The Gray Area

I'm really, really loving the discussion over at Jewelry Art Forum, they're blogging the Gray Area Symposium, held in Mexico City... ‘stands as an endeavour to not only encourage the cultural exchange among jewellery makers from Latin America and Europe, but to additionally create an interdisciplinary frame of reference for contemporary jewellery and its practices within a truly multinational discourse’.

The Gray Area Symposium is a result of the Walking the Gray Area project/blog which in their own words is to 'carry out a dialogue about global mobility, identities and contemporary jewellery. The dialogue will result in an exhibition to be presented in Mexico City, April 2010.'
*Gray area logo

I especially enjoyed reading the review of Ecuadorian Anthropologist's Xavier Andrade discussion on the functions of jewelry in Latin America and how it is a part of the process in culture. I wish I could've been at the symposium myself to hear his talk as well as other parts of the symposium.

Having myself grown up in Latin America: Uruguay, Panama and El Salvador I saw the symbolism of culture in jewelry, the Pre-Colombian gold jewelry as well as the handicrafts of locals using natural/found materials.
Jewelry, as much as ceramics, is a very important element in the studies of Anthropology. Telling rich stories about the people of a given region. I could write an essay on this (maybe I will...) but for now, I'll propose the question, what story(ies) does your jewelry hold? Pin It

Otherworld creatures

That is what Christy Langer's sculptures remind me of. In Celtic myth if a person saw a white creature with red eyes they were said to be in the Otherworld (aka. heaven).

Christy was recently featured on The Shooting Gallery's blog. I'm a huge fan of getting insight into an artist's studio and how they work.

Some of her sculptures show animals in motion, as if being attacked or attacking another animal in the wild. They are absolutely beautiful and more captivating painted white with red eyes.

*I'm not posting photos as they are copyrighted so please read more of the interview and view images on the Shooting Gallery's site.


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Charmed, I'm sure!

Last night one of the undergrad metal students, Tara Locklear, held a charm swap, and it was super fun. We'd been attempting to organize one with the entire guild but it just got so busy in the studio so Tara just said anyone come that wants to exchange a charm. It's a wonderful way for us to keep a memento of each other and represent their work. I got a charm from Laritza Garcia, a graduate student.

The charm I made was somewhat of a test piece for future work of moth wings. I chased lines and pierced it and then enameled soft blues and purples. It came out nice. All of us agreed that we want to do more charm swaps. Pin It

scrap or something new?

Whenever I get stuck or take a break or when I'm waiting for something to dry or pickle, I go through my bench drawers to see what I've put away for another time.

In January I was working on my broken hearts and I had been working on one brooch that wasn't working with me. so I took it apart and kept the pin back setting, I thought, this may come in use later as it had a perfectly good pin back setting.

so I took a lil' break and looked at the pin back setting and thought, why not just leave it as is and wear it as a pierced brooch? I did some more piercing, oxidized it and voila! I have something that is just fun and not too serious.
What do you do with scrap or pieces that didn't work immediately? Pin It

Jewelry of the Day: Drown

I just found Drown jewelry via Worn online magazine, via Fashion Hayley (it's amazing what you find once you stumble on a blog to another blog).

Drown jewelry is a side project of Drink Me, Alice, by Australian jewelry designer Alicia. I especially love her Nebula collection made of acrylic, resin, onyx and oxidized metal. I myself have been quite inspired by nebula photographs and beautiful starry photos via National Geographic.

Enjoy!

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currently in the studio

It's chaotic! I spent several hours today working on my champleve pendant but I got out of there as there was a roomful of metal survey students working on their projects...and it can get somewhat cramped.

Here is a process shot of the 3 colors I'm using for the pendant.

I thought about splurging and purchasing more leaded enamels but right now I'm trying to save some money so I stuck with the enamels I have and after testing these three blue/green colors I'm very happy with the combination. To me, the pendant looks like floating sea algae.

I'll post more pictures, close up ones, once I'm done. Pin It

Jem and the Hollograms and Gems

Back in the day when I was a little girl, I LOVED Jem and the Holograms. I'd wake up Saturday mornings, I think around 8am just to watch the show. I wanted to dress like her, basically be her.

One Christmas I got the Jem doll, with light up earrings and a very cool waterbed. She was so rockin'. Anywho, I was watching a video of Jem on youtube and I realized how cool her style is, albeit very 80's but I kinda like it now. I mean, check out the colored hair and neon outfits?!

Her makeup and accessories have me somewhat inspired to make some lightening jewelry...not that I haven't already done that.

