

"Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream, have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices.Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you."

~Sheng-yen

Make-a-Day 1/26-28

2012-01-29T06:59:00.000-08:00

I moved back into Linda and Terry's house on Thursday, and immediately set about to pulling out all my art stuff and setting up a space to work. I also started my "Make and Object a Day" challenge, and three days in, I've got three objects. So far, so good.

Yesterday I made this little green Swiss and Stamps book with Swiss maps and vintage stamps.
Friday, I made these crazy earrings at the end of a full day of work and a couple days of an annoying sinus allergy thing. I finally took some anti-histamines (pill packages seen here), and got a little loopy making these. This is also when I decided that I just have to make something everyday: it doesn't have to be good, it just has to be something.

This book was Thursday's effort; both it and the Swiss book are "X" books, made by folding and tearing a single sheet pf paper. I filled it with all sorts of vintage paper things I have in my collection. I love the look of these things, so why not use them? What am I saving them for?

I'm trying not to get caught up in what I'm going to do with all these things once I make them. I suppose I could always start sticking them in mail boxes around the neighborhood.

Happy weekend.

Symposium 2012: Book Brooch

2012-01-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

I've got a few minutes before I rush off to the next thing, so I thought I'd post a little about the Symposium. I had a really great time this year. Partially because I didn't have to do any of the work, but mainly because there were more hands on activities as well as more presenters over all. I think that we all learned at last year's symposium that the workshops we had were just too full. By adding more workshops, each workshop had a more reasonable number of people in it so you could see more and do more.

One of my favorites was Amy Tavern's workshop on just making something, anything (well, a piece of jewelry) out of the materials you have on hand. She provided us with leather, fabric, cardboard, staples, tape, string and a few other things and told us to get to work. We had an hour to make a piece of jewelry.

These are some photos of one of my pieces (courtesy of Amy). I knew as soon as I saw the slick, glossy paper that I wanted to use some of that! I'd had a book technique that I'd been wanting to try rolling around in my head, so I started with that and just kept folding. The overall shape I came up with is a little too similar to the shapes that Amy uses for me to feel comfortable with it, so I tried to make it more my own through the mark making.

I also really enjoyed some of the conversations that came out of this exercise and hearing Amy talk about her work habits. She talks about how easy it is to get distracted, which I can totally identify with. Amy said that she'll tell her self to just go work for an hour, go sit at the bench for an hour and then she can go do something else if things aren't working out. I found myself doing something similar, yet opposite. If I just work on this job application for an hour, I can go play in the studio.

The recurring theme that I kept seeing pop up at this symposium was making something everyday. Renee Zettle-Sterling spoke about it in her keynote lecture, and Amy discussed it in her workshop. I've heard more than one person, post-symposium, say that they were going to implement this practice into their own lives. I'd been thinking about trying to make a book a day, once I'm back at Linda's where I can spread out, but maybe I'll open it up to just make something, one thing every single day.

Whirlwind

2012-01-18T18:25:00.000-08:00

Whew! It has been NON STOP since I got back to Greenville!

On my way down, I stopped and saw dear friend and all around awesome person Jennifer Wells. She's got the cutest little studio, in the beautiful mountains of Virginia. We took a walk down to the river, where I got some choice rocks, and I even got to pet a cow. I got a lot of prep work done for my class and some sketching, but just being in Jen's studio had me itching to get back at the bench.

I started teaching an Art Appreciation class last week at a community college about an hour away. I like it well enough so far, my students seem cool, but learning a whole new system and administration is stressing me out a bit. (Anyone have any tips on Moodle?) Also, the lectures take FOREVER to prep and I'm still figuring out the pacing.

This past weekend was the 3rd Annunal ECU Metals Symposium and all that entails. It was crazy busy and a lot of fun. I got to see many friends from out of town, but after four nights in a row of being social, I think I'm ready for some serious down time. (read: hermetic)

Today, I started a part time job at the Children's Museum and Science Center in Rocky Mt, NC. I'm a little overwhelmed, but excited. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I'll be doing everything from working at the front desk selling tickets to helping with demos and birthday parties to caring for the live collections.

All of this, plus Hot Under the Collar (I spent two full hours last night dealing with show emails and entries) has left little to no studio time. I'd fully intended to enter the Honey Exhibition, and even started my piece on Monday. But at some point yesterday, I realized that there's no way I can make this piece happen by the deadline Friday. I'm feeling really guilty about not making, especially since people keep asking about it.

And to top it off, I've been crashing with various generous friends. I'm grateful I know such awesome people who are willing to take me in, but I'll feel a lot better once I'm back in my own space (aka, Linda's place, which isn't really mine either). I thrive on routine, and I'm just waiting for things to settle down. I'm hoping once I'm back at Linda's with a space to work and all my stuff, I'll get back into the rhythm of making. I did some sketching while I was home and visiting Jen, so that counts right?

So anyways, 2012 is off to a whirlwind start. Hopefully it will settle down soon and I can get back to making stuff.

Thanks for reading.

Calculated Risk

2012-01-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

Via Zygoat

Quote of the Week

2012-01-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

"I am not what I am. I am what I do with my hands."

~Louise Bourgeois

Deadline Extended!!!

2012-01-09T15:00:00.001-08:00

The Hot Under the Collar Deadline has been extended to February 1st, 2012!!!

Good News!!!

2012-01-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

Lavender Pearl Necklace by Amy Tavern

I just found out that the necklace exhibition I'm curating is in fact insured! Yay! There's still time to apply, the deadline is January 15th.

To get the prospectus you can go here or here!

Quote of the Week

2012-01-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

"I think you have every right to cherry-pick when it comes to moving your spirit and finding peace in God. I think you are free to search for any metaphor whatsoever which will take you across the worldly divide whenever you need to be transported and comforted. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's the history of mankind's search for holiness. If humanity had never evolved in its exploration of the divine, a lot of us would still be worshiping golden Egyptian statues of cats. And this evolution of religious thinking does involve a fair bit of cherry-picking. You take whatever works for you from wherever you can find it, and you keep moving toward the light."

~Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

You take whatever works for you, from wherever you can find it.

Resolution: More or Less

2012-01-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

I just spent about an hour re-reading all my blog posts from 2011. It was an interesting year starting off with the ECU Symposium and progressing to my Thesis exhibition and graduation. Next came a summer of travel (to Arrowmont in June and July and Peter's Valley in August) and meeting more amazing people than I can count. Then, the utter bewilderment of winding up right back where I started, endless paperwork and nothing happening in the studio except some production pieces and a whole lot of bad enameling. Interspersed in all this were a few small disasters (the study abroad office screwing up my financial aid, Overnight Prints screwing up my show postcards, the Post Office screwing up nearly everything, the Grad and Registrar Office screwing up my paperwork and not posting my degree, the debate over my show in Phoenix, etc.) and A LOT of time in the car.

All this looking back has made me come to a startling and unsettling realization: I was a better person 6 months ago. I was a stronger, more fearless, more giving, grateful and centered person at the start of 2011 than at the end. The art was certainly better, and I'm wondering "What the hell happened?"

I'm not the type for New Years Resolutions, preferring to make dozens of smaller resolutions hundreds of times throughout the year, which I keep anywhere from 30 seconds up to a month or so. I've come to the understanding that one can make a change in one's life whenever one is ready and any day can be the start of the next new year.

I know the changes I want to make, they're always the same: more making, more making things happen, less stress, less worry, less anxiety. More beach, more love, more time with friends, less jealousy, more breathing. More cooking and baking and sewing and time outside. Less wanting and spending and time wasting. More giving and forgiving. Less existential despair, and more being "ok".

But it's hard to feel motivated safely ensconced on my parents couch, following the too full days of the holiday season. But I'll be back down south in a week or so, and for me the feeling of a chance to start over is typically tied to going, or even going back to a place. I'm teaching a class at a community college this spring, and I'm hoping the two day a week obligation will anchor me somewhat in my unfocused adrift of a life. You know, the chance to be more than just a walking talking cat bed.

So Happy New Year, today and everyday. Cheers.

Quote of the Week

2011-12-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

I just read an article on Bruce Metcalf's blog that he wrote as a response to a post Kevin Murry wrote for AJF on advocacy and ethics in craft. Basically, Metcalf states that jewelry will never be an effective means to promote social change and here's why.

For me this article was really refreshing. I basically understood it to say that the socially responsible thing to do is make the work you want to make. If you want to be an advocate for social change, go into politics. My work doesn't have a social agenda, and it probably never will. Making green or sustainable or environmentally responsible work is also the least of my concerns when I sit down to make art. Maybe this makes me a bad person, maybe I make up for it in other aspects of my life style.

My favorite part was the last paragraph:

"My gift is imagining and making things. Only as a maker can I truly excel, and only as a maker can I make a contribution that might matter. If I have a responsibility, it is to exercise my gift. It is to function as an autonomous artist who serves only my own vision. In the long run, this is my only hope to have a real effect on the world. And it won’t be about ethics, not at all."

Sometimes I worry that there's no point to my work other than my own selfish amusement, so to hear someone I respect say that it's his responsibility to make his work as he sees fit, maybe I'm not so far off in the desert as I think I am. Maybe I actually am a little closer to the right track.

To read Bruce Metcalf's article go here.

I was unable to find Kevin Murray's article online.

Commission

2011-12-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been busy (filling out applications), busy (making Christmas gifts for my family), busy (getting ready to head up North)! One other thing that has been keeping me busy is this commission piece.

It's a found shell set in a sterling silver ring, accented with brass, and a small tube set carnelian stone. It was a bit tricky because the client was very particular, and because this is some the most serious bench work I've done for quite some time. The shell also presented it's own set of challenges, because while I thought it was quite sturdy, it is in fact rather fragile. I had to improvise a bit when it came time to set the shell. I had originally intended to rivet the shell in place with the balls on the inside, but wound up flipping them around and turning them into prongs. I'm not exactly happy with the bottom one, I know it could be cleaner, but the shell just started to disintegrate at that spot.

Now to pack and prepare for a very long drive to PA!

Quote of the Week

2011-12-13T20:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry that the Quote of the Week, has had an extended absence. Ususally, I pull the quotes from whatever it is that I'm reading. And while I've gone through a good deal of fiction this fall, I haven't been reading the types of things I know I should.

So, resolving for the hundreth time to do better, I give you two quotes to make up for the past quoteless months:

"But after awhile
the light I didn't believe in
shone in anyways through the windows,"
~Stephen Dunn, an excerpt from Round Trip

"In winter
seven stars
walk across a crystal forest."
~Soen Nakagawa (1907-1984)

What I've Not Been Working On

2011-12-09T09:06:00.000-08:00

The other night I made a new sketchbook with the help of my friend Lisa Beth. She taught me how to put a cover from an existing book on a prepared text block of blank pages. I picked up this old Jesus book at the my favorite antique/junk store, and knew it would be just perfect for a sketchbook for my next body of work. I tend to get a little sloppy with the glue no matter how hard I try, and I glued in the end pages after the fact, when I know that there's a more proper way to do it. But I'm pleased just the same. The pages are watercolor color paper and some old bad prints, so the book looks really thick but I'm already worried about not having enough room. I suppose I can always make another one.

