30 minute necklaces

i received my copy of 30-minute necklaces recently and spent part of my evening reading it last night. my wallpaper necklace was published along with 59 other designs that will suit lots of different tastes and skill levels. my favorite projects are by linda chow, jacqueline barbera, tiina rajakallio, ada rosman, and davina romansky.

necklace by davina romansky

thanks for reading.

making a living/making a life

this coming friday i will give a lecture during "making a living/making a life" at eastern carolina university in greenville, nc. jim gallucci (sculptor), mary bruno (printmaker), amy funderburk (painter), xavier jimenez (conceptual photographer), and clark whittington (art-o-mat) will also be speaking. a panel discussion will complement the lectures, followed by an exhibition reception featuring work by all the speakers.

i put the final pictures in my powerpoint over the weekend and started practicing. i'm looking forward to talking again (it gets a bit easier every time!) and hearing what the other artists have to say. plus, i finally have a chance to visit the ecu metals program and spend some time with my friends there.

thanks for reading.

regal graffiti pro-shots

more new regal graffiti pro-shots by hank drew...



more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

METAL Inclinations2

my white and red teardrop necklace was chosen to be a part of METAL Inclinations2, an online exhibition hosted by the society for midwest metalsmiths and hauser & miller. this year's exhibition, curated by jamie bennett, klaus burgel, sydney lynch, and john cogswell, features 50 different pieces and will debut online on october 31, 2010. i am very excited to be a part of this exhibition and look forward to seeing all the work in a few weeks.


thanks for reading.

american craft ads

i am in two different ads in american craft this month, one for the penland gallery and one for the exhibition "spectrum" at heidi lowe gallery. i knew about both but had put them in the back of my mind - it was fun to find them as i leafed through the magazine yesterday.

thanks for reading.

UGA studio visit

on saturday mary hallam pearse and a group of metals students from the university of georgia at athens came to visit me in my studio. i gave an hour long talk and did some question and answer. it was great to meet them and share my experience with them. it's always good for me to talk to groups - it gets a little bit easier with every experience and i find i'm learning to organize my thoughts better and hone my comments. my studio was one of several during the visit - they also went to see angela bubash, joanna gollberg, hoss haley, and adam whitney, who also showed them around the penland campus.

neckpiece in sterling silver by mary hallam pearse

thanks for reading.

spectrum: work-in-progress

i am one of four artists to be featured in an upcoming exhibition showcasing color at heidi lowe gallery. the show is called "spectrum" and the other artists are sally collins, timothy mcmahon, and melissa tolar. i've been working on new pieces for the show and this time i am trying to be as 3D as possible while continuing to work with the teardrop and the bow. i am also planning to add new fluorescent colors paired with complimentary/clashing non-fluorescent colors.

more soon...and more pics on flickr.

spectrum
heidi lowe gallery
328 rehoboth avenue
rehoboth beach, de 19971
opening reception october 9, 6-9pm
through november 8, 2010

thanks for reading.

queen of the night

i've been meaning to post this video for months...my friend and fellow jeweler, jen townsend, is an incredible wax carver. she is currently working on a series of cast and fabricated pieces based on female characters from famous operas. the piece in the video uses mozart's "the magic flute" and the character "queen of the night" for inspiration. jen took pictures throughout the carving process and then made this video complete with music. i think it's pretty amazing. the piece, which shows the queen hanging in the night sky with diamond stars and a colony of fruit bats hanging from her dress, is still in progress but will be finished soon in time for an exhibition at RIT.

please be sure to visit jen's website to see more of her beautiful work. like these pebble rings:



thanks for reading.

auction diversion

marissa saneholtz - "he would have to fight them off with a stick."

copper, enamel, sterling silver, stainless pin wire, powder coat, tie fabric

a week before the auction i went over to adam whitney's house with angela bubash for a wonderful diversion - a powder coating demonstration by marissa saneholtz, the studio assistant for marlene true 5th session. marlene, deb karash (instructor 5th session) and her assistant, jessica benzaquen, and elizabeth brim were also there and we had a hilarious time together watching the demo and then trying it for ourselves. i really had no concept of what powder coating is all about but now after marissa's demo, the technique is demystified. i tried scratching my sample and then layering color, treating the material like my spray painted pieces. it works similarly except i had to put more elbow into it to remove color.


more images on flickr.

thanks for reading.

new work for sienna gallery

in early august i made three new regal graffiti pieces for sienna gallery. i began by repeating two different designs - the four-teardrop pendant and the large medal-style pendant. i wanted to revisit these designs to see what else i could do as working in series can be a helpful tool. this time i discovered a few things by making "mistakes" - i did more masking of large areas with paper and when i lifted the paper it stuck to a few spots, peeling some paint away. at first i was frustrated but then i quickly realized these spots could create some interesting effects if i layered more paint on top of them. i was delightfully surprised when i started scratching and sanding a few days later. the final surface reminds me of the cracked and repainted ceilings in a former apartment of mine. i also tried creating stripes on another piece by repeating the same sanded mark around the edge of each element.