For your viewing pleasure here is a video with Le Tigre (one of my fav Feminist bands) singing along to Jem.


Okay for reals, on Gemstones, I just got LarkBooks 500 Gemstone Jewels and it is packed with the most beautiful gemstone jewelry work I've ever seen.

I highly recommend purchasing this book. I flip through it almost daily.
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Gold Rush

Yesterday I was trained at the Jewelry Doctor, a repair shop in Greenville, NC where I will work/train part time this summer.

Ellis, the owner, showed me some of the basic repairs he does. He repaired a hollow chain, butterfly pendant and diamond ring that had a crack in the gold. I was thrilled that he took the time to show me and also marveled at the rapid rate one can heat and repair gold. It's certainly nothing like working with silver, when you have to heat the entire piece to solder one spot.

I have exciting plans to begin my journey with working in gold this summer with a rad triangle cut lapis lazuli stone! Pin It

Jeweler of the Day: Mari Ishikawa

I just found Mari Ishikawa via Klimt02. Her dark, organic looking brooches intrigue me. I especially enjoy her gold brooches. Pin It

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

jewelry crush = spanish metalsmiths

I've found myself extremely impacted by freedom and play of spanish jewelers:

here are some sites I frequent, along with artists.

-Silvia Walz's blogspot

-Gisselle Morales

-Monteserrat Lacomba

What jewelers/artists have impacted you? Pin It

Atlantis

Atlantis
Originally uploaded by mgypsy

What a captivating pendant. Mygypsy's work involves twisting various kinds of wire (brass/silver etc) around stones or by themselves.
I couldn't find much information about Mygypsy but you can buy her work on etsy. Although it looks like she's all sold out. Nonetheless you can also view her work on flickr.

Her work has this ancient quality that I'm drawn to. Very beautiful and excellent craftsmanship.

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ReadysetDC

It's funny how when you leave a city or anyplace, you begin to really miss some of things that you couldn't stand - like the metro! VA/DC metro area is where I moved from and it will always hold a special place in my heart/map of residences.

Nevertheless, I always appreciated the art movement/resurgence in DC and this creative enterprise is pretty awesome to showcase new artists!
Enjoy:

The ReadysetDC Manifesto from ReadysetDC on Vimeo.

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trades!

"I love you so much it hurts my head"

I've been wanting to trade with several of my art school friends/artists for awhile but didn't have anything that I felt I wanted to trade so with all the hearts I'd been making, the ECU Valentine's day Guild sale was the perfect opportunity.

I traded with a printmaking artist, Katerin Goold! She is SO very talented, I saw Sarah West, a fellow undergrad metalsmith, with this same poster and I fell in love instantly. And luckily she liked my heart pendant!

The oddity of the elephant's head on a woman's body is so, odd and perfect.

And lastily, I had to join Laura Wood's legion of followers with her paper/potato mold earrings. We traded and she was so excited to have one of my pendants, it's silly but made me feel good that she liked them.
Laura often sports these with one large earring and a smaller or none at all on the other lobe. Very cool. Laura is an ECU metals graduate student and she has an etsy shop that you can purchase her lovely jewelry and a blog.

You have to check her out.

And I just adore her packaging, it's so unique and her style.
Laura stitches pieces of doilies and other paper/fabric with a unique stitch.

I'm inspired to work on something more creative to display my work. Pin It

graphic design and branding

So one of my goals this year, more like the first half of this year, is to create a banner/logo for my production work specifically an etsy page.

I'm in this weird/odd artistic state as I'm slowly finding my aesthetic meanwhile attending art school has opened my eyes to all sorts of new and fun materials and methods. I'm trying to find a consistent look and pattern to my production work. Preparing for the Valentine's Day sale is definitely spurring me and I'm feeling comfortable with cranking out pieces along with my look.

However at the same time, I'm at a loss with describing and identifying what I want my work to convey.

My cousin, Lorena Carrasco, is a graphic designer and she's definitely helping me hone in on that. I've solicited her to develop my banner and logo. Lorena is very talented and I trust in her skills.

Of course, I naively thought she'd just conjure exactly what I was thinking... crazy, I know! She in turn sent me several questions probing me on what my target audience is, 3 words that describe my jewelry, etc. Jeez, I have SO much to learn.

I'm excited to see what she designs!

Oh here is a recent drawing I did for my figure drawing class.

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I heart hearts

Not really but it's what I'm working on right now for the ECU Metals Guild Valentine's day sale as well as preparing for selling at a local boutique, Moxie, in Greenville.

It's funny because the splattered/pierced heart design came out of simple doodling and sketching. But often that's when the best ideas blossom.