The main reason I came back to Greenville is because it provided me a studio to work in. But I'm finding my least favorite question to be (and one of the reasons I've been avoiding my art people) is "What have you been working on?" and various permutations of the phrase. Truth be told, I'm not working on anything. Or at least anything worth talking about. I'm in that first year of grad school phase where you try a bunch of things and make a bunch of crap. Which is exactly how my thesis body of work started. Only now, no one's around to hold me accountable.

It took me 4 years start to finish for my thesis work. I'm not ready for an undertaking of that magnitude just yet. But I'm getting ready to get ready. Which means I'm ready to start researching and sketching in my new Jesus sketchbook. So a little patience please. I'll let you know where there's something worth knowing. You know it'll be good, because it's got Jesus on the front.

Busy Busy Busy. . .

2011-12-06T19:55:00.000-08:00

I thought I would get a chance to rest a little bit after Shop and Mingle, but the past few days, and the upcoming days seem as jam packed as the days before the sale. Unfortunately, not much of it makes for very interesting blogging. I did get a chance to rest on Sunday, and enjoy some time with friends, one who was visiting from out of town. Yesterday, I was invited to an enameling crit at Pitt Community College. Fellow ECU alum and dear friend Autumn Brown teaches there and had asked me to give an enameling demo back at the end of October. It was great to be able to see the completed projects!

Other than that it's been mostly small errands, house tidying, job hunting and gearing up for the next round of applications. I'm anxious to get back in the studio to make a few Christmas gifts and work on some designs for a possible commission that needs to be completed before I leave town. I did manage to make a kick ass sketchbook with the help of resident book maven Lisa Beth Robinson, but I'll blog more about that later.

One last thing I'd like to share with you tonight: Amy Tavern posted about the Hot Under the Collar exhibition. You can read it here. I feel so fortunate she agreed to be a juror! I know she and Bob will put together an incredible grouping of work.

Happy Tuesday!

La Noche del Broche Opening

2011-12-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

The La Noche del Broche Exhibition opened last Friday at the Equinox Gallery in San Antonio, TX. The gallery has done a WONDERFUL job of posting all the work online. You can see all the brooches here.

As I was looking trough the list, I started to feel incredibly inadiquate. But then I looked at my brooch again, and I think it's fine. It's not what I wanted to send, but sometimes things don't work out the way you want.

At any rate, check out some AMAZING brooches here!

Shop and Mingle Wrap Up

2011-12-04T08:16:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posting, but the past couple weeks have been a bit stressful. I was busy preparing job applications, and for the Shop and Mingle Sale at Emerge Gallery in downtown Greenville. No it's on to more job applications, a possible commission, a show piece, and preparing to leave Greenville in just a couple weeks! I can't believe how fast this fall has past!

I had a lot of fun doing the Shop and Mingle Sale. It had been a a few years since I had done a sale on my own, and I was trying not to forget all the little details (like packaging and a reciept book) which I typically don't have to worry about when selling with a group. I also had to sit the entire sale myself, which can get a bit tiring. I'd never done this sale so I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but all in all I'm happy with my sales and my trades. The work is still on display until just before Christmas, so hopefully I can move a few more pieces before it all comes down.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend and buying handmade and local for your holiday gifts!

Response

2011-11-30T08:58:00.001-08:00

Just within the past week, I all of the sudden found myself in the middle of a heated situation. There's a bit of an uproar from SNAG members over the lack of insurance for my necklace exhibition and another show that's taking place in the same space. The most vocal outcry has come from Harriete Estel Berman both on her blog, and the SNAG Facebook page. There is much discussion, and everyone seems to have an opinion. Myself, I'm not sure what to think.

I feel like a lot of assumptions are being made, so I'd like to clarify a few things, mainly about the process of how this show came about.

SNAG put out a call for exhibition proposals for the 2012 conference in Phoenix. I pitched an idea to SNAG that I was both invested in and thought might actually have a shot at being selected. I thought about what type of exhibition I would want to see my own work in. I approached jurors that I have utmost respect and admiration for, and who are well versed in the format of neckpieces. In fact, a piece of Amy Tavern's immediately came to mind when I thought about the type of work I wanted to see in the exhibition. I was thrilled when both Bob and Amy agreed to be on board. I was even MORE thrilled when I was told that my proposal had been selected, and later that it would be held at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.

Then, about 6-8 weeks later, I was told that they would be putting my show, along with a second SANG exhibition in the gift shop at the SMoCA. A couple weeks after that, I was told that both exhibitions would be sharing at large atrium at the museum. It was at this time I found out that the show would not be insured. I was a bit concerned, but figured that as long as it was crystal clear to applicants that insurance would not be provided, and all shipping costs must be covered by the artist, that people would be able to make the choice for themselves whether or not to apply.

At this point I was just glad that the show was still happening at all, because for a hot minute, I didn't think it was. I was dissappointed that the show wouldn't be held in a gallery, and only partially because "large atrium" won't look nearly as good on my resume as "gallery". SMoCA's unwillingness to give a gallery to a show devoted to contemporary jewelry tells us that we are still marginallized as a field, even within the arts. I often wonder if anyone outside the metals community pays any attention to us at all. Now, I view the show not only as an opportunity to educate the public about contemporary jewelry, but also to show SMoCA why we deserved a gallery space in the first place.

People are also upset about the additional cost to the participating artists. One person even went to far as to suggest a reduction in the entry fee. This doesn't make sense at all, since that money goes toward paying my jurors and print materials for promoting the show. SNAG doesn't see any of that money. I don't see any of that money, despite the amount of work I'm putting in to see my idea come to fruition. In fact, as a recent graduate and still unemployed, I'm becoming increasingly nervous about how I'm going to cover the cost of my trip to the conference.

I understand why people are upset, and I'm trying really hard not to take anything personally. People are saying that the show should never even had been posted if there was no insurance, but I wonder if they would say the same thing if they were in my position of trying to launch a career. I feel like I have to take advantage of any opportunity that comes my way, and from where I stand any show is better than no show at all.

Currently the Exhibitions Committee (whom, I've found to be nothing but helpful and supportive), are working with the Scottsdale Arts Council to provide some sort of insurance for the space. I sincerely hope they resolve the issue. Even if the show proceeds with out insurance, I hope that enough people will still be willing to take the risk that we can still put on a spectacular show.

Hot Under the Collar Prospectus

2011-11-23T15:53:00.000-08:00

Here is the prospectus for the Hot Under the Collar Show, both as a PDF and a Word Doc.

Process Shot of the Week

2011-11-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

When I was in undergrad at Kent State, we always had ornaments as part of our holiday sale. We even had competitions with prizes. For whatever reason, I was never able to come up with any ornament ideas.

Five years after the fact, I finally came up with some ornament designs, and I'm actually pretty excited about them. They're die formed, pierced and enameled copper, and seem to be gaining more loops as I go. Some have graphite, some have acrylic painting enamel or liquid enamel.

I've also been making North Carolina ornaments with various roll print textures. Because Lord knows I love North Carolina and roll printing.

All my ornaments will be available at the Shop and Mingle sale at Emerge Gallery, Greenville, NC, as mentioned in the previous post. I may be posting a few in my Etsy shop as well, so keep your eyes pealed.

Also, this happened:
Happy Monday!

Shop and Mingle

2011-11-18T07:42:00.000-08:00

This holiday season, I'll be selling work at Shop and Mingle at Emerge Gallery, located in downtown Greenville. The event starts Thursday, December 1st with a preview sale from 5-9pm, and includes heavy appatizers, beer, wine, door prizes, live music and a silent auction. The sale will be open to the public Friday, December 2nd, 5-9 pm and Saturday, December 3rd, 9am-4pm.

I'll be taking the majority of my Etsy inventory for this sale, so if you've had your eye on a piece, I recommend you snag it sooner rather than later. I'll be making so new inventory for this sale as well, and hope to have several sets of Mica Earrings and a few Mica Necklaces for sale.

If you're in the Greenville area on these dates, stop by and say hi! The Holiday Sale will also be going on at the ECU School of Art and Design so come on out and buy handmade!

My Etsy Jewelry Shop
My Etsy Paper Shop

La Noche del Broche

2011-11-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

I was asked to participate in La Noche del Broche, hosted by Equinox Gallery in San Antonio. I had totally planned to make something new for this show, but it totally didn't pan out, so I had to go with something I already had on hand. It's not a bad brooch, but I'm not super thrilled to be sending it to this show packed with artists I admire. I guess sometimes you just have to go with what you got and not obsess over it.

Anyways, it looks like it's going to be a spectacular show, with a ton of spectacular artists. The opening reception in Dec. 2, from 6-9 pm. You should totally check it out if you're in the San Antonio area.

Here's the line up:

Abigail Heuss

Alejandro Sifuentes

Amy Tavern

Andrew Kuebeck

Angela Bubash

Anne Fiala

Annie Pennington

Ashley Buchanan

Atsuko Taniguchi

Autumn Brown

Beverly Penn

Billie J Theide

Bob Ebendorf

Caroline Gore

Claudia Rush

Corey Ackelmire

Courtney Starrett

Cydney Romano

Linda Kay Darty

Dejan Jovanovic

Elizabeth Crandall

Emily Marquis

Galatea Kontos

Gary Schott

George Schroeder

Hannah Stein

Jacob Martin

James Thurman

Jason Stein

Jason Polasek

Jenn Wells

Jillian Palone

Justin Klocke

Kat Cole

Kate Codsen

Kathleen Janvier

Kelly Robinson

Ken Bova

Krista Coleman-Silvers

Laritza Garcia

Laura Wood

Leia Zumbro

Lin Stanionis

Lindsay Hendricks

Lisa Johnson

Lisette Fee

Liz Steiner

Lorena Angulo

Louise Oppenheiner

Lydia Tjioe

Lynette Andreasen

Margot Wolf

Margit Morawietz

Marissa Saneholtz

Marjorie Schick

Marlene True

Mary Hallam Pearse

Masako Onodera

Melanie Smith

Melissa Walter

Mi-Sook Hur

Michael Dale Bernard

Michael Gayk

Micheal Parrett

Nathan Dube

Nicole DesChamps-Benke

Pat Gavin

Paulette Myers

Rachel Shimpock

Renee Settle-Sterling

Robert Diaz de Leon

Robert G Jackson

Robert Longyear

Sandra Zilker

Sara Brown

Sarah Holden

Sarah Roberts

Sarah West

Shalena White

Stephanie Voegele

Sun Kim

Sung Yeoul Lee

Tara Locklear

Tim Lazure

Tina Lazzarine

Tova Lund

Walk in the Woods

2011-11-15T11:30:00.000-08:00

So I started to get a bit panicky today over the incredible amount of work I need to get done, mainly a stack of applications, and a string of deadlines, plus a sum of money spent of materials to make work for an upcoming holiday sale, and a pile of work to make for said sale. All this is compounded by the fact that I don't even know where I'm going to be living after the holidays. Yikes, I'm getting anxious just typing this!

