Chains Chains Chains

I contributed a project to the new Lark Books publication Chains Chains Chains by Joanna Gollberg and Nathalie Mornu. The book includes wonderful designs by Raissa Bump, Ingeborg Vandamme, Babette Von Dohnanyi, and many more.  I also love the softcover design of the book which measures approximately 7" x 11". The slim size gives this how-to a fresh feel.

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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

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the power of limits

"fragile" - a brooch from the exhibition "delicate beauty" (and my favorite marcia piece)

i will be assisting marcia macdonald this summer in her 5th session penland class "the power of limits." i met marcia at the snag conference and later was a visiting artist with joanna gollberg and geoff giles in her summer '08 class at penland. a few weeks ago i got to visit with her on my way back to penland from eastern nc. what a treat to see her then and what an honor it is for me to be her assistant this summer. i'm also excited to be a student in her class! the subject sounds really good to me and i think i will learn a lot. here's the description:

"Creativity is sometimes assumed to be a wild, unfettered, unconscious process, but self-imposed constraints can enhance the creative process: think haiku, minimalism, Twitter. Using nature as a springboard for inspiration, we will create design challenges that address concepts such as stylizing, editing, limiting, and purging. We will work with metal, wood, paint, and found materials with minimal tool use. Lectures, demonstrations, and plenty of individual instruction. This class is for students who have learned the basics of jewelry fabrication and want to advance conceptually and technically. Basic sawing, filing, and soldering skills required."


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a shed, a basement, and a closet

elfin studio

my recent shop-closure/end-of-my-collections has got me thinking about the past. the other day i was fondly remembering my very first studio which lead me to the others. since i've moved a lot i've had the pleasure of occupying many different ones. my first studio after graduating UW was in my backyard, a tiny shed that i renovated with the help of my dad. it was 6' x 7' and had a sweet dutch door. i felt like an elf in there. later i moved into a deluxe basement in portland, OR that was at least 5 times as big. it had wall-to-wall carpeting. (unfortunately, i cannot find any photos!) then i revisited my small studio roots back in seattle and made a utility closet my workspace. next i did something really different and moved into a big shared studio across the country in north carolina with joanna gollberg, geoff giles, and molly dingledine. in between all those were a few very temporary spots - a 4 month residency at vain, a dark and damp basement, my benches at penland during classes, a dining room - and now i'm here in the biggest, most beautiful space i've ever been in and quite possibly might ever be in. so glad i get two more years here.

the utility closet

with joanna, geoff, and molly

to see more pics of my different spaces from 2002 and beyond, please visit flickr.

p.s. arthur hash has been posting pics of different artist spaces on his blog, the art escape plan. i love seeing how and where others work.

thanks for reading.

opening reception

my work alongside the work of sharon massey

i drove to richmond, va on thursday to attend the sparkle plenty 5 opening reception. the show looks fantastic - beautiful work that was incredibly complementary and displayed perfectly from artist to artist. i especially liked seeing the drawings each artist sent. (we were all asked to send a few sketches.) these were displayed in frames on the walls or alongside the work itself inside the cases.

caitie sellers' intricate steel structures (with sketchbook)

lori talcott

joanna gollberg

the show was a lot of fun - i loved meeting the quirk staff and seeing the gallery - it really is a great space. my friend and fellow sparkle artists joanna gollberg and caitie sellers were there, too.

more pics on flickr.

thanks to the quirk staff for a great show!

thanks for reading.

guest star friday #41...yu-chun chen

necklace - untitled, steel, 18K gold, lacquer, 2009.

my friend joanna gollberg recently introduced me to the work of yu-chun chen, a jeweler from taipei, taiwan. i am interested in her work for many reasons. at first view, i like the shapes and textures, the use of alerternative materials and techniques, and the collage style compositions. upon closer inspection, i really like the softness of the appearance, the quiet and intimate character, and the subtle details.

brooch - "flowerness of the bird II", iron, paint, horn, steel, 2007

brooch - untitled, iron, tourmaline, wood, silver, 2009.

brooch

you can see more work on klimt02.

thanks for reading.

penland residency

i am incredibly happy to announce that i got an artist residency at the penland school of crafts. the residency is three years long and i will be moving there early next year. i can't begin to express how excited i am! this residency is the chance for my work i've been wishing for. it will give me time that i don't usually have to experiment and explore techniques, materials, and concept. i'm also planning to redevelop my drawing skills and hope to make this medium a part of my work as an artist. this also means i will be cutting back on my collections, which i already started to do by retiring many pieces. making the collections more manageable will give me more time to work on my studio jewelry.

heather white

it is such a tremendous honor to have been selected for this residency. i started going to penland nearly 10 years ago. my first class was with heather white. the following year i took a class with lori talcott and that's when i met joanna gollberg. in the years since i have been a studio assistant, a substitute metals coordinator, a volunteer, and an instructor. penland has been a huge part of my career and this opportunity to live there and make my work is just so special.

lori talcottjoanna gollberg

thanks for reading.

more hollow forms

here are the remaining hollow forms my students made last week.