Anywho, I was a busy bee in the studio on this snowy/sleeting day and it was great because it was pretty empty!

I'm quite enjoying the production work and playing with enameling techniques.

Also here is a picture of my wooden spoons for my Design 2 class with Bob Ebendorf. It's quite fun, I've already pierced one of the spoons and will file and paint them on Monday.

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print resources

I recently received my issue of Lapidary Journal's Jewelry Artist and it's a really good issue.

It has an article on pricing jewelry; which I'm currently reading and one on how to sandcast a belt buckle in addition to an article on new stones. I always get excited when I get Jewelry Artist.

Which leads me to a discussion we had at the metal topics symposium at ECU. I've noticed that on most jewelry blogs artists primarily reference other artists and blogs (or any other topic) and don't often cite or discuss print materials. When I first came into jewelry I didn't have a formal teacher and when I made pieces I took advice from the projects in my print materials. They are invaluable resource to me. And they're getting better!

I'd like to reference this one memory I have of Metalsmith magazine, that I think is ironic. I was at my local Golds Gym searching for magazines to read on the elliptical and I came across Metalsmith and I thought, "uh, I should be reading this and why am I finding it at the gym?". Complete moment of destiny.

I found new artists and concepts, techniques I hadn't thought of as well as schools to look into and apply.

Ever since I've been a subscriber to Metalsmith and Jewelry Artist. I've also come to the conclusion that it's incredibly important, as metalsmiths and jewelers to support this organizations and materials. They keep the tradition alive. Pin It

line

I continue my art education with Design 2 and Figure Drawing. I'm truly appreciating the learning process; taking the time to study line, form and all the elements/foundations of design.

This year has already taught me so much and it's only January 26th! I am enjoying drawing much more than I did last semester. Despite my teacher being a bit dry, he is very good.

And my design class is with the very innovative and inventive, Bob Ebendorf. He has such wonderful and enthusiastic energy, a master teacher in the art of possiblities...why only use one material or why not use dirt from the ground or whatever?

I think that is what has become much of a revelation for me. Broadening my palette to include new materials, methods. First coming into jewelry/metals can bit a bit overwhelming because there is so much to absorb. In addition, to changing what I view as jewelry moreso adornment.

I could go on for awhile but here is a brush I made in Bob's workshop at the symposium 2 weeks ago. Pin It

eye candy

Oh dear....why don't I live in Europe, more like Barcelona?! I wish I could've attended this exhibition, " Joyas a la Carta" en Barcelona. I would've been in heaven, not that I was this past weekend at the symposium.

Some of my favorite artists (ex. Silvia Walz) were there and luckily I understood everyword of this video (speaking Spanish has so many benefits)!

Watching the interviews and seeing the jewelry displayed so creatively, makes me want to study abroad or apprentice somewhere in Spain. Perhaps one day... Pin It

process shots

First broken heart brooch. Suger-fired black enamel and tulle set in copper.
Second brooch, prior to setting.
Almost ready for being set.

I've begun my Valentine's day pieces.

The black suger-fired brooch came out relatively decent - I'm not very happy with the setting.
The second brooch...I did more piercing and also put the prongs close to them = bad idea.
I'm not going to be shy about posting my errors as well as sucesses. Forethought should be considered in all steps which I'm still learning! grrr. I am however very happy with the design and odd shape of these brooches.

I'm going to make more of an effort to seek out the advice of the metals faculty, I may not be taking metal classes but that doesn't mean I shouldn't take advantage of my resources! Pin It

ECU Materials Topic: New techniques in jewelry and metalsmithing

I do I describe this past weekend?

Provoking and enlightening.

I love to recall the time of when I listened to Laura Wood's idea for the symposium. Laura Wood is a graduate student in ECU's metals/jewelry program. We were at a potluck with new graduate students and I was fortunate enough to be invited. She talked about hosting a symposium where students and faculty from several universities would come together and share new methods, materials in the field in addition to attending workshops and panel discussions. A mini-SNAG Laura said.

I was all about this brilliant idea Laura had! I come from a background in organizing feminist conferences and community events - this is what I love about working with other like-minded individuals. However it is incredible undertaking.

Well, come 4 1/2 months later and the symposium was a very positive and wonderful success! It was incredibly enjoyable and eye-opening for everyone, I met some incredible people.

The symposium hosted faculty and students from: University of Georgia, Indiana University, Appalachian State University, Winthrop University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
In addition to some students from Savannah College of Art and Design along with others I can't remember!