I eventually learned that when I get stuck in my own head like this, it's best to step back and take a walk. And it's a beautiful day to be outside here in Eastern NC; 75 and sunny. So I took myself down to the Greenway and walked around for about an hour. I took my camera and a sketchbook, and while I didn't make any sketches, I did shoot some photos.

Back to tackling the To Do List!

Process Shot of the Week

2011-11-11T12:48:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to brush up on my basic bench skills a bit, and also trying to use the materials I have at hand, including my large collection of cabachons. It's not much, but here's a couple rings I've made lately.

I also got asked to cover a class for a friend and teach loop in loop chains with fused fine silver jump rings. I'd never made that kind of chain before. I guess I was taught to solder jump rings, and focused more on linked chains as opposed to loop in loop . But I'm game for almost anything so I agreed. I decided to practice chain making in general and made up this little sampler, just so the students could see a variety of things they could do.

Happy weekend! Thanks for reading!

Hot Under the Collar

2011-11-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

I've been keep mum about a largish project I've had in the works for several months now. I'm curating an exhibition for the 2012 SNAG Conference in Phoenix. It's been a bit nerve wracking, and a HUGE learning experience, but I think it will be a spectacular show.

Hot Under the Collar: A Survey of Contemporary Necklaces

Choker, collar, lariat, torque, pendant, the necklace is one of the most diverse formats available to metalsmiths today. Whether cascading down the front, or draped down the back, the possibilities are nearly endless. The human torso provides us with one of our largest canvases, while still keeping body as site.

From comments on the classic strand of pearls to contemporary takes on armor, this jurried exhibition seeks to showcase how metalsmiths today interpret this incredibly versatile object.

Jurors

Bob Ebendorf

Robert Ebendorf is the Belk Distinguished Professor at the East Carolina University Metal Design program. He has also taught at the University of Georgia and the State University of New York at New Paltz, as well as conducted workshops all over the country. Ebendorf has received numerous grants and awards, including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant, an American Crafts Council Award, and most recently the North Carolina Award, the highest civilian honor awarded by the state of North Carolina. He has exhibited work extensively both nationally and internationally. Ebendorf has works in the permanent collections of the Museum of Art and Design, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Mint Museum of Craft and Design, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Amy Tavern

Amy Tavern received a BFA in Metal Design from the University of Washington and a BA in Arts Administration from the State University of New York, College at Fredonia. In addition to being a studio artist, Tavern has taught at the Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and the Pratt Fine Arts Center. Tavern has lectured at the 2008 Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference, East Carolina University, and Winthrop University. She has exhibited at Sienna Gallery, Aaron Faber Gallery, and Heidi Lowe Gallery, among others. Tavern’s work has been published in numerous publications, most recently in SNAG’s 2011 Exhibition in Print. Tavern is currently a resident artist at the Penland School of Crafts. Her work can be found in galleries around the U.S. and abroad.

Hot Under the Collar will be shown May 24-27, in conjunction with the 2012 SNAG Conference. The exhibition will take place at the Scottsdale Museum of art, in a large atrium. Please note that while the exhibition space is secure, the museum will not be providing insurance. Accepted works must arrive at SMOCA on or before May 23, 2012. Return shipping costs must be covered by the artist either by pre-paid shipping label or by credit card. Work may also be picked up from SMOCA at the end of the conference.

Contact me for the prospectus at hotunderthecollarshow@gmail.com

New Charms

2011-11-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

New charms in the shop!

November Rosaries

2011-11-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

I finally finished up all the rosaries I had on deck for the Day of All Souls. Over all, I'm pretty pleased with them, except maybe the carnelian one (the orange one) I may restring it with closer spacing so that it feels more like a rosary and less like a string of beads. This was a good exercise for me, since I feel like I had to push to come up with components. I also tried several stringing variations, and I think I came up with the one I like the best.

Peter's Valley Part 5

2011-11-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

In honor of All Souls Day, I thought I'd post some of the pics I took of the cemetery at PV. Slide presentations took place in the little empty church in the middle of the cemetery. I grew up next to a cemetery and find them both beautiful and intriguing. This one had a bunch of really unique tombstones.
Stone Tree
This one was my favorite. It appears to be a cast iron headstone, red from all the rust. It really stands out amongst all the white and gray stones.

Some of the marble stones had these copper supports which had turned green and stained the marble.
Happy Day of All Souls!

All Saints Day

2011-11-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

So Halloween is finally over. I'm kind of relieved. I enjoyed Halloween when I was a kid, but I find the college town approach the holiday it kind of silly. I'm much more fascinated by the Day of the Dead, especially in connection to All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

Today is All Saints Day, honoring saints both known and unknown. I wish I had my saints books here so I could spend the day reading and contemplating the idea of an unknown saint and my own personal (read: made up) saints. There's a body of work brewing in this vein, and I'm anxious to get sketching. As it is, though, I need to spend some studio time, part of which will be spent prepping rosaries. I plan to spend a good part of tomorrow, the Day of All Souls making rosaries. Some are shell, some are gemstone, and some have fabricated elements. I'd like to think that if ever I have a retrospective of my work at the end of my career, there will be a whole wall of rosaries. So far I have seven ready to be strung together.

Stay tuned for the results. Happy All Saints Day.

Boo. . . .

2011-10-31T14:11:00.000-07:00

As a Halloween bonus, here's the horror show of enamels I've made in the past few weeks. Muddy china paints, sinking cloisonne wires, base coats coming up through the top layer, accidentally grabbing an opaque when I thought it was a transparent, dropping things in the kiln or on the screen or on the floor or in the sink. October was one of the crappiest months I've had in the studio EVER.

I was going to add that blue atrocity from this post to the pile, but now I can't find it. Maybe one of the cats ate it.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T07:29:00.001-07:00

One of the spookiest rabbits of all time: Bunnicula.

Peter's Valley Part 4

2011-10-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

The first of the two classes that ran in the Fine Metals Studio while I was at Peter's Valley was Beginning Metals taught by Raychel Wengenroth. It was a jam packed class that covered a TON of techniques. The students were super eager to learn everything and Raychel was just one of the sweetest people, with truly impeccable craftsmanship. Seriously, I don't know anyone who brings anything to a high polish, let alone everything to a high polish. We all had fun rockin' out in the studio, but the New Jersey State Fair was happening down the road, and Raychel and I managed to get away to see it one evening, despite the rain.
I'm not super into riding all the rides, but I do enjoy the look of the. The ferris wheel was them only one I managed to get a shot of though.
I love fairs for the agriculture. I've never done any real farming beyond a vegetable garden, but there was some farming blood in my family in the not so distant past. I don't really have any interest in farming myself, but I do appreciate the amount of work and dedication it takes.
Baby goats!
I was so enamored with this rabbit. He looked like a ghost rabbit, and also looked like he'd be super speedy.I'd totally love to have a rabbit like this someday, but out of about 50 or so rabbits on display, he was the only one without a label on his cage, so I have no idea what breed he is.
Bunny butt!
There were a couple of these crazy show pigeons that looked they they were wearing feather boas. I've never seen anything like it.

I would have liked to spent a little more time at the fair, but after checking out the livestock, the Peter's Valley booth and the domestic arts exhibits, the fair was closing for the day. I also missed both the Pitt County Fair and the North Carolina State Fair, which makes me mad because neither of them are very far away. I just didn't get off my lazy butt to go. Oh well, who knows what state I'll be in next year!

Process Shot of the Week

2011-10-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I've spent the past few days watching spooky movies and turning this:

Into this:

And then these:

Check 'em out in the paper shop!

Openings

2011-10-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

Two of the four exhibitions I'm in are opening this weekend. Tonight, the Greenville Museum of Art Jurried Exhibition will open with a reception from 5:30-7. I got a brief sneak peak when I went to pick up my rejected piece and it looks like a great show, representing many different media by many talented locals.

If you're close to Catskill NY, check out the Masters on Main Round 3 opening tomorrow afternoon. It starts at 4pm, and will be followed with a booty shaking party at a local hang out, with live music by the resident didgeridoo player. There will be 12 installations, including my own. I really wish I could go to this opening, not only to see the awesome work, but because it sounds like such a fun time. Here's an except from the press release:

"With a focus on site specific sculptures, exhibitors’ projects include a fiber installation addressing themes of chance, order, and chaos by Eunjeong Lee from the SUNY New Paltz MFA program; an atmospheric sculptural video installation work by Seo Jo from New York University’s MFA program; an interactive mini-opera by San Francisco Art Institute’s Brad Messenger; a site specific installation from University of Massachusetts Amherst MFA candidate Ariel Lavery creating work based on the recent flooding from Tropical Storm Irene; an apocalyptic photography series by Matthew Cetta and mysterious composite portraits by Justin Bitely both from School of Visual Arts BFA Photography program; a series of exhibitions by 2011 summer residents of the Byrdcliffe Art Colony featuring work in
ceramics, sculpture, painting, and installation; one-night-only sculptural installations responding to the town’s Main Street created by collaborative groups from the SUNY New Paltz MFA and BFA programs; one-of-a-kind necklaces and broaches made from rocks, gold leaf and silk thread, both wearable and conceptual by East Carolina University’s Liz Steiner; and Kathleen Faught’s photographic explorations of meditative waterscapes."

If you can't make it to either of these openings, I hope you venture out to see the art in your area! Happy weekend!

What's Goin' On

2011-10-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

I suppose a few of you may be wondering what I've been up to professionally lately. I've been applying for both jobs and shows and trying to keep track of deadlines and when which pieces are out. I actually bought a calender, and feel it is only a matter of time before I have to jump to a keeping a day planner, something I've never done. I never even wrote down my homework assignments in school, because I could usually remember everything.

I subbed a metals class on Monday at the local community college, and today I get to give an enameling demo for another metals class. I need to make a sketch book because I'm getting ready to start research for a new body of work. Probably no actual pieces for a while, but I'm in a sketching/gathering mood. I need to make some pieces for some shows including this one.

I was a little surprised at myself yesterday when I realized that I currently have work in four exhibitions. Maybe it's not that much, but I feel like it's the most work I've ever had out at once. If you're in any of these areas stop by and see it for yourself:

Alchemy, Arrowmont Galleries, Gatlinburg, TN

Radical Alchemy, Courthouse Galleries, Portsmouth, VA

Annual Juried Exhibition, Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC

Masters on Main, Round 3, Downtown Catskill, NY

So that's what I've been up to, besides keeping track of everyone else's keys and taking care of everyone else's pets.

Peter's Valley Part 3

2011-10-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

Swimmin' Hole eat your heart out. . .

One of my favorite things I did while at Peter's Valley was go swimming at Crater Lake. It was just so beautiful and peaceful. The water was shallow and warm. There were large rocks that were also warm (sometimes I need to sun myself like a lizard). And after the bus load of kids left 1o minutes after we arrived, there were only a few other people around.

Crater Lake is sort of a local secret. It's hard to find and doesn't show up on GPS, so you have to have someone show you where it is by actually taking you there. I only went with two other people, and even though I tried to pay close attention, I have a terrible sense of direction, and don't think I could find this place again. But after that first week, I didn't really have time to go anyway.

Process Shot of the Week

2011-10-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Well it was a bit of a crazy week getting stuff together for an exhibition, and sending out applications, and a misplaced package at the post office so I didn't get in a whole lot so studio time, but here's some stuff from the past couple weeks.

