I Left My Jewelry in San Francisco, 2013 Edition

I just returned from a week-long trip to the Bay Area, spending the first two days at the California College of the Arts in Oakland as a visiting artist. Wednesday night I enjoyed the company of the metals faculty and students at a potluck at Deb Lozier's house--such great people! The next day I began my visit at the school by meeting with senior metals students. We spent several hours talking as they fired questions at me about my business, my production jewelry, and my one-of-a-kind work. Then I did a bunch of six-minute one-on-one crits complete with timer. This was intense but really fun. Immediately following, I gave a 45-minute lecture about my work and career to a small crowd of students, faculty, and members of the public. Next I met with the "Color on Metal" class. I started the class with a short presentation about how I use color in my work and why I use spray paint specifically. Then I demonstrated how I apply spray paint to metal and how I use files, a scribe, and sand paper to reveal the layers of paint and to add detail and texture. Students got copper samples to try painting and I spent time with students individually to answer more questions. It was such a good day and I left feeling really good. I also left with some sweet Ccac Metals schwag in the form of a hoodie AND a tshirt. (Thanks, Tony!)

Thanks to Deb Lozier, Marilyn de Silva, Curtis Arima, Tony Esola, and all the wonderful students!

After class I hopped on BART and headed to the San Francisco to stay with dear friends and kick it in one of my favorite cities ever. Here's a taste of what I did...

Rock crystal chandelier from 1730 at the Legion of Honor

I loved seeing this so much that if it had been the only thing I saw at the museum that day, the $20 ticket would have been totally worth it.

Lucretia by Joos van Cleve at the Legion of Honor

I was very happy to see this painting due to my current interest in the saints and my love of this style of painting...so many wonderful things about this piece: her gesture and expression, the lush fur, her jewelry, and the ghostly haze around her head. 

Gold wreath, Greek, 4th-3rd century BC at the Legion of Honor

delicate, rich color, beautifully preserved

Necklace of opals and gold, Faberge, 1890's at the Legion of Honor

A lovely set, but what I found most interesting are the mismatched earring backs. They make the piece accessible and show us that the earrings were indeed worn and probably loved.

 Graffiti I stumbled upon as I wandered around the Mission. This one shows jewelry!

Girl with the Pearl Earring by Vermeer at the de Young

Such a treat to see in person. Absolutely exquisite.

some of my work at Velvet da Vinci
I went to Velvet to see the current exhibition "Ferrous" and to visit with my gallerist, Elizabeth Shypertt. Excellent show, excellent gallerist!

My latest tattoo, which I'm posting because it's awesome, but really because it's (partially) 

related to my work. It was done by Katie Sellergren at Blackheart Tattoo. Her work is incredible and she is super-awesome to spend time with!

Please visit my Flickr to see more pictures here.

Thanks for reading.

Variations with Spray Paint

Loring Taoka

I spent some time practicing my color on metal presentation yesterday and decided to add images of spray painted jewelry made by others in the field. I thought it would be interesting for students to see a variety of styles and applications beyond just my work. Here's a few that I really like...

Sara Borgegård 

Leia Zumbro

Mallory Weston

Tara Locklear

I teach and lecture tomorrow at California College of the Arts. The public lecture is from 3-4pm.

Thanks for reading.

Color on Metal, West Coast Style

I head to San Francisco and Oakland tomorrow to be a visiting artist at the California College of the Arts. A busy day is planned for me on Thursday starting with critiques with grad students, seniors, and advanced metals students. Next I give a lecture, titled "Layer After Layer," to the department and public. It will focus on my background, the development of my jewelry, and my recent works. Then I give another presentation and demonstrate how to use spray paint for the metals class, "Color on Metal." This will be my first time teaching spray painting on metal and really I am excited! I now have a handout detailing the process (I LOVE handouts!) and a variety of samples showing different surface effects. For my demo, I'm will show how to apply spray paint and how to manipulate the cured surface with files and sand paper. My presentation will show how I use color in my work, why I use spray paint specifically, and will explain my process, step by step. I'm really looking forward to sharing this info and my love of this material. It should be a really great day!

Then I get to spend a long weekend with friends in SF and plan to visit some museums and galleries, hit my favorite restaurants, and get another new, badass tattoo. 

More from the road...

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New Year, New Colors

I decided to change my spray paint colors this year--it was time for a change. I am also feeling more introspective than usual, thus the muted tones versus the brighter ones I was using before. The new subdued palate includes gray, army green, light blue, lavender, and gold. Each color is layered with a darker or lighter color of the same variety underneath instead of the usual white. For example, the lavender has a darker purple underneath, while the army green has an lighter olive tone underneath. I am especially excited about the gold! In general I just really love covering up precious sterling silver with spray paint and now using gold paint seems even more appropriate.

You can find these pieces at Light Art + Design in Chapel Hill and at Galerie Noel Guyomarc'h in Montreal.

More on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.

New Teardrop Necklaces

Here are two new spray painted necklaces I made in July, one in red and the other in light blue. Both have many layers of different colors underneath.

 More detail shots on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.

winter necklace

i finished this spray painted necklace the other day. i made a pair of long, thin teardrop earrings over the summer and wanted to try the same shape again in necklace format. this piece includes layers of white, light blue, and yellow. more images on flickr.

thanks for reading.

how about one more...

another view of the bow cluster brooch with chain and tassel

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new trick

the other day i tried soldering bales on already spray painted pieces by submerging the painted part in a dish of cold water. if i was to apply any heat to work like this, the paint would melt. i know jewelers use this trick when soldering needs to happen to a piece with stones already set. the water keeps the stones cool and protects them from cracking. it worked wonderfully for my regal graffiti! the water barely warmed up, the paint was protected, and now i have one more option for my spray painted work. i do love figuring this kind of stuff out - it was a fun challenge.


thanks for reading.

more bows, please

more new work...these pieces are at my photographer's right now so pro-shots coming soon. once i get the work back from hank, i will ship it out to my new galleries.



more images on flickr.

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something is going on here

after a year of working on regal graffiti i have accumulated a sizable collection of silhouette paintings. i look through them occasionally and have had several interesting conversations with other artists about them. my curiosity for installations inspired me to hang them on a wall in my studio and three packs of thumbtacks later i was done. i think i have some great material here--workable material that could become something else, perhaps jewelry, and also material in the form of information that i can study and use in future works. i'm not sure what i will do with this yet but for now i can look at it everyday and allow it to sink in. i can also observe how others react to it which is always interesting.

more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

spectrum, the finished pieces

necklace in navy, hot pink

here are images i took in my studio of the pieces i made for the upcoming exhibition "spectrum" which opens this weekend at heidi lowe gallery. i tried to be more 3-dimensional with these pieces, i experimented with fiber, and i tried collage. i think about incorporating these things into my work a lot and finally decided i needed to just do it. yes, i've been working on the 3-D thing and i've dabbled with the others, too, but this time i made a conscious decision in their favor. i just wanted to see what i could do. finally, a note about color... i still can't believe i'm in a show about color! it seems wild to me. it was interesting to have that as the focus for the work and for it to be just as important as the metalwork.

brooch in light blue

brooch in light blue, hot pink

necklace in light blue, red

necklace in navy

more images on flickr.

thanks for reading

regal graffiti pro-shots

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



more on flickr.

thanks for reading.