Featured Artist: Joshua Craig

Over the past month or so, you may have noticed, I've mentioned Joshua Craig's name several times. He is a new graduate student of ECU's metals and jewelry program. I've gotten to know him more over the past month and seen his influence and presence have an effect in the grad program and also undergrad studio.

Needless to say, I'm very happy he chose to attend ECU. His work is, to use one of my favorite words, KICK-ASS!

I really love his vessels and enamel work. Josh has a great breadth of work - going from chased bowls to thread-wrapped spiculums.

Most recently, he gave me one of his brooches that I was coveting for a long time. I pretty much told him to give it to me but he was very gracious to actually pretend like he didn't notice!!!

Anywho, check out some of his work below...you'll be enchanted.

The brooch above, is simply beautiful.

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stonesetting

Today in my Casting class Tim Lazure showed us how he sets faceted stones in a tube setting.

I really enjoyed it because Tim has such an easy and approachable method for many jewelry techniques.

I won't go into detail, however here is a shot of where I plan on putting my cubic zirconia tube set stones.
This brooch will be one in a series of 5 for my casting class. Luckily, Tim extended the due date for another week. Oh and I have a jewelry box due in wood...where am I going to find the time?? Pin It

brooch

almost with the brooch at my bench yesterday and now wearing it today! Pin It

My updated resume

I've finally decided to update my resume, especially after working at Emerge Gallery as a metals instructor. And also because I don't have my old website anymore. So here it is for your viewing pleasure.
lisettefee.metalsmith2010 Pin It

Smithsonian Craft2Wear

Okay, so the music is sucky for this video but I will miss seeing all the work up front at the Annual Smithsonian Craft Show.

I worked several times as an assistant for Biba Schutz at her booth and loved trying on all of her jewelry. The last show I worked I finally bought a ring. And it's my precioussssssssss treasure. Yes I'm a Lord of the Rings dork!

***You can view more of Biba's work here.

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Dior jewelry

I have to share this video that I found from Kaleidoscope blog by Katie Jayne Britchford. She also has a video post on Chanel Jewelry.

It's amazing to get an inside view on how major fashion houses create their jewelry. Check it out!

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how to patina copper

Check out this awesome how-to-Patina copper demo.

Just got this via Crafthaus via Rachel Timmins vimeo profile.

Rachel Gives A Patina Demo At Towson University For The Metals Club from rachel timmins on Vimeo.

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cluster

So for Bob Ebendorf's mixed media class our 2nd assignment was 'cluster' - to create a piece that displays a cluster of objects or found material. Once again, I struggled with what I wanted to use and how to arrange it.

I went back to my beautiful black coral and worked on a chased silver backing. I'm almost done but it's not entirely what I envisioned. That's okay though, as with art, it can change you and where you originally intended it to be.

*Above is a wide shot of some of my classmate and my work that has yet to be completed. Can you spot mine? Pin It

Featured Artist: Andrew Kuebeck

Andrew's work is phenomenal and I had the pleasure of getting to know him better this weekend, as he was visiting a mutual friend here in town. Andrew is currently a metals graduate student at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.

His work combines imagery of himself as well as explorations of the male human body in movement. My favorite of Andrew's work is his latest piece, Finally Coming Home. The necklace has a gritty however hopeful feeling.

Here are several shots of his work. You can view more on his Crafhaus page.


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me lucky charms!

Several weeks ago the ECU metals guild held our 5th charms swap (beginning to lose count of how many we've held!). We had a great turnout, with several of the new grad students joining us, along with Ken Bova, visiting metals instructor.
Josh Craig's 'legwarmer/spiculum brooch' below, Sarah West's silver honeycomb and several others I can't remember.A wooden charm and silver nutbolt charm from 2 undergrad metal students.
Mine is below (with the purple and red riveted beads), Tara Locklear's cement and painted jewels along with Ken Bova's fun saw frame.
I really enjoy the charms swaps, it's a great way for us to get away from the studio in a more informal setting and marvel at our different styles. So far I have 4 charms, it's fun to show them off and represent each other. Pin It

my first cast piece

I'm so excited, I could barely leave the school to come back to work (blah).