The prints may look familiar: I made them in my Stencil Madness: Monoprint Gone Crazy class at Arrowmont this summer. At our final mini crit, another student in the class said how she would love to see these translated into jewelry, which I thought was interesting, so I tucked that in the back of my head. Then, a few weeks ago, I saw a fantastic piece by Kathryn Osgood (always a favorite of mine) at the Greenville Museum of Art. It was a pretty sizable piece, and it was framed. I'm not sure if it was wearable or not, but it got me thinking about making really beautiful enamels just for the sake a making really beautiful enamels, and not necessarily worrying about making them wearable. I know, I know, getting away from the idea of making these images into jewelry, but I thought maybe there's room for both.

So, I went back to the imagery from the prints I made this summer, and pressed some die forms and tried to make that translation. Well, the first one, the dark red color scheme, was so bad. It just came out looking like mud. So I decided to do some watercolor "sketches" first, to lay out compositions. I find these watercolors immensely satisfying, but I tried another enamel anyways. Still not so great. I've been using the under glazes and over glazes on these, but I think they would translate better with the acrylics, so I might try one more with those. Or maybe I'll just go buy some water color paper.

Happy weekend.

Peter's Valley Part 2

2011-10-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

The Fine Metals studio at Peter's Valley is up at the part of the campus called Thunder Mountain, along with the Photo, Fibers Surface, Woodworking and Special Topics studios. It's quite a hike to Thunder Mountain (neither thuderous nor a mountain), over a road rife with pot holes and puddles, one large enough to be a small pond. But still, the drive was very beautiful, and I found myself staring at the ponds and swamps even though I drove past them several times a day.

The fine metals studio is small but very well equipped. Biefi Cao, the Fine Metals Fellow for the summer, and my boss did A TON of work cleaning and organizing the studio before I even got there with the help of the other assistants. They were replacing the lights when I got there. Biefi and I cleaned out the storage closet and painted it to match the fresh paint in the rest of the studio.

There wasn't a metals class my first week there so after I sorted through all the enameling stuff, and finished mucking out the closet, there wasn't much else to do but make work. There isn't much to do at PV anyways, other than make work. I posed for a drawing for the kids day camp, and spent a day making books with them, but other than that, I was in the studio, making, making, making.

And counting rabbits. There were rabbits everywhere.

Pondering. . .

2011-10-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

Trying to get myself back on track. . . . .

Quote of the Week

2011-10-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

"A new moon teaches gradualness and deliberation and how one gives birth to oneself slowly. Patience with small details make perfect a large work, like the Universe."

~Rumi, New Moon, Hilal

Arrowmont Pt. 3

2011-10-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

I know I'm ping ponging a bit, but I do want to show off some of the work I made at Arrowmont. My first workshop was Plastics and Resins for Jewelry with James Thurman. I have to admit, I'm not a plastics kinda gal. I tend to develop an uncomfortable skin rash as a result of working with most plastics. I also kinda hate the feelof most plastics. Give me stone or glass. But, I was interested in the mold making aspect of the workshop, and hoped to learn about some different resin products that I might not be allergic to.

We experimented with several casting resin, Rio's Colores system, two types of silicone mold materias, and made soon to be pateted Thurmanite; layers of paper held together by layers of industrial airplane resin. We went over the basics of how to turn our plastic components into jewelry, and some studio set up. We also had the best Tuesday night kareoke ever that week.

I, of course spent the week making plastic rocks from model train rock molds and molds I made from rocks I found. Which, as it turns out are pretty convincing as real rocks, leading me to believe that my only real talent is the parlor trick of making fake rocks out of anything. I also made some rosary components with air dry paper clay and the Colores System. I was pleasantly surprised that they turned out exactly how I wanted them too, seeing as I'd never worked with those two materials before. I'm pretty pleased with the finished rosary too, it's perfectly sparkly and oceanesque. Sorry I don't have a picture, but the white/turquoise pieces are the reject components.

I really enjoyed the Thurmanite also. The cutting/shaping isn't super fun, but I really like the results. I just wish I knew what to do with it.

James was super great also, super knowledgeable and super high energy. The class produced a TON of stuff. I probably produced the least, because I was concerned about my skin allergy (which did start to pop up by the end of the week). It was still a great workshop, even if I don't think plastics will ever be my thing (did I mention that I also hate being sticky?), but it's still a good set of skills to have.

Now what do I do with all those plastic rocks?

Peter's Valley Part 1.

2011-10-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

I've only mentioned Peter's Valley, and it's been more than a month since I left, so I thought I'd better blog about it a bit. For those of you not familiar, PV is a craft school much like Penland or Arrowmont, only not as big or well known, located in the middle of the Deleware Water Gap, near Layton, NJ. Seriously could not be more different than Gatlinburg, TN! This was the best thing about PV, how beautiful it was (when it wasn't raining). This is the swamp across from the building where I slept. I loved this view. I'd go out and sit by the swamp if the weather was nice and I had free time
This is Hilltop, where I and several of my fellow assistants stayed on the upper floor. The downstairs is the weaving studio. Unfortunately, only one class ran in that studio in the time I was there, and that was the week I went to dog sit. PV had a lot of class cancellations, due to enrollment, and later in the summer, the weather. Only two metals classes ran while I was there, which was a bit dissappointing. Especially when Marjorie Simon's Torch Fired Enamels class was canceled because PV was still without power after Irene.
They were firing the Amagana kiln at PV while I was there too, so I got to seem 2 Amagana's fired this summer. The first was at Arrowmont, and there was actually a student from the A-mont class that was also in the PV class! Small world! I didn't get to see much of the firing though, because of the distance between their studio and my own, but I did get to walk inside of it. That's the real downside to PV, everything is so spread out. You have to drive everywhere. It's nearly 2 miles through the woods from where I stayed up to the metals studio. It just didn't foster the same sense of community of Arrowmont. But, since the land and the buildings at PV are owned by the park system, there's only so much they can do.
PV has a blacksmithing studio, which I thought was pretty cool. Only one class ran while I was there, which was a bummer. I didn't spend much time there, but I did go check it out, and took pictures of all the tools.

More to come! Thanks for reading!

Arrowmont Recap Pt. 2

2011-10-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

Just a few more shots from Arrowmont. It's beginning to feel like forever ago that I was there. I find myself missing it, and wanting to go back.

Process Shot of the Week

2011-09-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

Mica brooches and necklaces to go with the earrings.

10xNine

2011-09-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

I was asked to be a beta participant in promotional website 10xNine. This site showcases nine items from nine different online shops and viewers are asked to look at the shops and leave a comment on their favorite item, in order to be entered into a drawing for a $90 gift certificate (or 3 $30 store vouchers which can be used in up to 3 different shops). My set of gift tags is currently featured in the Black and White collection, which will be up until 2pm EST on Wednesday.

Check it out, and leave a comment!

Process Shot of the Week

2011-09-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited about all the paint enamel techniques I learned this summer with Jessica Caulderwood. I had purchased myself a set of acrylic painting enamels from Thompson. We didn't cover acrylics in Jessica's class, focusing instead on underglazes and overglazes, and I didn't get a chance to try these out until just last week.

I had a specific idea in mind when I bought these. I'd played around with them before a little and discovered they are similar to gouache. As an undergrad I learned traditional jewelry rendering with gouache, which I enjoy and would like to become more proficient at. So I decided I wanted to to some traditional rendering in enamel. I know the whole "jewelry as jewelry" has been done, and I don't really intend for these to make any kind of statement. I see them as just a way for me to pick up a new technique, and experiment with something other than rocks. (No worries though, I've got more rock works in the works!)

The paint is a little hard to control and rendering is something I feel like I have to do a dozen times before I get it right. The firing on these is a little tricky also; they burn out really easily. Plus, even though I got the soft flux, I still had problems with the white base coat coming up through. I deliberately overfired the example on the far right, to see if I could get a more "sketchy" quality.

I'm not super happy with these, but it's a start.

Etsy Adds

2011-09-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to added some things to the shops yesterday: books in the paper shop and charms in the jewelry shop. I'm really excited about the books. The paper is double sided so the design on the front cover of one book is on the inside of the other book, making a perfectly coordinated pair. The charms are a just a few bits and baubles I made at Peter's Valley.

You can check out my paper shop here.

And my jewelry shop here.

Arrowmont Recap Pt. 1

2011-09-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

Remember when I said last week I was going to be back to blogging more regularly? Well, I'm not doing a very good job, am I? Turns out settling into someone eles's house and studio, even in a town I know, was more stressful than I anticipated. Also, all my friends here are either still in school, or work at ECU. I'm well on my way to becoming a semi-professional house sitter. Which seems like a fantastic use of my education. I suppose I'm feeling a little post-partum depression with having finally finished school.

Anyways, I thought I'd blog a little more about my Arrowmont experience, even though it seems so far away now. I was there for six weeks, three weeks of work followed by three weeks of class. It was really great, but really intense and exhausting. Especially when your roommate's alarms start going off at 5:45 in the morning.
I got to meet an incredible group of people, and we did manage to have some fun when we were off duty. If you haven't been to Gatlinburg, TN, it's rather hard to describe. Arrowmont is this little secluded bubble of art and creativity up on a hill overlooking "The Strip". The Strip is a non-stop neon carnival that caters to tourists. You can find a variety of min golf, old time photos, and air brush T-shirt establishments, wedding chapels, arcades and anything deep fried. Seriously, the whole town smells like hamburgers. The strip is fun in small doses, great for people watching. We would venture out occasionally for Tuesday night karaoke and $1 beers. My favorite place was of course The Doughnut Friar. Best doughnuts ever, and a 3 minute walk from A-mont.

This is Pollard dorm where we (when I say "we" I mean the other studio assistants and work studies, occasionally joined by the fantastic Artists in Residence, or students from the workshops) spent most of our time hanging out on the porch and drinking beer. I'm not gonna lie. I drank a lot of beer at Arrowmont.
Arromont has the most amazing little library. This is just right outside, where you could actually get Wi-Fi. I loved this spot because of the geraniums, and other flowers. The whole Arrowmont campus is just so beautiful.

I also loved this spot because of this view:

I'm an ocean girl through and through, but by the end of my 6 weeks, I really began to fall in love with the mountains. If you went out past The Strip you wound up in the Smokey Mountain National Forest, only about a mile away. I loved the forest and I really wish I would have spent more time there. A big part of Arrowmont culture is the Swimming Hole, up in the forest. The swimming hole is pretty, and had some cool rocks, but overall, not my favorite. I'm not really into cold water, and both places I went swimming at Peter's Valley I liked a lot better.

But I also hated "Taco Day", so what do I know?

Where in the World. . . .?

2011-09-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Well, my wild and crazy summer of travel is finally coming to a close. Back in June, I packed up my Greenville studio and apartment, and headed for Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I spent 6 weeks as a studio assistant at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, then headed home to PA at the end of July. I visited with my family for a few days before heading out to be the studio assistant in Fine Metals at Peter's Valley Craft Center in Layton NJ. I spent a week dog sitting in suburbs of NJ, which is where I was when Irene came through. I have to say, it was so hard watching all the footage and pictures of the damage in NC. The hurricane knocked out the power at PV for almost a week, and so the Labor Day Weekend workshops were sadly canceled. I went back home a few days earlier than I intended, so I got to spend an entire week with my family before taking off again.

