One-a-Day: Call of the Coast

Call of the Coast by Duy Huynh

Today's One-a-Day is "Call of the Coast" by Charlotte, NC artist, Duy Huynh. I saw this painting in December when I visited the gallery Lark & Key. It's exquisitely painted with fine detail and its atmospheric quality and contemplative feel make me long to travel again. 

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One-a-Day: Bless the Bad Guys

Bless the Bad Guys by Megan Biddle

This week I'm going to do something a little different and feature one work of art by a different artist every day. The pieces are all favorites of mine and ones I think about a lot right now. They are also drawings, paintings, and sculptures, not jewelry. I love looking at jewelry but I think it's important to look at other forms of art, too. My first pick, a huge, web-like mass of thin, black glass rods, is by Megan Biddle, an artist I discovered when I was in Richmond in November. I went to a glass exhibition then and saw this piece. I was immediately drawn to it--the varying lines, layering, structure, and volume, plus it's fragility and simply wondering how it was installed. Fantastic.

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Guest Star #112...Anna Lawska

I really love some good minimal design and find the work of today's Guest Star, Anna Lawska of Poland, to be incredibly appealing. It's uncomplicated even when elements are repeated. It has a sculptural quality and some pieces feel monumental. I also like her subdued palette and how she mixes metal, leather, fiber, even nuts and bolts, seamlessly.

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Conversations

Tia Dale

I have a Skype session planned for later today with Tia Dale and her students at MassArt in Boston. Tia invited me a few months ago to give a lecture and do a question and answer session with her junior sand seniors in her 3D Seminar class. I'm going to start with a short PowerPoint about my career and then open up the conversation to questions the students have. I'm excited to talk with them. I love casual, yet thoughtful discussions when I can engage with students on this level. It should be fun.

Kristin Beeler

I also just confirmed a lecture at Long Beach City College in Long Beach, CA. I will head there after my talk at the Yuma Art Symposium. Kristin Beeler is the instructor and this will be my second time there. I also gave a lecture in 2008 and I'm looking forward to seeing her again and meeting her students now. This talk will be focused on professional practices so I will detail how I started and grew my business and how I maintain it today. Plus, southern California in February? Nice.

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Blue Ribbon

My Folded Necklace won First Place at Handcrafted 2013 over the weekend! I'm super happy because I love this necklace. It's one of my favorite pieces and I'm excited it's getting some attention. I also want to congratulate my friend, Caitie Sellers, on her Third Place prize, as well as Liz Brown, Acquisition Award, and Lisa Beth Robinson, Second. Handcrafted is a juried exhibition of ceramics, fiber, glass, wood, and metal and this year's juror was Mark Maiorana.         

Caitie Sellers, Richmond

Handcrafted 2013 runs through May 19

Maria V. Howard Arts Center

Rocky Mount, NC

 Liz Brown, White Line

Lisa Beth Robinson, Quiver

Thanks for reading.

Also Very Interesting...Winter Reading 2013

Around this time of the year, in addition to my favorite online stuff, I also like to share my winter reading list and this marks my third installment. This year I'm revisiting two books I've read before and a few new ones...

The top title, Tone Vigeland, was loaned to me by my first metalsmithing teacher, Barbara Crocker, during a recent visit. Barbara loves her work and wanted to share this book with me. I'm thinking a lot about multiples and repetition in my work right now so it's a perfect book to absorb.

I read this the summer of 2012 and finally have a copy of my own. As I reread it over Christmas break, I realized how Sophie Calle has gotten under my skin and how her work has affected my own work and my process. She is a fascinating artist.

I read Blink years ago and feel it's time to read it again because I realize how important observation as a concept is in my work.

My quest for full sleeves and my recent collection "History Repeats" inspired this one... and since I love to read about the history of jewelry and costume it makes perfect sense to expand to the 

history of tattoos, another form of body adornment and self-expression.

This book is basically the catalogue of the jewelry collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, my favorite museum and the jewelry collection that brought me to tears.

 The last two titles are about the saints, a subject I became interested in while I was in Belgium. I visited so many cathedrals I couldn't help but become intrigued by the stories of these remarkable figures. 

Now let's see how all of this finds its way into my work...

See what I read last winter here.

See what I read the winter before that here.

Thanks for reading.

Guest Star #111...Maria Tsimpiskaki

I was flitting around on Facebook the other day and the jewelry of today's Guest Star, Maria Tsimpiskaki, caught my eye. I have lace on my mind in a number of different ways at the moment--How can I learn bobbin lace from a master in Belgium? How do I get to the Island of Burano, the lace making island, once I'm in Venice? What do I want my lace tattoo to look like?--so I couldn't help but be attracted to the work she is making. Her jewelry is modern lace in metal, formed into simple shapes with beautiful layering and delicacy. I also like that the work is not overly feminine and maintains a sculptural quality. She strikes a wonderful balance between the aged beauty of lace and minimal design.

Thanks for reading.