Several of us (in Casting I) did it together, as one person melts the silver the 'assistant' inserts the flask and lets the wound up piece of the machine go. I could use more consistent metal terms but for the basics of this post, I'm not.

It felt like Christmas as I cleaned out the flask and plaster.

I'm still fleshing out the designs for these pieces but I am seriously pumped! Pin It

Indian summer

A beach wedding to end the summer/beginning of Fall and cold weather. Pin It

Going with the grain

So I've been making a rectangular box in my wood survey class at ECU. It's taken awhile, as there are about 12 students in the class and we did all different size boxes and that means the machines are being used at the same time or because of safety issues we need our teacher to help us.

At first I was a little scared of the machines, such as a table saw, miter saw, planer and jointer. The miter saw was especially scary because of the large blade and sound. But I'm getting more comfortable.

It's hard to make a wooden box! Below is a shot of the box glued together and sanded with rough 150 grit paper and then I'll move up. And I still have to make the lid! ack. Wish me luck.
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feeling bookish

My coffee table is littered with books, and it's like candy when I get home, which do I want to read first and then stop and pick up next?


Here are several that I'm reading:
Art Forms from the Ocean by Ernest Hackel

I bought this mainly for more inspiration and to educate myself on enchanting undersea creatures. As you have seen, I'm all about ocean forms in my work!






Russian Legends: Folk Tales and Fairy Tales by David Jackson, Patty Wageman and Ellen Rutten.

My friend Josh Craig loaned me this book. And it has beautiful images and stories.

The theme of fairy tales and imagery has also been showing up in my life, since I LOVE fantasy movies and stories. Along with my order of books I got Pan's Labyrinth, which I have so much more to post on later.







And on to my most recently acquired and prized books, Jewel by Tanel Veenre an exhibition in print.

I was able to get this book due to Charon Kranson's visit to ECU and sending us many juicy jewelry books that aren't available either stateside, out of print or just too expensive to order from half way across the globe!

I really, really dig Tanel's work, he uses a mix of organic, semi-precious and odd materials.

I've got one more book but can't remember the title, I'll post that tomorrow but for now this is my candy picks for the season. Pin It

bench shot

This past weekend I worked on a test piece for my coral brooch in my mixed media class. The anvil and leather bag I bought years ago and they have really shown their purpose lately. Pin It

tentacles

Above are the 'tentacle' wax molds ready to be sprued. I hollowed out the back, so they aren't so heavy and I don't need to use alot of silver. We'll cast these on Monday and see how they come out.

In the meantime, I'm going to ECU's Metal Guild Charm swap! This time it's going to be a brunch, I'm bringing bacon and spinach quiche.

Here is a quick shot of my charm.
Initially this piece of silver and riveted coral were meant to be a pendant but then I abandoned it for a bit and came back with fresh eyes and decided it was meant to be an odd looking charm.

Another reason I'm excited to attend the charm swap is to show off a brooch my friend made, Josh Craig, he's a new metals grad student. I first noticed Josh's work from Crafthaus and then further when he attended ECU's first Materials Symposium. I'm quite taken by his bowls and now his brooches....hopefully we'll do a trade in the future.

Here's his brooch:
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popping up all over the place

I've been reading more and more in fashion 'zines and blogs about 'Pop-up stores. They sound and seem to generate awesome buzz and revenue for small time artists. Jewelry artists are taking good advantage of this phenomenon to sell their work.

New York Magazine's fashion section has a slideshow of the work and the artist...I'm impressed and happy to see an artist I admire, Sarah Abramson. She's got an impressive and stylistically new line of work.

Check it out: Avant-Garde jewelry at Williamsburg pop up. Pin It