So where am I know? Right back where I started from. Due to one of those funny little quirks of life, I wound up back in Greenville, NC, where I'll be cat sitting for Linda Darty while she and her husband are teaching in Italy with the ECU Italy Intensive program. It's a little strange being back, but all in all, I'm looking forward to it. I've got a ton of things I'd like to accomplish in the next three months, including a trip to the beach at the first available opportunity.

I'll be blogging more about my summer and my plans for this fall over the coming weeks.

Welcome back.

Stencil Madness

2011-07-23T06:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging by life at Arrowmont is INTENSE! I can't believe I've been here over a month already! I just finished up my second class: Stencil Madness: Monoprint Gone Crazy with Jeniffer Ghormley. It was frustrating at times, but all in all a lot of fun, and I finally came up with a few prints I'm happy with.

Last week I was in Plastics and Resin for Jewelry with super energetic James Thurman. We did all kinda of crazy plastic casting and mold making. We even made layered paper "Thurmanite", which I really enjoyed. I made a few little things, which I haven't photographed yet, but I'll post them later.

This week I'll be in "The Enameled Image" with Jessica Caulderwood. I'm super excited. It's all kinds of painting and drawing techniques in enamels, which is the area where I feel like my skills are lacking.

Just one more week, and then I'm off to Peter's Valley!!!!

4th of July!!!!

2011-07-04T17:44:00.000-07:00

Arrowmont has been a non-stop blur of work and people and bugs and desserts! Yikes! The other educational assistants and I had to move our studio space last week, because there's a class in the sculpture studio this week. I've managed to get a little work done, mostly in my sketch book. It's been really difficult for me to be around so much creativity and so many exciting workshops and not be able to make work. But I've only got one more week of that, and then it's three straight weeks of art party!

I've been to the mountains only a couple times, and out on the strip (usually just long enough to get to the Doughnut Friar). I did venture out for the midnight 4th of July Parade. Talk about some crazy! I've seen a bear, a coyote, some skinks and even went across the border and stood in North Carolina for a bit. The mountains here are stunning, but I still miss the ocean.

Well, I'm off to move a Hollander beater before the fireworks start! Happy 4th!

Arrowmont!!!

2011-06-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a crazy few days it's been! I swear, I've been going non stop this whole week past! I made it to Gatlinburg Thursday evening, just in time for dinner. It was a little un-nerving at first, not knowing anyone or where anything was. But after a couple of days, I've got a pretty good handle on things. I think.

My main job as a studio assistant is to make sure the instructors have everything they need. We also help out with the slide presentations and whatever else needs doing. Last week everyone was running around like mad since Arrowmont was hosting a huge benifit Auction. Instructors for this week's workshops came in on Sunday, and yesterday was a lot of trouble shooting and errand running.

Today, the main event was the gas leak they discovered when they finally took the auction tent down. Never a dull moment here.

I'm not permitted to use the studios unless I'm in a class, which won't be for another three weeks. I'm a little bummed, but I went ahead and set up a little studio in the building where the assistants and work studies are allowed to have space.
I brought some work to hopefully sell. The other studio assistants and I are going to try and run an open studio one night a week.

Thanks for reading!

Clearing Out

2011-06-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well, my space is empty, my apartment mostly packed, I've turned in my studio key and said goodbye to my ocean. I've changed my address and am headed out in a couple days. Just a few more errands to run, a bit more packing to do, and hopefully time for one more dinner with friends and a chance to walk the Tar River Greenway one last time.

I'm nervous and excited and overwhelmed. I've been ready of a change for so long, and I think Arrowmont will be a great place to start. The saddest thing was packing up my copper conductive paint, since I don't know when I'll be able to electroform again. At best, it will still be several months before I can get my own bath set up.

I'm curious to see how this blog shapes up, no that I'm no longer in school. I've got some interesting things in the works. I hope you'll stay along for the ride. Next stop, Arrowmont.

Design Seeds

2011-06-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

Do you know about this site? It positively has me salivating. If I ever get to teach enameling again, I'm totally telling my students about this site.

Etsy Adds

2011-06-04T09:10:00.001-07:00

Some recent Etsy adds to both the jewelry shop and the paper shop.

"Occupation. . . . ."

2011-06-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

So I had to fill out some forms yesterday, where I had to list my "Occupation". Up until now, I'd always listed "student", but being newly graduated, this no longer applies. "Unemployed" doesn't seem entirely accurate. For one thing, I'd be a lot less busy.

I feel like my wonderful family (whom I adore) keep waiting for me to call up and say "I got the job!" I'm not really sure what job that would even be. Teaching job? Unlikely. Bench wench? Maybe. A gallery job? Who knows? Some ubiquitous 9 to 5? Not if I can help it.

After some thought, I realized that I already have a job. My job is a studio artist. My job is to make work, and all that that entails. And it's not a 9-5, Monday through Friday. It's an all day, everyday, from when I get up in the morning until I go to bed kind of job. It's a hard job, but I can't imagine doing anything else. So I listed "studio artist" on my silly forms.

That being said, I wish this job paid more regularly.

Adrift. . .

2011-05-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a little lost lately. Spiritually, artistically, geographically. I was productive this week in that I got a lot of paperwork done, made two big trips to the post office, took down my show and accomplished a lot in the little time I did spend in the studio. But I did manage to screw up the third enamel in a row I'm making for a brooch. And I'm not nearly finished with all the paperwork/mailing/thank you notes I need to do. Also, I'm putting off something I really need to do, because I don't want to do it, because I'm afraid. I'm more afraid that it will work out, than I am of it not working out. Which is the far more likely scenario.

Most of my friends are at SNAG this weekend. Or Penland. Or abroad. I'm desparately missing Italy these days, but I'm really ready to go anywhere. I've never been so ready to leave a place, yet so sad about how much I'll miss it. I love North Carolina, but Greenville is no longer a good place for me to be, and hasn't been for some time. It'll be good to get away for a while, I'm just afraid I won't make it back.

But I'm headed to Arrowmont shortly. I finally got my classes a few weeks ago and after some mixed feelings (What the heck am I going to do in a plastics class? Monotypes, ok, guess I have to take my printmaking stuff. YES!!! The Enameled Image with Jessica Caulderwood!!! Awesome!) I decided that I'm ready for it all. Ready to suck up what ever experience I can. I've even got some ideas, which I'll blog about later.

I did a travel journal/sketchbook in Italy last summer that I'm really proud of. And I realized that there's no reason why I can't do a similar thing this summer at Arrowmont. It won't be exactly the same, but why not approach it with that kind of single mindedness of capturing EVERYTHING?

I never do well in these "in between times". I'm better if I have a focus and a goal and a routine. But I think my only goal for today may be to go enjoy the Aurora Fossil Festival.

Happy weekend, where ever you are.

More Art!!!

2011-05-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a few more pieces I've recently acquired:
This is a brooch I traded for from Laura Wood's Tangled and Twisted series, which was part of her thesis. Laura and I are also trading for some custom work. She's making me a silver and abacca paper brooch and I'm working on a necklace for her. One of my favorite things about grad school has been the opportunity to get to know Laura and watch her work evolve. I'm so lucky to own so much of her work!

Laura and I even collaborated with the third member of our MFA trio, Marissa Saneholtz to make a set of Wonder Triplet Power Rings! Each one of us made a separate part of the rings: Marissa made the bands, I made the enamels and Laura made the settings. A little funky, a little outer spacish, we each have a reminder of our grad school awesomeness.

This ring was given to me as a graduation gift by a dear friend. I've been eyeing Charity Hall's work since I lost her piece to Linda Darty at Bob's scholarship auction in the fall. I found this ring at Emerge Gallery and immediately fell in love with it. It was such a pleasant surprise when if was gifted to me! It's a painted enamel Southern Green Stink Bug. I love the detailing on the ring band.

As I said before, I've got more trades in the works, so stay turned for more great art!

Bob Necklace

2011-05-24T14:52:00.000-07:00

So I think I mentioned the other week that I had a trade in the works with Bob Ebendorf. I asked Bob if he would make me a chain, thinking of something simple that I could put all my charms on. But I told Bob he had free rein, my only other input was on length. Well. Yesterday I received this fantastic piece of work. I love it. I love wearing it. I love the neutrals and little splashes of color.
Love this pearl.
Love this bone.
Bob said he put this rock on there just for me! How sweet! I don't think I could have asked for a better piece!

Just in case you're wondering, Bob will be getting a selection of wall brooches in return.

Thanks for reading!

So. . . .

2011-05-22T16:21:00.000-07:00

So I've been thinking about a new series I want to start working on. Not the Homesick Series of brooches, those are just for my own amusement. It's been several weeks since my thesis have been finished, in fact the show comes down tomorrow, and I'm ready to devote myself to some sort of cause again. I'm thinking long, extreme rosaries for starters. At least two. One white, one red. With lava beads, and not much metal. I have titles but not exact looks yet. I guess I have to decide if I want to use electroforms or not, and make them quick. Guess I'd better start sketching.

New Tool!

2011-05-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Recently I was gifted a new toy, I mean tool. Some time ago I was looking at the back of one of Ken Bova's brooches and there was a rabbit stamped on the back. Needless to say, I was intrigued and asked him about it. I went looking for my own rabbit stamp, and discovered that you have to buy an entire set of stamps from Rio Grande, you can't buy individual stamps. I was a bit disappointed since I wasn't about to shell out $220 for a set of 33 stamps, most of which I would never, ever use. But I went about my business making rocks and writing my thesis and forgot about the rabbit stamp.

Until this week, when I came into the studio and found this on my bench. Ken Bova gifted me his rabbit stamp and that is why he is THE COOLEST GUY I KNOW!!!!!!!! I finally got a chance to play around with it today, and made myself a tiny rabbit charm. The note he left me said to use it as frequently as possible and I intend to.

RABBITS ON EVERYTHING!!!!!

Awesome Jewelry that I Own!

2011-05-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'm really very fortunate that I know so many talented and giving people who are willing to gift or trade me their fantastic work. Here are a few recent adds to my personal collection I've aquired over the past few months. (This is just a start, I've got some more awesome pieces to add to this later, including my "Wonder Triplet Power Ring".)

Spray painted costume jewelry and silver earrings by Tara Locklear.

Steel and silver earrings by Leia Zumbro.

Silver with steel and enamel "balls" by Jennifer Wells.

Copper and enamel heart brooch by Ken Bova, and cast silver and enamel brooch by Sarah West.

I'm excited because I've got other trades in the works with Laura Wood, Marlene True, Autumn Brown, Jennifer Wells and even Bob Ebendorf!

Charms!!!!!!

2011-05-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

I know I'm behind on posting a lot of things, but I'm WAY behind on posting about our charm swaps. Here are all the charms I've gotten in the swaps and a few I traded for, since last fall.
Paper creation by Josh Craig.
Gold powder coated lady by Marissa Saneholtz, silver and steel double crystal charm by Sarah West, pierced coin with tin by Bob Ebendorf.
Silver and dried paint "Create" charm by Kendall Booth (back)
Honeycomb by Sarah west, black coral by Lisette Fee and wood and brass figure by sculpture major Dudders.

