Quote of the Week

"Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."
~Rumi

Tagged

I was tagged on Facecrack, and I thought I would post my facts here as well. Which I can do, 'cause it's my blog and I can do what I want.

Here are my 25 random habits, facts, eccentricities, longings, failings, fears, etc. Enjoy.

1. I didn't major in Geology because I was afraid of taking the Calculus, Physics and Chem. courses.
2. I constantly doubt whether or not I should even try being an artist.
3. I can't not make things. I guess this is why I'm still in art.
4. I got pneumonia when I was a Jr. in High school. I wound up in the hospital for a day and half. It sucked.
5. I wasn't real keen on starting my blog, but now I love it because it makes me think that people are paying attention to me.
6. I am so eternally grateful for my two years at Towson, and so amazingly glad I moved on.
7. I read my favorite books over and over and over again. I read my top favs at least once a year.
8. Some days I just really miss my dog.
9. I'm looking forward to the Watchman movie.
10. I never really understood Jackson Pollack's paintings until I saw one in person.
11. When I was a small child I had a big tractor tire full of sand for my sand box. My older bother had a big pile of sand which I wasn't allowed to play in unless he let me. I was always jealous of this. I made up for it later by playing in my younger cousin's kick ass sandbox.
12. My brother and I played "Art School" when we were little. Go figure.
13. My favorite color is constantly changing. Right now I'm a deep, indigo blue.
14. I was quite infatuated with one of my TAs in undergrad.
15. My favorite class ever was Petrology.
16. I have a pet spiny mouse. He's slightly bigger than a regular mouse and has stiffer, spiny fur on his rump and is incredibly cute.
17. I'm not throwing out my peanut butter Oreos because of salmonella because I've already eaten 1/3 of them and I feel fine.
18. I honestly believe that I'm the only person in the history of the field to start grad school in the spring TWICE.
19. I'm finally beginning to realize how much potential I have and it scares the shit out of me.
20. I can't spell.
21. I hate needles and shots and I tend to hyperventilate and pass out upon getting a shot. This is why I'll never get a tattoo.
22. If I ever did get a tattoo, it would probably be some kind of Zuda tattoo. Or a rock.
23. I'm ususally cold. Like right now.
24. Someday I want sheep. But just two. Nice ones.
25. I'm not going to tag anyone because I believe the people I would tag would get annoyed with me if I did that. If you'd like to be tagged, take this as your open invitation.

Prints and a Vessel

These prints aren't really anything special. Just playing around. All of the little plates that I printed came out of my scrap bin. The vessel has that snotty kind of texture because the chemistry in our electroformer is off. I plan on enameling it, so maybe it won't be so bad.

CPSIA

I borrowed/stole this post from my friend Val over at Bowerbox Press, because I don't think I could say it any better.

"As a maker of handmade things this is hitting close to home. Please read:

The CPSIA stands for Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, a new set of laws that will come into effect on 10 February, 2009 and will impact many, many people in a negative way. Make no mistake, this is very real. View it for yourself. If Forbes, the American Library Association and numerous other media are paying attention, perhaps you should too.

How will these new laws affect you? Well, here are a few examples:

To the Parents of Young Students:
Due to the new law, expect to see the cost of school supplies sky rocket. While those paper clips weren’t originally intended for your student to use, they will need to be tested now that your 11-year-old needs them for his school project. This law applies to any and all school supplies (textbooks, pencils, crayons, paper, etc.) being used by children under 12.

To the Avid Reader:
Due to the new law, all children’s books will be pulled from library and school shelves, as there is no exemption for them. That’s okay though, there’s always television. Our children don’t need to learn the love of reading after all.
Article from the American Library Association http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322

To the Lover of All Things Handmade:
Due to the new law, you will now be given a cotton ball and an instruction manual so you can make it yourself since that blanket you originally had your eye on for $50 will now cost you around $1,000 after it’s passed testing. It won’t even be the one-of-a-kind blanket you were hoping for. Items are destroyed in the testing process making one-of-a-kind items virtually impossible. So that gorgeous hand-knit hat you bought your child this past winter won’t be available next winter.

To the Environmentalist:
Due to the new law, all items in non-compliance will now be dumped into our already overflowing landfills. Imagine not just products from the small business owners, but the Big Box Stores as well. You can’t sell it so you must toss it. Or be potentially sued for selling it. You can’t even give them away. If you are caught, it is still a violation.

To the Second-Hand Shopper:
Due to the new law, you will now need to spend $20 for that brand new pair of jeans for your 2-year old, rather than shop at the Goodwill for second hand. Many resale shops are eliminating children’s items all together to avoid future lawsuits.

To the Entrepreneur:
Due to this new law, you will be forced to adhere to strict testing of your unique products or discontinue to make and/or sell them. Small businesses will be likely to be unable to afford the cost of testing and be forced to close up shop. Due to the current economic state, you’ll have to hope for the best when it comes to finding a new job in Corporate America.

To the Antique Toy Collector:
Due to the new law, you’d better start buying now because it’s all going to private collection and will no longer be available to purchase. “Because the new rules apply retroactively, toys and clothes already on the shelf will have to be thrown out if they aren’t certified as safe.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123189645948879745.html

To the American Economy:
Already struggling under an economy that hasn’t been this weak in decades, the American economy will be hit harder with the inevitable loss of jobs and revenues from suppliers, small businesses and consumers. The required testing is far too costly and restrictive for small businesses or individuals to undertake.

