celebration of american crafts

the 41st celebration of american crafts, an annual juried sale and exhibition, opens tonight at the creative arts workshop in new haven, ct. i have some work there - pieces from my egg and bean collection. for further details, please visit CAW's website.

opening reception, friday, oct 30
hilles gallery
5-8pm

thanks for reading.

sparkle plenty promos

(biba schutz, me, caitie sellers, joanna gollberg)

i got a package of sparkle plenty 5 postcards and foldouts yesterday. they look really great! i was also pretty psyched to find my image on the quirk website.

(that's lori talcott's work on the front.)

thanks for reading.

regal graffiti

i posted images of my new series "regal graffiti" on flickr - you'll find all my pro-shots and lots of process images, too.
"regal graffiti" is for "sparkle plenty 5" a group exhibition at quirk gallery. the opening reception is thursday, november 5.

thanks for reading.

self-publishing

a few weeks ago i made a hardcover book of my line drawings and borderlines series using snapfish. the book you see here is my second try actually. the first one was all white (cover and pages) and had several flaws, namely, many images had a thin gray line along one edge that was undetectable to me during the editing process. i was also unhappy with the white on white pages. many of my images have a shadow along the bottom and the white picture on a white background caused the image to look odd - the shadow ended but because the edges were not defined, the images made no sense. i ordered the pictures chronologically but didn't like it when i saw the finished book. the number of line drawings was greater than that of the borderlines and the book felt unbalanced.
the second time around i chose a black linen cover and black backgrounds for more contrast. now each image has a definite border and they just pop on the pages. i also mixed the line drawings with the borderlines in sets for balance and now i feel like the order is telling a story of sorts. the first time around the process took awhile to get the hang of and probably took me much longer than it should have. the second book i made was much quicker. snapfish does have lots of options for page layout, but i am sure a site like blurb has many, many more. i know they also have more book size and cover design options. the book from snapfish was reasonably priced - if i remember correctly is was about $30.
books like this are a great way to promote and archive your work. the book looks beautiful, includes measurements and materials for each piece, and also includes my artist statement. it looks professional and is a great complement to my studio gallery.
thanks for reading.

sparkle plenty silhouettes

the work i made for sparkle plenty is spray painted. i mounted the jewelery to cardboard before spraying to keep the work stable and to protect the connections from getting completely covered in paint. when i took the pieces off once they were dry i discovered these great silhouettes.



thanks for reading.

nuit blanche after

i just visited the metal arts guild of canada to see about nuit blanche "10,000 hours", an exhibition of 10,000 artist samples installed for an all-night exhibition in toronto on october 3. (i sent a little group of copper samples for the show.) there are lots of great photos of the installation as well as a contributor's list on the guild's website.

thanks for reading.

plush jewels opening

this friday marks the opening of plush jewels at fancy in seattle. the show features soft jewelry and will open in conjunction with plush you!, the annual soft collectable and toy exhibition at schmancy. i have two pieces in the show, a felt necklace and brooch.

opening reception friday, october 9 from 6-9pm
fancy
1914 2nd ave.
seattle, wa
on display through october

thanks for reading.

sparkle plenty

i don't think i've written about sparkle plenty yet...SP is an invitational group exhibtion at quirk gallery in richmond, va. the show was curated by susie ganch. susie chose several jewelers and we were asked to invite another jeweler whom we admire. i chose lori talcott, my friend and mentor. here's a list of the other artists (among them you will see many of my favorites so i am pretty psyched to be in this show):

joanna gollberg
caitie sellers
marlene true
sharon massey
blanka sperkova
biba schutz
sandra enterline
amy tavern
lori talcott

i have been working on spray painted pieces for the show, taking my little graffiti pin concept a bit farther by layering paint and by adding inscribed lines and marks. the look of the jewelry is based on medieval, renaissance, and victorian pieces that i've been reading about. i thought it might be interesting to combine something traditional with something unconventional. here are pictures of my process so far including taping the pieces down to protect the connections from getting covered by paint, my spray paint booth with ventilation, and the jewelry with the first layer of paint.

more images soon...

thanks for reading

time out new york

my robinsegg ring was featured in time out new york recently as part of a "unique wedding rings" feature. time out contacted me a few weeks ago about the ring, but did not say how it would be making its appearance. i just guessed it would be in something about jewelry or fashion and was pleasantly surprised to find it included in a weddings-related article. i never imagined it in that way, but love how unexpected it is. the other rings are all quite lovely and several are a bit out of the ordinary, like the alex and chloe oxidized band with inverted diamonds.
thanks for reading.

the barns: 2009 opening

the barns: 2009 opening reception is this evening at 7pm at the penland gallery. the show features the work of penland's current resident artists. i checked it out the other day - it's a wonderful show of diverse work that all looks great grouped together side by side. i added more pictures of the work i made for the show to my flickr page - more views and details.
thanks for reading.