collin blackmore

hillary woedl

laura davis

i am only here a few more days - my last day is tomorrow. what an incredible experience this has been! so challenging and so fun! i've learned a lot about teaching and gained greater confidence in my teaching skills. i feel very fortunate to have had this time here as an instructor and to have worked with such a talented group of students. it will be hard to leave.

thursday i will be joined by joanna gollberg who will be teaching the last 4 weeks of the session. that evening we will both give our instructor slide show/artist talk for the school.

thanks for reading.

this just in

yesterday afternoon my studiomate, joanna gollberg, and i were asked to teach beginning jewelry at the penland school of crafts for the next 8 weeks. (the teacher originally hired for the session had to leave.) this was a complete shock! the fall session began just days ago on monday! i will be teaching the first half of the class until i leave for my west coast trunk show tour and joanna will teach the second half. this morning the two of us met with the class for the first time to introduce ourselves and set forth our plan for the concentration. then i spent some time with each student to discuss their individual skill set, to find out what they were working on, and to learn about their expectations. i also demonstrated a few basic techniques. we'll continue with more basics tomorrow and then move on to soldering on monday.

i have to say, i am completely awestruck by this whole thing. i am so honored to be here as a teacher, thrilled, excited...

it's going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

i'll keep you posted.

thanks for reading.

night of the stud

night of the stud, an exhibition of cufflinks, opens at heidi lowe gallery in rehoboth beach, delaware on saturday, august 2. the show runs through august 9. here are pictures of the cuffllinks i made (above) as well as pieces by joanna gollberg (below).

thanks for reading.

more BMAC

this week and last, i've been busy preparing for the BMAC show. i mentioned my schedule a few days ago... i'm doing a fairly good job at sticking to it. a friend and fellow craftsperson, krista, reminded me about unforeseen happenings and how something always seems to pop-up unexpectedly. she's completely right! so, to combat this problem i have "padded" my schedule with extra time (what, extra?!) to accommodate for various hijinks.

next week i get to make my display pieces, the fun part. i haven't committed to anything yet, but i do have a list of ideas. my studiomate, friend, and fellow BMAC vendor, joanna gollberg, gave me some of her old stuff. i see lots of potential!
what i have committed to are new postcards, posters, and a banner. the postcards and banner were designed by brandon dawley.
thanks for reading.

drawing on metal

since i have been trying to draw with metal and due to my personal interest in line drawings of late, i have been noticing all kinds of jewelry with drawings. i find this stuff so interesting so i started collecting images a few weeks ago...

this first image is a brooch by kristin beeler. this drawing is ink on mother of pearl. you can find lots of other pieces at velvet da vinci. along with work like the piece shown here, you will also see some etched drawings and what looks like scrimshaw. all the drawings are very simple and very delicate.

here is a brooch by esther knobel - sterling silver with perforated (drilled) drawing sewn with iron wire. this is from the fantastic series "the mind in the hand." see more at sienna gallery.












joanna gollberg - these sterling silver earrings with little perforated drawings of familiar shapes are sewn with plastic thread and are one of many of jo's experiments.

ps...joanna just blogged about a a similar concept. check it out here.







iris eichenberg... more examples of perforated drawings - "heimat brooch" in sterling and bone. please also click here to see a perforated and stitched necklace by iris eichenberg.





so, like all my posts on pop-out/pop-up jewelry, i will continue to post images of work that include drawing on metal as i find them.

thanks for reading.

guest star friday #3...joanna gollberg.

joanna gollberg makes great jewelry. she is also my good friend and studiomate. we met at the penland school of crafts years ago when we were both students in lori talcott's class, ancient techniques for modern metalsmiths. i have always been impressed with how prolific joanna is and that her work is constantly evolving and ever dynamic. it seems like she has tons of ideas all the time and she actually makes each and every one. she uses lots of ovals and other simple shapes and incorporates repetition of form, movement, and interesting mechanisms. her work is very thoughtful and well made. lately, she has been making these cool triangular forms with her ovals. i love the contrast between the rigid triangle and the softer oval. please see above image.

joanna also has a lot of fun in the studio. she made this mossy ball necklace a few weeks ago. so fun!






just last week she started making these rings, my new favorite...the bands and settings are delicate wire. then, trapped in the top, are rough-cut stones, bits and pieces, and other odd little objects. they look amazing stacked!

in addition to all the jewelry, joanna also write books and teaches.
she is incredibly giving of her knowledge and talent. right now, joanna is showing and selling her work at the philadelphia buyer's market of american craft show and then next week at the american craft council baltimore show.





here's where you can find her online:

her website
on flickr
her blog the stirling news
on etsy

thanks for reading.

new images from the past

i had a few older things photographed recently including these sterling, felt, and resin rings. the felt-dipped-in-resin "chips" were one of my experiments from the class i took with maria phillips a few winters ago...i would like to keep going with this idea, someday. i made the rings at the penland school of crafts when i assisted joanna gollberg, my good friend & studiomate.i also made this sterling and carpet ring during that penland class. this will be part of an interesting and fun series, someday, too. you should see my collection of flooring samples!and finally, an oxidized sterling bracelet with gold rivets. i consider it to be the start of my line drawing series. it is based on some danish-made vases.
all images by hank drew.

thanks for reading.