Here are some pictures from this weekend:
The symposium poster...I was a complete dork and got mine signed by several of my favorite artists!
The symposium registration table.
Several ECU grad and undergrad students with metals professor Mis-Sook Hur.
Bob Ebendorf, ECU metals fellow faculty, discussing the variety and creativity of the brushes after his 'Brush of Creativity' demo. It was SO much fun. Bob stresses the importance of play time, to use anything as a sounding board for new methods and materials.
Liz Steiner checking out the brushes.

I could go on and on about the historic moments, new information, discussions and people but I crave sleep after the 3-day weekend. Pin It

caught by the hair

cameo2 detail
Originally uploaded by borderlinebarbie

Isn't this cameo brooch fascinating? It's made by Barbara Smith, a first year graduate student at SUNY-New Paltz in the metals program. On the back it has a momento of someone's hair, which people used to do back in the middle ages and probably earlier than that.
I found Barbara's work on flickr and many of her pieces contain of some sort of hair.

The tooth in this brooch is especially cool to me!

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in my dreams

I would travel, travel and travel! Then spend my free time making jewelry and promoting it.

Hopefully, I'll do this when I retire. And when I do travel, one of the countries that make my list is New Zealand. The terrain is so varied and beautiful, I must experience it and not only that, visit the artist and jewelers in New Zealand and Australia. I've come to notice that they have such a different and fascinating aesthetic, the way they arrange materials and use them is distinct and I always enjoy finding new artists.

Pieces of Eight is a gallery in Melbourne that represents some of the artists I find in intriguing. They also have a blog which I read on occasion.

I'm really digging Justin Austen's geometrical jewelry.
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Maison Martin Margiela

whoa...

Maison Martin Margiela : Atelier Artisanal from Materialiste Paris on Vimeo.

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Pachanga

I'm in LOVE with the images of Belen Mana's Pachanga book. If only I could afford it! She took photos of moths in the Central American rainforest inspiring her team to create this book of nature's patterns.

PS - sorry for the crappy copy of a photo.

Interesting that Pachanga means party! Pin It

It's business time

No not that kind of business time (reference to Flight of the Concords episode) which is very hilarious but more of craft business and learning more about how to create a sound and smart business plan.

That's one of my many goals this year. I recently purchased the business planner book, Craft Inc., which is incredibly awesome for the way it organizes all of the tools a crafter/artist needs to make it in the business.

With the free time I have this semester and summer, since I'm going to school part time I'm investing more of my free time to creating smaller and lower priced work to sell in addition to creating an etsy shop.

I have to credit Megan Auman and her several websites, she has a great business mind and model that I admire. She most recently released her craftMBA business blog several days ago and I'm already learning from it, check it out: www.craftMBA.com. Pin It

gifts with thought and made with love

I've always had an appreciation and love for hand crafted goods and being in art school has definitely increased my desire to make more gifts not just jewelry.

So this season and in the future I am making more handmade gifts, and I know the people in my life will enjoy them even more. I made potpurri scents for friends, cloves and oranges. And for my family, mini-terrariums, of which I got the idea from Design*Sponge (they have an awesome DYI section).

I would estimate that it cost me less than $15 to make 6 terrariums and 12 clove oranges.

oh and here is a cute picture of my cat Squints napping in one of my bags. She is rarely NOT cute. Pin It

senior shows

I've just discovered another fun and wonderful way to connect and learn from other artists.

Senior shows! As you may infer, graduating seniors (both BFA and MFA) exhibit their work at a local gallery, bar, restaurant. They represent themselves, print postcards and gain an understanding of showing their work. This past month I've been to several; metals, painting, sculpture and fiber.

It's gratifying to celebrate others artwork; to congratulate and share with them the wonder of art. This past weekend I went to a painting/sculpture show (combining shows saves money and energy). And it was so much fun, many of my fellow metalsmith students came as well as other department students. There was great music, even painting for yourself and food!

Here are some pictures.

1. Jon Graham painting

2. Myself, Laura Wood and Kat Cole Pin It

quote of the day

"you know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams"

dr. seuss Pin It

preparing for the next sale!

ECU's School of Art and Design just had our Holiday sale and most of the grad students made bank! So I'm on a mission to crank up my own productivity, I sold several pieces but not enough to leave a big cushion in my bank account. Not only that, I really need and want to push myself in creating my brand, style and look.

So I got started last night preparing my first hydraulic press dye for my shattered heart pendants and other jewelry.

Here are several shots from my bench and sketch book. Pin It

lichen

a little lichen on my porch, where little worms like to crawl. Pin It