To the Worldwide Economy:
Due to this new law, many foreign manufacturers have already pulled out of the US market. You can imagine the impact of this on their businesses.

If you think this is exaggerating, here is a recent article from Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/16/cpsia-safety-toys-oped-cx_wo_0116olson.html

And for those of you prepared to be stupefied and boggled, The New Law
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html

Did you know? If this upsets or alarms you, please react."

It's things like this that make me lose all faith in everything.

Sketchbook Project Up Date

So, awhile back I posted about signing up for the Sketchbook Project, by Art House. I'm about 2/3 of the way through. Hopefully I'll be motivated enough to finish it by the end of the week, so I can get it in the mail and cross it off my list. I'm trying to strike a balance between sketching work I've made or would like to make, and sketching the work of people I know (the theme is "Everyone We Know").

Valentines

So on my snow days, I managed to make some Valentines. Available in my etsy shop.
I really need to work on my picture taking.

Quote of the Week

"The sense of danger must not disappear:
The way is certainly both short and steep
However gradual it looks from here;
Look if you like, but you will have to leap."

from Leap Before You Look, by W. H. Auden


*This was more applicable a few weeks ago, but I still like the sound of it.

Tea House

Found via flickr.

Sketching is one thing, but actual drawing is quite another. These are drawings for a mezzotint and an etched line print that I'm going to do. I'm much happier with the sketches than I am with the drawings. Luckily, since the school doesn't open until noon today because of the snow, I didn't have my meeting with my print instructor, and I've got a little more time to work on these.

Snow Day?

I've been waiting and waiting for snow this winter (yeah, I know, I'm a little crazy). It only snowed once in Baltimore before I left, and it snowed New Year's Eve, while I was at home in PA. I was convinced that I wouldn't see snow again for quite sometime, but miracle of miracles it's snowing in North Carolina!
When I got up this morning school had already been canceled, even though you could still see the grass. It did pick up a little later in the morning, but it's still not anything worth shutting the town down for in my opinion. But hey, I'll take another day off, to finish up some stuff I didn't do on my already long weekend, and maybe take some time to sit in my window and enjoy this while I can.
Happy snow day everyone!

Featured!

Thanks to LethaColleen for posting my work of her blog The Pursuit of Happiness!

Considering...

I'd really like to used some rough diamonds in a piece of mine. What I'd ideally like are the cubes that a drilled all the way through, but I'm wondering if I could stretch them out with some diamond chips.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way Through the Airport. . .

So I lent this piece to a friend of mine, who was going out to California to spend some time with a with a well respected enamelist. She had the piece packed up with some other work and had to unpack the whole thing when she went through security and apparently my necklace didn't pass! Security told my friend that she couldn't take it on the plane. She had to leave it in a locker!

I find this whole thing hysterical! I thought about reasons why my piece might not have passed security and the only thing that I can come up with (and this may be stretching it) is that they couldn't identify the materials on the string. But whatever the reason, I still find it hilarious that I made work that's not allowed to fly!

"These God Made Things."

Today I critiqued with Simon Cottrell. One of the first things he said about my work was that making rocks was almost like an act of God. Not saying that I'm god like, or even anything spectacular, but referring to the fact that I make these naturally occurring objects with some degree of realism. It brought to mind a phrase someone else used to describe my work; speaking of my bits and pieces and replica rocks as "these god made things."

After kicking these things around in my head I began to wonder if there is a more spiritual side to these things that I make. I wonder if on some deeper, almost sub-conscious level making this type of work is my way of paying homage to whatever power put these magnificent things here in the first place.

But I also wonder if this is a level of the work that I even need to understand. I think it certainly plays a part, but it's not my main aim for the work (Although I think one of my aims is to get people to see rocks/geology with the same amazement and reverence and curiosity that I do.) I just wonder how many levels of meaning a work has to have before it's deemed "good" or even "well thought out"? And how many of these levels of meaning does the artist have to think through or consider? Especially since the viewer will bring their own levels of meaning to the piece no matter how clear the artist thinks they're being.

I don't know. Maybe this is an attempt at looking at the work through a different lense. Maybe it fits, maybe it doesn't. Maybe this is just an attempt to sound smarter than I really am.

Comic Relief

Domestic Abuse

Process Shot of the Week

Since I'm still settling in both at the studio and my new apartment, I haven't really done much in terms of art making except sketch. I'm doing an independent study in printmaking, where I intend on really focusing on intaglio. I've been wanting to do a sexy little mezzotint for some time now, but never made the time for it, so that's where I'm going to start. Here are just a couple sketches. I've been sketching these stacked rock forms and stacking some of my actual rocks. I'm sure that means something, but I'm not sure what.

So this is a picture of my new hot pot.
In my new studio space.
At my new school.

After 2 years at Towson, I finally decided it wasn't the right place for me, and jumped at an amazing opportunity that came my way to be part of the grad program in metal design at East Carolina University.

While I'm grateful for my time at Towson and all the fantastic, wonderful people that I met there and will miss, I'm really excited about this next step on my journey. Also, I'm excited about being near the beach!

Now that the craziness of applying to grad school, finishing up finals, the holidays and moving is over and the new semester is getting underway, I hope to be back on a more regular blogging schedule. Thanks for stickin' with me, dear readers. I hope this next big adventure doesn't disappoint.

*pst- check out more pics of my new space on flickr*