Something for David

My friend David Chatt completed his Penland residency recently and we exchanged gifts just before he left. I made him this brooch and he made me the beaded necklace pictured below. He also surprised me with a beaded wishbone which I found on my bench after he drove off.

I started making beaded jewelry when I was in highschool. Later, after graduating from SUNY Fredonia, I moved to Woodstock, NY and worked at a bead store (the incredible Beyond Beadery now in Colorado). I discovered David's work then and have been inspired ever since.

Please also visit David's Community Crow to learn about his incredible cast glass window project.

Thanks for reading.

auction 2010

this year's featured artist is hoss haley, a former resident

this year's penland benefit auction is right around the corner, as in next friday and saturday. this year i donated the pendant from the first regal graffiti pieces i made last fall. i chose this piece because i wanted to give something i had made in my first year as a resident artist, a piece that i was able to make truly because of my residency.

and here are a few images of the catalog. i'm pretty excited about my lot because i was quoted again this year and i share the page with two friends, lola brooks and david chatt. you can view the entire catalog online at the penland website. i highly recommend perusing the pages - there is some incredible work in there!

thanks for reading.

tea bag brooch

david chatt stopped by the studio the other day and asked me to make him some special pins for a new series of beaded tea bags. after we did some sketching and trouble shooting, i made these c-shaped pins. david will bead around the pin - which will go in the top loop - much like he did for our collaboration from a few months back, bernie the blue poodle.

also, check out the super-cool panoramic view of david's studio at penland.

thanks for reading.

the dog

david chatt and i collaborated on this ridiculously cute brooch for the mitchell county animal rescue fundraiser, "art for animals sake." david made the incredible beaded poodle and i made the tiny sterling silver leash, complete with fancy collar and tag with initial. we named him bernie so the tag sports a "B."

the sale will take place friday and saturday august 7 and 8 from 10-5 and sunday, august 9 from 12-5 at the carolina theater, lower street, spruce pine, nc.

thanks for reading.

108 meditations in saffron

here are some images of the case i made the key and escutcheon for. the case (made by sarah martin for david chatt) contains 108 different beaded objects (made by david chatt). sarah and david are both resident artists at penland.

thanks for reading.

lock and key

today i made custom hardware for my friend and fellow resident artist david chatt. david commissioned sarah martin (another friend/resident) to make a display case for a collection of beaded objects and he asked me to make a key and escutcheon to match the lock. i reserved the entire day for this project thinking it might just take me that long. i was totally prepared for the project to be really difficult. i started working at 9am and was done by 1:30. i was pretty sure for awhile there that i would not be able to make a working key, but i did. i have posted images from start to finish on my flickr photostream. i'll post a photo of the finished case sometime soon.

thanks for reading.

penland happenings

i just got home from the penland school of crafts where i spent a relaxing couple of days. the spring concentration finished up on friday and i went up to attend the scholarship auction. many of the students and instructors donate work for this event which happens at the end of every session. all the money raised is used to fund work/study positions and various scholarships. i have bid on a number of things at past auctions, but this time i said i was not going to because i am going to greece. i should be saving all my money for the trip. well, i ended up being all talk because as soon as i saw the charm necklace the metals' class made, i changed my mind. as you may remember i was their visiting artist a few weeks ago. it was a wonderful experience and i definitely feel a connection to those students and their instructor, robert dancik. the necklace they made was one of the best class collaborations i have ever seen and i was immediately drawn to it. so i bid and bid and bid again and finally won. i definitely made the right choice.

earlier in the day i had a lovely visit with instructor and resident artist david chatt. david makes incredible bead work which i have admired for years. while we were talking he mentioned that his father, orville k. chatt, had been a metalsmith and showed me a book he authored titled "design is where you find it." it is a wonderful book that shows how ideas can be found anywhere and everywhere, one just has to look with an open mind. chatt shows a picture of something interesting , a leaf, an old barn, a mushroom to name a few, and matches each image with a piece of jewelry inspired by the image. the ideas were so thoughtful and inspiring. this book is a real treasure if you can find a copy for yourself.


thanks for reading.