Stanley William Hayter

I didn't know much about the Surrealist painter, Stanley William Hayter, until today.

I saw this photo in an artist magazine and all I knew is that I loved the way he drew the figure with a background of wild colors.

Here is a brief bio (via wikipedia):
Stanley William Hayter, CBE (born Dec. 27, 1901, London died May 4, 1988, Paris) was a British painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with Surrealism and from 1940 onward with Abstract Expressionism.^[1] Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of the 20th century, in 1927 Hayter founded the legendary Atelier 17 studio in Paris. Since his death in 1988, it has been known as Atelier Contrepoint.^[2] Among the artists Hayter was credited with influencing were Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko.

I began this piece almost a year ago in my 2nd enamel class with Abby Goldblatt at the Art League school via the Torpedo Factory in Old Town, Alexandria.

In my initial sketches I planned on riveting tubes on each point to put a jump ring and triangular chain. Then as worked with the piece and it grew...my plans changed. And I decided to use fabric of some sort.
I sewed the 2 pieces together and then 'threaded' the black goat leather to create a chain and then sewed bra strap pins as a clasp. I know it sounds odd but I wanted the leather to be seamless the enamel piece to be the center of attention. Overall, I love this piece and will rock it out!

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drawings

Here are some muscle drawings I did last night. I really didn't want to do them at first and then afterwards I loved them. It's all about procrastination.

Drawing is so meditative, listening to music and shaping the line.

And here is a photo of another champleve pendant I'm working on. The last champleve I worked on was very tedious but absolutely beautiful.
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The Marzee Collection at St. Andrews

Oh man, I wish they had more footage, I ate up this video of the Marzee collection,

"Galerie Marzee in the Netherlands, will be celebrating its 30th anniversary over the next year and this will be billed as one of the anniversary events. The gallery is the largest known gallery in the world dedicated to innovative contemporary jewellery (its displays extend over 4 floors of a former grain store) and its director, Marie-José van den Hout has built an extensive collection of some of the best international contemporary jewellery over the last 30 years. "

The Marzee Collection at St Andrews from Galerie Marzee on Vimeo.

The conversation in this video reminds me of one I was having with my Mom last week, when I visited my parents over spring break. Talking about how I used to play in her jewelry box and try on everything and ask when I was going to get it.

Now, I await anxiously for when my Mom gives me one of her pieces of jewelry. She's collected them over the years from Taiwan, Japan, Panama, Argentina, Peru...on and on and on.

Anywho, enjoy the video! Pin It

SNAG video

Arthur Hash, is a metals lecturer at SUNY New Paltz and put together this awesome video of the juried student's work for the SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths) conference this year in Houston, TX.

SNAG 2010 from arthur hash on Vimeo.

Check out all the great talent across the U.S. working in metals/jewelry. *the music choice is very good as well.

Be on the look out for ECU Grad talent: Marissa Saneholtz, Laura Wood, Liz Steiner and Jennifer Wells. Pin It

I've finally set up Paypal on my website!

It really wasn't that hard...but y'know how when you have to do something that you think is going to be SO much work and when you do it, you say to yourself, "that wasn't so bad?"!

well that is exactly how it was with setting up Paypal and now I'm on a roll! I've been uploading images of recent work that I've had for awhile!

I uploaded my 'broken heart series' of pendants and one brooch and I'm just so excited to let my sister-in-law know because she lives in the very-uber hip Brooklyn and her friends have been asking her where she got her bad-ass pendant? Moi!

Now, the next step in all of this is getting better images. I grumble everytime I photograph work with my lil' camera that doesn't have the mega-watt superpower of all my friends cameras. In addition, good photos are SOOOOO important, just as important as the work itself.

anywho, I'm on spring break and just having a very nice time laying around in my pajamas all day and getting some work done. Oh and of course, watching trashy cable! Pin It

What inspires you?

Barn Owl
Originally uploaded by BigBrotherBear

For me, inspiration varies from a song, belief to most often animals and more to the point birds.

Their wings, eyes and the odd shapes and colors that birds come in gets my creative juices going. Like this barn owl which I found while flipping thru photos on flickr. Ray Barlow has absolutely beautiful images of birds, several owls which fascinate me the most.
This barn owl is so elegant and regal.

So back to inspiration. What I've found common on most artists websites and blogs is that they find inspiration from nature; which is natural for us as humans but to me it's animals that intrigue me.

Last night I was flipping through a magazine and came across 2 elk, the position of the 2 elk and the way their horns intersected provided a very interesting negative shape providing me with a new pendant design.

What get's you going and excited to create?

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what I've been working on lately

Most of my recent posts have been about other people, while I haven't really written much about what I'm doing. So here's a brief update!

My drawing class is going well, I draw really well when it's a bone or imitation drawing but I struggle with drawing nude models.


Bob Ebendorf has been gone for a week to the west, for the Yuma symposium. While he's been gone our assignment was to create an object 2D or 3D object using folded paper.

After my sub-par spoons I really wanted to kick ass on this project, I thought I was with my grand idea of imitating a birds wing but now I'm not so sure. I find it boring...you can see for yourself.
I like the colors but perhaps I could've gone smaller with the feathers at the top?

As for jewelry, I've been gearing up for my weekend trip to VA/DC to visit friends and host a 'jewelry/brunch' with my girlfriends. I'm very excited to see all my old friends and show them what I've been working on.

I decided to continue with the hearts, they're easy, fast and fun!

The threading is working really nicely with the entire heart motif.

I am also making some nice silver jewelry, rings and pendants with some new stones I bought. I didn't take a picture of those but I will soon.

Happy Monday! Pin It