more detail shots on flickr.

thanks for reading.

studio portrait

august was a busy month and i was not able to keep up with everything here on the blog...so begins a series of catch-up posts. if i remember correctly, early in the month a tour visited the barns accompanied by rob bousa of rob and roberston imaging from charlotte, nc. rob has been working on a portrait project of artists in their studios and he took a bunch of pictures of me in action that day. the above image is the one he chose to publish and i like it a lot. i like that you can see my work space, i like the lighting, and i like that it's not fussy in any way, just a good likeness in my favorite place.

check out more of the portrait series, including a picture of my friends, devin burgess (also a penland resident artist) and his assistant, mike krupiarz at work and another of mike rossi in the penland iron studio.

thanks for reading.

my writing, published

late last spring i submitted my work for possible inclusion in a new journal of art, literature, and culture called trachodon. i thought maybe i could get a few images published along with my artist statement or maybe an interview. surprisingly, the editors asked me to write an article about my work and, although the task seemed incredibly daunting, i knew it would be a great opportunity so i said yes. i also knew i would be in good hands with the editor, john carr walker, and associate editor, katey schultz. i started writing the article in april and went through the editing process with john over several weeks. i would send a draft to john and he would read it and comment, asking me questions and making suggestions to draw things out of me. slowly but surely we got to a place in the piece where it felt complete and we were both pleased. the article is about what happened to me and my work over the winter. it is accompanied by several images from my borderlines series and my artist statement. it was a tremendous challenge to write about my experience in this manner and wonderful to get it all down and sort it out.


the first issue (which includes my article "part of the process") just came out a few days ago - if you would like to learn more about trachodon or get a subscription, please visit the trachodon website or find them on facebook.

thanks to katey for asking me to write for the magazine and for being so supportive and a special thanks to john for being such a great editor.

thanks for reading.

4th place!

my brooch no. 1 was given 4th place at the strassen kunst exhibition currently on display at artspace in richmond, va. i'm excited to represent art jewelry in this predominately visual art exhibition and winning an award makes it even more special. best in show went to marc anthony polizzi for "in over my head," while one of my favorite pieces, "under deconstruction," by john mccaughey received honorable mention.

john mccaughey-under deconstruction
(honorable mention)

check out the other winners here.

thanks for reading.

teaching part 5

textured bangles (hammered, chased) with riveted clasp
by sarah james

my class ended on saturday. we cleaned the studio and had a class show and tell together, followed by a school show and tell with all the students. i am very excited about the pieces my class made and how hard they worked. like i said a few days go, i gave them a lot of information over those 5 days and they responded with energy, enthusiasm, and hard work. i had a great time teaching them and spending time with them. i have posted an image of a piece by each student and added lots more on flickr. teaching a one week class was challenging - it's not a lot of time and i think it's very important to strike a balance between demonstrations and work time, structure and freedom. having such a fantastic group made things a lot easier, though!

mushroom rings (dapped, hammer texture) by alexis dunfee

"C" ring (etched/roll printed) by chris keener

etched minimalist pendant with tab setting by stacey lanning

box necklace with etched/roll printed text & gold details
by lisa shepard (work-in-progress)

roll printed, dapped, and riveted copper pendant by kathleen franza

contemporary sandblasted earrings with burnished edge detail
by pam adan

leaf cuff (roll printed, hammered, oxidized) with keum bo detail
by joann graham

deconstructed plaid brooch by joyce dunfee
(roll printed, work-in-progress)

unfortunately, i was not able to get any pictures of annetta brady's final work because she had to leave early on saturday. annetta made some great pieces with modern, minimal geometric patterns and details.

thanks for reading.

teaching part 4

yesterday i showed my students keum bo and gold leafing. keum bo is a korean technique of fusing pieces of thin gold to sterling silver. i also demo-ed leafing, an inexpensive low-tech alternative. this was a fun demo to teach. not only because keum bo is such a cool technique with beautiful results, but also because we got silly and leafed a few random things in the studio, like the cap of the peroxide bottle from the first aid cabinet.

kuem bo sample

gold leaf on peroxide bottle cap

more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

teaching part 3b

yesterday i showed my students acid etching, a long demonstration with many steps. it makes for an intense demo because of it's many parts but also because of the fact that acid is involved which for some students can be a little scary. once the demo was over i asked everyone to prepare a few pieces for etching and to have at least 3 etched by 10am the next day for our daily show and tell. they got to work immediately and did not waste any time. the studio felt like a bee hive. then this morning they shared their pieces and yet again i was very pleased with what they had made. this is a hard working group.


more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

teaching part 3

this morning when i arrived at school

we started today by "unearthing" our samples from the tobacco and sawdust mixtures we made on tuesday. the sawdust yielded some great blues but the tobacco was rather un-inspiring. the salt and ammonia was also pretty dramatic.

samples from tobacco (see top, bottom left) and sawdust (all others), both mixed with ammonia and vinegar

salt and ammonia

more on flickr.

thanks for reading.