I've been real bad about taking pictures of the charms I've put into the swaps. Sorry. They've all been different. I've been making myself my own collection of charms as well. I'll post about them later. As always, anyone can participate in our swaps. Just contact me and I'll put you in touch with Tara. Want to jump start your collection? Check out the "Chams" section in my Etsy shop!

Beach

2011-05-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

Life Advise

2011-05-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

Ready to go to the beach!!!!!

Via Pinterest

Day 2: Charm Swap and Student Show

2011-04-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

I know I'm way behind on posting these. I'm just now starting to catch up on blogging over on Crafthaus after a three week thesis hiatus.

Our last event for Saturday was the opening for the Student Exhibition and this year, we also had a charm swap.

All attendees to the symposium are invited to send a piece of work to be displayed for the duration of the symposium. Space is sort of limited in the case that we reserve for this show, so we ask that participants be mindful of size when choosing a piece to show. The work is shipped to us, and attendees pick up their pieces Sunday afternoon, so we at ECU don't have to worry about return shipping. It's a system that works fairly well for us, except when people don't ship their work on time.

This is one of my favorite parts of the symposium, and my personal biggest contribution. All of the ECU grads head up different committees, supported by our wonderful undergrads, and for both symposia, Marissa Saneholtz and I have co-chaired the Exhibitions committee. The Student show is our biggest responsibility, and we also put together display cases with work from the presenters.

I really loved dealing with the Exhibitions. I swear, I was on the best committee. Unwrapping the work was always a surprise and I love love love seeing the work from different schools. This year we were able to set up the show a week ahead of time, so the rest of the ECU art school got a chance to see it as well. My undergrad helpers Sarah West and Tara Locklear and I came in on a Sunday afternoon to install the work and the handful of people in the building were stopping to take a peak before we had even finished. I think it's so great for students to see what their peers at other institutions are doing, and I know the rest of the School of Art and Design gets excited about it too. I actually had several professors from other disciplines tell me how much they enjoyed this exhibition.

While we've done the student Exhibition both times, this year was the first time we had a charm swap. We've gone a little charm crazy here, thanks to undergrad Tara Locklear. She began coordinating regular swaps about a year ago, and we do one about every 6-8 weeks. Everyone makes a charm and puts it in a box. All the boxes get numbered and then we pull numbers. You get what you get. No switching or pouting.

This system works great for 10-20 people, but we had to tweak it a little bit for 100+ participants. We had everyone (faculty and students) place their charms in an unmarked box, assigned people numbers and called them up by groups. People came and grabbed a box at random, and a safety pin so that they could wear their charm right away.

Charm by Amy Tavern, photo credit Amy Tavern

I also helped out with this event, putting out boxes and keeping the crowd under control with undergrad Lisette Fee, while Tara called out group numbers. It was really great and I had a lot of fun because I got to see many of the charms as people opened them. But the worst part was telling people NO PEEKING! Even Lisette and I weren't allowed to peek! It was so hard to be surrounded by boxes full of all kinds of mysterious, awesome charms and not be allowed to look at them until it was your turn to pull a box. I got a gold powder coated lady by Marissa Saneholtz, and ECU undergrad Sam Woitovich, got my charm, a sterling silver cut out of North Carolina.

These images are both courtesy of the wonderful Amy Tavern, currently a resident artist at Penland. Above, is the charm she made for the swap, which Ken Bova received. Below, is Ken's charm, which Amy received. Not every swap was so serendipitous, but I will say I saw a ton of really awesome charms, and everyone was excited to meet the person who had made their charm. It was a fun way to wrap up an exciting and exhausting first day.

Charm by Ken Bova, photo credit Amy Tavern

Any one can participate in any of our charm swaps, never mind geography! If you'd like to participate in future ECU charm swaps, contact Tara Locklear here on Crafthaus.

Thanks for reading!

Process Shot of the Week

2011-04-28T12:42:00.001-07:00

Homesick II: Maritime Forest

Giant Mutant Space Rabbit!!!!!

2011-04-28T05:51:00.000-07:00

Via Pinterest

Off the Wagon. . .

2011-04-28T05:19:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly two weeks since all my Thesis hoop-la. I got my paperwork from the grad office confirming that everything checked out with my paper. My parents will be back down in about a week for graduation.

I was able to keep up my momentum for awhile after the show, but it seems like lately I've crashed and crashed hard. I have no motivation to do anything. I made a pair of earrings and finished a ring on Saturday, and made a few books this weekend but that's about it. I've managed to watch the first four seasons of Weeds and I started obsessive compulsively organizing my rocks and fossils to take with me when I move. I thought I'd be sleeping like a rock once thesis was over, but no such luck.

On the plus side, I got a studio assistantship at Peter's Valley for August/September after I finish at Arrowmont. I get to take one class, while I'm there, and I'm considering choosing this one on faure enameling.

Happy Thursday. Stay out of the rain.

Etsy Adds

2011-04-23T16:12:00.001-07:00

Added a new "Charms" section to the Etsy shop today! These are small, quick little pieces made from whatever I come across. You never know what you'll find!

Shout Outs!

2011-04-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

I've been so self absorbed about my thesis for so long, that it didn't even occur to me that other people were paying attention to what I was doing. But, friends Amy Tavern (current resident artist at Penland) and Lisette Fee (current ECU undergrad) both did some lovely blog posts which I was in.

Amy Tavern featured several Metals MFAs graduating from schools around the country. It was great for me to see what my peers at other universities were up to, and really sweet of her to feature all of us on her blog. I gotta say, I'm really excited about the future of our field. You can read Amy's post here.

Lisette just put up an excellent post showcasing all the ECU grads that are currently up in Gray Gallery. Like I've said before, there's a BUNCH of us. You can read her post here, complete with pictures of all the artist's work.

Happy Weekend!!!

No Rest for the Weary

2011-04-21T12:58:00.001-07:00

Homesick I: Beaches

copper, sterling silver, sand dollar piece, shell, aquamarines, map, mica, ink

So, I finished my first post-thesis piece today. It's small, not very complicated and not rock related. There's no electroforming or enameling involved, and yes, I glued some things together.

Installation Shots

2011-04-21T05:57:00.001-07:00

Here are some quick snapshots of the work installed in the gallery. I had four walls, spaced out to create a little cubicle type deal. I wanted the space to be visually quite, and to evoke, a sacred, reverent feeling, like a cathedral. Everything cam together pretty much how I imagined it. I wound up using 175 brooches, because that's what fit on the wall without being too crowded. I had about 20 extra that I didn't use. And yes, I pounded each and every nail into that wall myself.

More pics of the gallery on Flickr.

Thesis Pics Part I

2011-04-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

Flow Like Water
Stillness is Required (detail)
Prayer Beads: Becoming
Save Me From Myself

Here's a few shots of the thesis work that haven't been seen on the blog before. You can see images of all the thesis work on my Flickr site. Pics of the installation to come.

Quote of the Week

2011-04-17T05:45:00.000-07:00

"The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega. It is God brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blended note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence, and even to address the prayer to 'World.' Distinctions blur. Quit your tents. Pray without ceasing."

~Anne Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk

Well here we are.

It's all over. I spent the week between my last post and this installing my show, adding images to my document, completing my oral defense, spending over three hours just on page numbers, submitting my paper electronically, and gathering all my signatures. My parents came into town Thursday night and left this morning; my brother and his girlfriend came in Friday afternoon and left Saturday morning. A dear, dear, friend of mine from Towson came down too, and stayed with me. We hadn't seen each other since I'd moved down here so it was great to catch up on her life, her thesis experience and what was going on with some other good friends I left behind in Maryland.

The show looks amazing. I couldn't be happier with how my work looks, or how the entire gallery looks. I think we were all a little apprehensive with so many of us in the gallery, but everyone filled the space and it all went together incredibly well. The opening went great as well; there was a steady stream of people almost the entire time! Some of the faculty have been saying that this is one of the best MFA shows they've seen. I could not be graduating with more talented people.

But people are asking "What next?" In the immediate sense, we still have a couple weeks of school left, and while I do have very few obligations, I do still have a few obligations. I have work to make for friends and colleagues, work I'd like to make for myself, job hunting and applications to begin working on in earnest, grad assistantship hours I need to keep showing up for. In the more long term sense, as in where am I going to go, and what am I going to do after graduation, well, that's a little trickier. I got a summer studio assistantship at Arrowmont starting the end of June and running through the end of July. I couldn't be more excited about this opportunity, and I'm hoping that by the end of my time there, I'll have the next place to go. And as much as I hate moving, I realize that this is how my life is going to be for the next few years. There are too many things I want to do, all over the country, for me to pick a permanent spot right now.

The future seems scary and exciting all at once. Even this blog is going to undergo some changes I expect. I would stick around for the ride, if I were you. I have a feeling it's gonna be good.

To Do. . . .

2011-04-07T05:11:00.001-07:00

I posted a week ago that my show goes up today. I don't think I'm actually going to get into the gallery until tomorrow; today I'm finishing up displays and photographs. Over the weekend I'll be putting all my images into my thesis document and tightening up the last few details on that. I've gotten a lot done this week (with LOTS of help), but there's more work on the horizon (luckily I have more help on the way!)

Anyways, here's a list of things I'm going to do AFTER my thesis is over:

- Sleep!
- Spend an entire day watching movies!
- Read a book just for fun (any suggestions?)
- Go to the beach!
- Go to the beach!
- Make books!
- Enamel something blue (Ooooooo!)
- Clean my apartment!
- Bake bread!
- Update my Etsy shops!
- Sleep!

I think it's a pretty good list. I'm really looking forward to it. Happy Thursday!

Final Countdown

2011-03-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

So, my show goes up in a week. Things have rapidly degenerated. I've taken to eating peanut butter straight out of the jar and wearing the same sweater on nearly a daily basis. The perpetual nausea seems to be back as well. Awesome.

After I talked to Bob a couple weeks ago, I decided to use a couple more older pieces of work. I decided to just have people model the four pieces made before these past two semesters, and install the eight new neckpieces and the brooches in the gallery. I selected two more older works I wanted to use, and even though I'm re-making one (the original is currently in an exhibition), I felt like I had a new lease on life by not making myself come up with 2 more new pieces!

But this only lasted a few days. And now I'm having serious doubts. I mean, I've made all this work over the past few years, and I'm only going to show 8 pieces and a big ass installation? That's it? Maybe I should show all 12 neckpieces in the gallery. But I already asked people to model and I'm also afraid things will look too crowed in my space. ARG!!!! I keep bouncing back and forth in my head, and I'm pretty sure it all comes down to me trying to prove something I don't need to prove to anyone but myself. I've made the decision, and for better or worse, I'm sticking to it.

So here's the final line up:

On models:

Rock Necklace
Slate Necklace II: Greenville
Gray Prayer
Lightness of Being

On the Wall

Sacra Sancta
Gray Grief: Potato Rock
Salt in the Soul
Flow Like Water
Pilgrimage: Slate, Sand, Shore
Stillness is Required
Prayer Beads: Becoming
Save Me From Myself
Meditations

Day 2: Panel Discussion

2011-03-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

photo credit Dejan Jovanovic

After Nicole's lecture, all of the presenters and speakers participated in a panel discussion, answering questions compiled by ECU students. ECU grad Marissa Saneholtz acted as moderator.

The first question presented to the panel, and one I was particularly interested in, was: Do you sell everything you make and how do you decide what pieces to keep for your personal collection? Michael Dale Bernard answered the second part of the question immediately with "The ones that don't sell!", while Caroline Gore chooses not to keep any of the work, preferring each piece to go out and live a good life, in a gallery or with friends. Ken Bova felt that you should keep the pieces that speak to you personally. This idea totally speaks to me, since I have pieces that I know I'll never part with, because they are so personal.

photo credit Dejan Jovanovic

Another interesting question posed to the panel was: What would you save if your house/studio were on fire (family and pets not withstanding). Nicole Jacquard answered with an emphatic "Let it all burn!" and several panelists agreed with that sentiment. Mi-Sook Hur choose to save a certain brooch, simply because it would be easy to grab on her way out the door. Many of the panelists though chose to save either partially finished pieces or sketchbooks.

photo credit Dejan Jovanovic

There was a discussion on labels; what do you call yourself? Metalsmith? Jeweler? Goldsmith? Artist? Bob joined in at the point, recollecting how some fought to get "goldsmith" in the title of SNAG. James C. Meyer interjected at that point, stating that with the price of gold being what it is, he no longer puts "goldsmith" on his business card. The panelists talked about their inspirations, emerging artists they're following and making the jump from school to life.

The biggest thing that I think all the panelists tried to impress on us students, or maybe just the biggest thing I took away, was that it doesn't matter what you call yourself, or where you get your inspiration, or who your audience is, as long as you make personal, genuine work, that speaks to you. Notice what you notice, and be true to your own personal vision.

That, and Orca's Curtains.

Spring

2011-03-30T06:14:00.001-07:00

Day 2: Nicole Jacquard Lecture

2011-03-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm a bit behind posting these on this blog. I'm still doing a Symposium post a week over on Crafthaus, but I'll be wrapping it up in the next couple weeks.

After all the workshops were over, everyone took a quick break before heading back to the auditorium for Nicole Jacquard's lecture, Technology and the Politics of the Handmade.

Bob Ebendorf, Nicole Jacquard, and Linda Darty, photo credit Dejan Jovanovic

Nicole gave a fascinating talk, and while I have a little experience with 3-D modeling and rapid prototyping, some of the things Nicole covered were completely new to me. When Nicole gave me her brooches to put in our faculty display, and I was amazed at the colors and patterns that had actually been digitally printed onto the material. So I was super excited that she covered this process in her talk.

Nicole Jacquard, Frost Pins, SLS nylon, silver

Nicole uses the 3-D modeling program Rhinoceros, and exports the digital files to various types of printers. The one she uses the most is a Zcorp machine, which is able to print over a million colors. You can also project images onto the surface, which is how Nicole produces certain effects on her pieces, such as the urn pictured below. Nicole also uses Fused Deposition Modeling - where ABS plastic is extruded through a nozle that is heated and the plastic filament is bonded layer by layer as it builds up the form, Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) where a laser fuses nylon powder together (see Frost Pins, above), and a process similar to Stereo Lithography, where ultraviolet light is used to cure a photo sensitive resin.

Nicole Jacquard, Wallpaper II and III, brooches, Zcorp and silver

Nicole had great process shots in her presentation, both of making models in Rhino, and of the various printing processes she utilizes. I know a lot of metalsmiths tend to get scared off by technology being used to make work sometimes, but I think that Nicole has an excellent approach to combing both traditional metalsmithing with these new technologies. You use this type of technology because there is no other way to get this type of results. 3-D printing is just another tool at our disposal.

Nicole Jacquard, Moon 4am, Zcorp

She covered how her family, their lake house, and her Aunt's bar influenced her work. People who make work about their family always interests me. I sometimes feel like as artists we're supposed to make art about lofty social, historical, political topics and I love it when I come across an artist who is dealing with incredibly personal subject matter and putting it out there for everyone to see. It's like saying that this personal thing is just as important as commentary on the war or the environment.

Nicole also talked about her time in Australia, where she earned a doctorate from RMIT, although she didn't originally intend to. She also had great process shots of this body of work which show just how much handwork still goes in to finished pieces that utilizes a 3-D printing process. Even if is cut out with a milling machine.

Nicole Jacquard, Letters and Notes, Zcorp

I can't speak for everyone, but she left the students at ECU VERY excited about the possibilities of using these technologies. We currently don't offer any type of 3-modeling which I think is a bit of a disservice to our students, especially since we have a 3-D printer on campus. Hopefully, inspiration from Nicole will help us to make steps towards intergrating some of these practices in our own program.

For more on rapid prototyping and 3-D printing check out these sources:

Red Eye Express
http://express.redeyeondemand.com

Solid Concepts
www.solidconcepts.com

Quick Parts
www.quickparts.com

Quote of the Week

2011-03-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

"Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heros of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world."

~Joseph Cambell, The Power of Myth

What a Hoot.

2011-03-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

I'm taking laughter wherever I can get it these days, and one site I go to when I need to lighten the tension a bit is Fuck Yeah Art Student Owl. It's a series of quick two liners about the funnier side of art school, all with the same smoking owl backdrop. A lot of the jokes center around illustration, animation and painting, but every art student can identify with most of the content. The site updates several times a day which is great, since I'm in the mood for constant distraction. This is one of my favorites, something I've personally experienced on more than one occasion:

Go check it out!

And the Winner is. . . .

2011-03-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

. . . . . Laura!!!! This is great for me, since it means I don't have to go to the post office. Congrats Laura! I'll be leaving a small surprise on your bench!

Thank you all for for you comments and input! In the end I decided to go with one card with the Pilgrimage detail, and one with the Sacra Sancta detail. Both Sacra Sancta images had the same number of votes, but I decided to go with the detail shot, since it showed off the enameling better. The Gray Grief detail is actually on the back of the Pilgimage card.

I got my cards ordered yesterday and they should be here by the end of the week! If you'd like me to mail you one, make sure I have you address!

Thanks again!

Postcard Problems

2011-03-17T12:29:00.001-07:00

So I need to order postcards, like yesterday, but I'm having a hard time choosing an image (or 2). So here's my top five. I'm leaning towards the Pilgrimage Detail, and one of Sacra Santa, but I can decide between the full view or the detail.

Sacra Sancta

Sacra Sancta Detail

Pilgrimage Detail

Meditation Green and White

Meditation Red

Gray Grief Detail

What do you think? Leave me a comment telling me your favorite or favorites by 5pm tomorrow and I'll select one person at random and send them something cool. I'm not sure what, but it'll be cool.

Happy Thursday!

Mineral Eye Candy

2011-03-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

Love, love loving this site of fantastic mineral images. I'd like to learn how to render these in china paints, eventually.

Quote of the Week

2011-03-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

"I assume that like any other meaningful effort, the ritual involves sacrifice, the suppression of self-consciousness, and a certain precise tilt of the will, so that the will becomes transparent and hollow, a channel for the work. . . . It is noble work, and beats, from any angle, selling shoes."

~Annie Dillard, from Teaching a Stone to Talk

Spring Break

2011-03-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

I was on Spring Break all this week. It was probably the most unspectacular Spring Break of my academic career. Not only did I not do anything fun, I also got virtually no work done. I honestly don't know what I did, except clean my apartment, run errands, sleep A LOT, and spent several fruitless hours searching for a dress for my opening.

I finally gave myself permission to not do anything thesis related for a couple days, and took off to Goose Creek State Park yesterday afternoon. It was a much needed trip out of town, but forcibly reminded me how much I'm going to miss North Carolina. I don't know where I'm headed after graduation, but I'm looking all over, and staying here seems unlikely. I just hope I like the next place as much as I like it here.

Quote of the Week

2011-03-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

People keep asking me if I have to have 12 neckpieces and an installation and I always answer yes. And here's why:

"The number thirteen is the number of transformation and rebirth. . . Thirteen is the number of getting out of the field of the bounds of twelve into the transcendent."

~Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

So, entirely self imposed, but just as much a requirement as anything set forth by the graduate school. Maybe more so. If I don't make it, I don't make it, and I think I'll be ok. But if I do make it, it will make my thesis that much more connected.

Progress Report

2011-03-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

With Pictures! I got a new camera a few weeks ago, but I've been without one for so long, I'm out of the habit of taking pictures. I keep forgetting I have a sweet new camera.

I finally finished Flow Like Water, and I've got another piece Save Me From Myself, ready to be put together. I think I know what I'm doing for the next one, but I don't feel confident about it for some reason. I don't feel super great about Save Me From Myself either, but I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm just getting burnt out. I've gotten most of the thesis paper down, and I'm waiting for edits, and as for the wall brooches, I've been banging them out over the past couple days, and I only need 34 more. Cake.

So, once I finish all these things up, that leaves me with 3 more neck pieces to complete. The problem is, I don't know what they are. It's freakin' me out!!! I've got some pieces/parts, including some crystalline looking electroforms from some wax I carved. I'm really happy with these, but again, I don't know what to do with them yet. I keep telling myself that I'm wound too tight, and that if I just relax, it'll come to me. But I'm running out of time. . .

I still need to order postcards and insect pins, write about the pieces I haven't made yet, decide how I'm going to attach the neckpieces to the wall and find a dress to wear to my opening! Yikes!

Thanks for reading!

Quote of the Week

2011-03-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

"Because finally the personal
is all that matters,
we spend years describing stones,
chairs, abandoned farm houses-
until we're ready. Always
it's a matter of precision,
what it feels like
to kiss someone or to walk
out the door. How good it was
to practice on stones
which were things we could love
without weeping over."

~Stephen Dunn, Essay on the Personal

Day 2: Slip Casting with Lisa Johnson

2011-03-02T05:51:00.000-08:00

So, as I said before, symposium participants attend two out of three workshops per day, which means there's going to be one workshop that you have to miss. Unfortunately, I missed Lisa Johnson's slip casting workshop. You just can't do it all. But I'm going to do my best with what I have at hand.

Photo by Dejan Jovanovic

Lisa was kind enough to put a hand out up on the symposium blog a couple weeks before the event. I went ahead a printed out a copy because even though I knew I wasn't going to be able to make it to her workshop, you just never know when this sort of information might come in handy. The handout is very comprehensive, complete with diagrams of every step, names of artists who use slip casting for sculpture, and tips on selecting an object to mold.

Photo by Dejan Jovanovic

Lisa's workshop took place down in the ceramics studio. This was the first time we had a workshop in another department's studio. All the other workshops take place either in our undergraduate studio, or in the neighboring Art Education classrooms. I thought this went great with our theme of material topics. Last year we had a couple workshops that dealt with found objects and unconventional materials. It seems like this year the workshops focused on more traditional media (wood, painting, ceramics) but adapted for jewelry. It's an interesting dynamic.

Photo by Dejan Jovanovic

Ceramic is a great material on it's own, but it's great to see it combined with metals in a contemporary. I got to see some of Lisa's finished work up close and personal, and she does a great job combining the two. Transition points are always difficult (at least for me) especially when dealing with two different media, but Lisa handles it effortlessly. She brought a necklace for the small present exhibit, comprised of ceramic hand grenades with fabricated metal tops, and a fabricated metal chain. I loved this piece. It was the perfect marriage of materials. I love how Lisa doesn't just limit herself to one medium of the other. She enjoys both, excels at both and allows herself to create work with both materials. I think as metalsmiths we can sometimes get caught up in having to use metal, or mostly metal.

Lisa Johnson, Indiana Princess Wedding Ring

Also, I love this punch bowl. I think it's hysterical. I would have loved to have seen it in person, but I'm sure it was too big to bring all the way from Indiana for just two days. I love that Lisa makes work with a certain sense of humor. Humorous work is a tricky thing.

Lisa Johnson, For the Birds Punch Bowl

I'm sorry I didn't get to see Lisa's workshop, but grateful for the little time I did get to interact with her and for the chance to see her amazing work. If any one out there got to see Lisa's workshop I would LOVE to hear your comments about it!!!

Etsy Adds

2011-02-28T06:30:00.000-08:00

So I finally got some new pieces listed in my Etsy shops. Mostly necklaces in the jewelry shop; earrings and rings will come later this week. And new to the paper shop, handmade books! These are small blank books, good for whatever. They come in sets of three at this point and I have a variety of covers to pick from. I have a bunch of single books, and I can't decide if I want to list them separately, or as a group where you can pick the three you want. What do you think?

Happy Monday!

Progress Report

2011-02-25T09:02:00.000-08:00

Wow, February is coming to a RAPID close, which give me only about another 6 weeks until D-Day. My thesis paper has to be submitted by April 15th, which is also the same say as the opening for my exhibition. I am running out of time.

I feel like I had a fairly productive week, despite feeling a bit under the weather. But there's always tons more to be done. Here's my "To Do" list for the weekend:

- Finish Flows Like Water
- Finish Save Me from Myself
- Finish first draft of thesis paper
- Empty dishwasher
- Fold Laundry
- Cook an actual meal
- Take some pictures with my new camera
- Update my Etsy Sites
- Spend some time outside
- Get wicked drunk (by "get wicked drunk", I mean have one beer and fall asleep)
- Watch the Oscars

A tall order, but I think it can be done. Happy weekend!

Thesis People

2011-02-22T05:16:00.000-08:00

I mentioned yesterday that there's 11 MFA's showing in the Gray Gallery this spring. Since we all felt that the show cards the gallery puts out have been kinda lame in the past, we decided to try something a little different. I blame Laura Wood; she's such a mover and a shaker. The first idea was something with our faces, or a group shot like this one. And while I'm very opposed to having my face on anything, it is kind of nice to have a shot of the people I'm graduating with (minus the two who unfortunately couldn't make the meeting).

Our second idea was to have everyone bring a tool, and then take some images of those. I like these much better, and I hope we go with one of those. I'm going to be ordering postcards of my own, and I think I have my image picked out. I plan on ordering them in a couple weeks, so if you'd like one in the mail, let me know your mailing address and I'll be sure to send you one!

Numbers

2011-02-21T15:03:00.003-08:00

There's about 13 MFA's graduating from the ECU School of Art this semester, and 11 of us are showing in the school's main gallery, the Gray Gallery. It's a fairly large gallery, but with eleven people, space is a little tight. Especially with three sculptors, a textile artist, a wood artist, a painter, two ceramists, and three metals grads. Two of us work larger than your typical metalsmith, and the third is displaying her work on vintage furniture.

Well, we had a meeting this morning to divide up the gallery and pick spots. It actually went rather smoothly, and everyone seems pleased with the floor plan we came up with. I'm getting the enclosed space that I want, those who need floor space have it, those who need walls have walls.

So now that I have a better idea of the space I actually have, I can figure out how much work I need to make. I'd still like to have 12 neckpieces (I currently have 7.5) but I wanted to know just exactly how many wall brooches I need to have by April. I did the math and played around with spacing and came up with 190 to fill the one wall that I have. I'm going to round up to 200 because a few always seem to fall apart when I pull them out of the box, and this way I can cull out some of the weaker ones when I go to install.

It feels good to have a more defined goal. Although I am still near panicking about the amount of work left to do. I have started my thesis paper, but it is going s-l-o-w-l-y. I've started putting together neckpiece #7 and I have #8 designed and the parts made, but not finished.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Progress Report

2011-02-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

It's Thursday and I'm tired. But, I've accomplished a few things this week, so I'm feeling semi-ok.

I got a new computer last week, and on Monday I got all my backed up files. I also ordered a camera this week, so I'm on my way back to being normal. I finished up two application packets and got them in the mail, and I finished up my printmaking incomplete from last semester. I had a couple great conversations on curating the other day and sat in on the Enameling I crit today. I finished a neckpiece and made about a dozen wall brooches. I got a page of word vomit for my thesis paper. I've gotten nearly enough sleep and eaten some relatively nutritious food.

I also made a bunch of charms just because that's what I felt like doing. I'm not even going to tell you how many, since I'm kind of embarrassed I spent so much time on them when I need to be doing other things. I've also started a sketchbook of collages centered around color schemes for enameling. They look really good, but again, this is not something I need to be spending my time on. I don't know what my problem is.

I've also listened to this song about 50 times.

Happy Weekend.

Day 2: Mineral Pigments with Ken Bova

2011-02-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

We're very lucky to have Ken Bova with us this year, since Linda is abroad with a group of students in Italy. And while we miss Linda very much, we're all super happy about working with Ken, so we asked if he would teach a workshop at this year's symposium.

Ken Instructing Us on Color

Ken has recently been working with mineral pigment temperas which he mixes himself. I've heard him talk a little bit about it, so I was very excited to see his demo. He started off with a brief power point on the history of mineral pigments as used in Renaissance manuscript illumination. It was really fascinating, especially since these things are still intact today. Works done uses this technique last for centuries or more.

Demo Table

Ken's work table was AMAZING! Colors, gold leaf, rocks and small vials of mysterious powers, some of my favorite things! His samples were simply stunning. I found myself not really caring what kind of jewelry he's made using this technique; I just wanted his sample sheets to frame and hang on my wall.

Tiny Mineral Pigment Paintings

A painter at an artists residency he was attending told Ken her secret to egg tempera. This egg tempera recipe has been handed down from master to student for centuries, and Ken was nice enough to put in all in a handout for us! He also had a recipe for sizing or mordant, the adhesive used in gold leafing, which he also demonstrated. Ken talked at length about color theory, and the minerals he uses, which provide a very specific color range.

Ken Applying Gold Leaf.

Ken showed us how to make the gold leaf sizing, how to apply the leaf, how to grind minerals and how to make the actual egg tempera. This involved Ken doing the most incredible thing with an egg that I've ever seen, and I can't really describe. All I can say is that it took him three tries and he was somehow left with just the egg yolk, absolutely no white. We were all super impressed. After he mixed him color, Ken showed us how to apply it to the paper in thin, even coats.

Ken Bova, (you can get )From There to Here

Ken's workshop was incredibly comprehensive and I can't believe how much testing and troubleshooting he's done on this really obscure (at least for jewelry) technique. I know some artists (myself included) that can be a bit proprietary with their methods, but I think Ken literally told us everything he knew about this subject that he's spent so much time testing and perfecting. I'm excited to see where he goes with this.

Be sure to check out Ken's brand new website!

Thanks for reading!

Ken Bova, Earrings

Quote of the Week

2011-02-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

"Therefore the sage produces
without possessing,
Acts without expectations
And accomplishes without abiding in her accomplishments.

It is precisely because she does not abide in them
That they never leave her."

~Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching

I got three rejections in four days, which, I understand is all part of being an artist, but it just seemed like a lot in not a lot of time. Plus, it absolutely wiped out any shred of confidence I may have had in the batch of applications I just sent out, even though I know there are a bunch of different factors that go into who gets chosen for what. I feel like I have to constantly remind myself why I make my work in the first place, because it's main purpose is not to get into shows. I get too caught up in this stuff, and I wonder if it gets any easier as you progress in your career?

Google Art

2011-02-13T14:53:00.000-08:00

I know we all love Google for various reasons, including Google Images, but a friend of mine showed me another super cool Google tool. Google's "Art Project" links you to some of the greatest art museums and galleries in the world, including the MoMA, the Uffizi, the National Gallery and the Hermitage. You can take a virtual tour, click on individual paintings and zoom in right up close so you can see the brushwork. You can even make your own personal art collection and add notes.It's pretty incredible. Check it out!!!!

Day 2: Wood Carving with Dan DiCaprio

2011-02-11T11:57:00.000-08:00

After Caroline's lecture, everyone dispersed into the workshops. For the workshops, we have three people present on Saturday, and they teach the same workshop twice. Students choose ahead of time which two workshops they would like to attend. We do the same thing for Sunday's workshops, with three new presenters. So, students get to attend 4 out of 6 total workshops. Not too shabby.Dan demonstrating at the bandsaw.

My first workshop of the day was Dan DiCaprio's Woodcarving for Jewelry. Dan started off with a brief power point on his work and the work of some other artists who carve wood on a jewelry scale. I really enjoyed his process images, which documented each step he takes in creating a piece, from layout, to final finishing. It was also really great to see the work of other jewelry artists using wood, and helped me understand the context of Dan's work a lot better.Pieces in Progress

Dan took us through his entire process, starting with glueing his basic shape to a piece of wood. Next is cutting out the shape with the bandsaw. He gave a lot of tips on how to get into tight curves and how to safely cut something small and/or curved on the bandsaw. I always viewed the bandsaw as a tool for just roughing things out, so it was really cool to see just how well Dan thinks out his final product at this stage in the process, and how detailed he can get at this early in the process.Carving with a bur.

Dan then demonstrated carving and finishing the wood with burs and a flex shaft. I never realized that most of his forms are actually hollow, and he talked a little bit about at what point in the process he slices the form in half in order to carve the interior, then glue it back together. He talked about an easy method of repairing cracks in the wood, and shared resources for materials and tools. Last, he showed us how he inlays silver into the surface of the wood, and talked about adding pin mechanisms.

Dan Dicaprio, Wrap, Ebony and Silver, 2" x 3" x 1.5", Courtesy of Charon Kransen Arts

I found Dan's workshop fascinating. Even though our time in grad school at ECU overlapped by one semester and we still keep in touch, I guess I never realized how little I actually knew about Dan's work, other than I love it. I'm always impressed by people that can carve like this, since I have such a hard time thinking subtractively. I'm very much an additive person. But the methodical detail Dan puts into each piece, how considered every aspect is from the very beginning, amazes me, since I have a completely different way of working. All that care and thought into making something that looks so simple, elegant, and effortless.

But I guess that's what it's all about.

Dan Dicaprio, Curl, Ebony and Silver, 2" x 3" x 1.5", Courtesy of Charon Kransen Arts