searchlight info

jessica benzaquen

i recently got a press release from the american craft council about the searchlight program of which i am a participant:

THE AMERICAN CRAFT COUNCIL ANNOUNCES THE 2009 SEARCHLIGHT ARTISTS TO EXHIBIT AT THE BALTIMORE SHOW

New York, NY (November 11, 2008)—The American Craft Council is pleased to announce that fourteen emerging artists have been chosen as Searchlight Artists to exhibit their work at the prestigious American Craft Council Show in Baltimore, February 27 through March 1, 2009 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

“The American Craft Council is the leading voice of craft in America—gallery owners, educators and show attendees look to us to identify new talent and trends,” said Andrew Glasgow, executive director of the American Craft Council. “The Searchlight artists were selected because they exemplify craft’s cutting-edge direction and we’re pleased to provide a national platform for them to present their work.”

Searchlight Artists are nominated by the leaders of national universities, museums and residencies and selected through a rigorous jury process. These artists, who have not previously participated in a national craft show, will present their work alongside more than 700 professional artists and their high-quality handmade jewelry, furniture, clothing, home décor and more at the largest, juried indoor craft event in the country.

The work of the Searchlight Artists will be presented in a unique, collaborative space on the show floor. In an effort to create a dynamic retail space, the artists will work with Amy Shaw, this year’s Searchlight Retail Advisor. Amy Shaw is a curator, blogger and owner of Greenjeans, a gallery shop in Brooklyn committed to craft, sustainability and conscientious living.

2009 Searchlight Artists:

jessica benzaquen (albuquerque, nm)
eun-suh choi (rochester, ny)
annica cuppetelli (detroit, mi)
jennaca davies (north kingstown, ri)
hiroe hanazono (philadelphia, pa)
matthew hutton (portland, me)
maya kini (sacramento, ca)
sylvie rosenthal (asheville, nc)
richard saja (jackson heights, ny)
nanda soderberg (richmond, va)
amy tavern (asheville, nc)
stacey webber (chicago, il)
kai wolter (santa fe, nm)

The AMERICAN CRAFT COUNCIL is a national, nonprofit public educational organization founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb. The mission of the Council is to promote understanding and appreciation of contemporary American craft. Programs include the bimonthly magazine AMERICAN CRAFT, annual juried shows presenting artists and their work, a leadership conference, the Aileen Osborn Webb Awards honoring excellence, workshops, seminars, and a research library.

sylvie rosenthal

thanks for reading.

mini update

i leave for my west coast trunk show tour in a week. in the evenings when i'm not teaching at penland, i am busy making inventory for my four shows. i've made most of my steel and gold collection but still have a long way to go on my other collections. i foresee some long days ahead.

seaplane pop up shop
friday, oct. 24 from 7-10pm
919 nw 23rd. st. ground level
portland, or

velouria
saturday, oct. 25 from 2-6pm
2205 nw market st.
seattle, wa

rare device
saturday, nov. 1 from 12-4pm
1845 market st.
san francisco, ca

carol young|undesigned
saturday, nov. 8 from 12-6
los angeles, ca

in other news...i've been chosen as a american craft council searchlight artist. i was nominated by a colleague and then juried in. the searchlight program features a group of 25 emerging artists at the american craft council baltimore show in february 2009 in a special gallery section.

thanks for reading.

acc seachlight jeweler spotlight

i will be leaving for the acc searchlight show in baltimore tomorrow. i thought i would share some images and info about the other metalsmith/jewelers who will also be at the show. i am eager to meet them and see their work in person. we all have different styles, use varying materials, and i think we will complement each other nicely.

jennaca davies works with enamels, paper, and tyvek (see rings above), layering form and playing with pattern and shadow.

stacey lee webber manipulates coins, meticulously cutting out silhouette imagery to cast money in a whole new light.
maya kini uses different metals, enamel, and other more delicate materials to create beautiful studies of mundane objects, elevating them to the precious, like this bronze balloon and 22K gold funnel.

i will try to blog while i am at the show...you might also like to visit green jeans blog. amy shaw, the owner of green jeans in brooklyn, created the space/display for searchlight this year.

thanks for reading.

acc. ok.

i've been back from acc baltimore for about a week now and i'm feeling good about the show and my experience there. i feel much the same way i did when i returned from the august buyers market show. i learned a lot, was fascinated by the scene, and was excited about the people i met...all ditto for acc. i arrived on thursday, march 26 and spent the day setting up with fellow jewelers, maya kini, jennaca davies, and stacey webber. things weren't quite ready for us when we got there so there was some waiting at first, but then we got started and the booth just unfolded. it was fun to work with maya, jennaca, and stacey and it was fantastic to see their work in person. i posted more images on my flickr.
the show opened the next morning and i was astonished by the droves of people. there was constant action for the first couple of hours. over the next three days i met so many people - customers, show attendees, fellow artist participants, colleagues....and, as i mentioned on friday, one of the highlights for me was meeting biba schutz.

as for the other searchlighters...what an amazing group of artists. i was psyched to be included among such great work. i think we presented a very strong show and i was really impressed by the work. you can see images on flickr at searchlight 2009. you can also read more about searchlight at acc's site and at greenjeans brooklyn, the blog of amy shaw, who designed this year's show.

thanks for reading.

acc real quick

i got back from the acc searchlight show in baltimore monday night and hit the ground running the next morning. there is so much business to catch up on, including some complicated tax-related stuff like physical inventory. yikes! i will post all about the show soon after i've had some time to contemplate it all. for now i need to get my act together.

above is a an image from the show showing my work and some of stacey lee webber's pieces. i posted a bunch of pictures to my flickr account last night including more from acc, pictures of my preparations for the show, and some studio silliness - a series of shadow puppets i made the evening before i left for the show. i was feeling a bit crazy at that point. enjoy!

thanks for reading.

elevation 2757.04

i've been living at the penland school of crafts for nearly 3 weeks now and i think my mind is beginning to quiet down from all the moving, unpacking, reorganizing, cleaning...i've been working a little bit, mostly keeping up with mail orders. i also finished work for my taboo studio group exhibition which opens on february 13. then yesterday i spent most of the day making samples for the buyers market of american craft show, also in february. i only have a few things left to make for that. after i finish getting ready for that show i can focus on acc searchlight. february is such a busy month! when i return i will have nothing planned, indefinitely, and i'm pretty excited. this is the first time in a very long time that i have no plans. i'm looking forward to just being here and making work.

i took a picture yesterday of the front of the building where my studio is located. (see above and look towards the end of the building. you'll see a window in the roof - that's where my studio is.) i also took a picure of the tiles in the entryway which state the elevation and latitude-longitude. seeing this information every day makes my place in the world more concrete in my mind as i imagine penland on a globe or world map.
thanks for reading.

guest star friday #39...biba schutz

4+1 stonehedge brooch

i have admired the work of biba schutz for years. my first metalsmithing teacher, barbara crocker, gave me a few metalsmith magazines and asked me to mark what i liked. biba's work was among my favorites. i got to meet biba at acc over the weekend which was a pretty exciting moment for me. we had a great conversation, i got to look at all of her work very closely, and i walked away feeling really good. she later came to the searchlight section to look at my work which was also very exciting. the whole transaction was definitely a highlight of the event. biba's work is interesting to me because of its simplicity and its focus on lines and space. she has mastered a gestural quality that makes her work seem effortless. i also love her asymmetrical compositions and their graphic feel.

brooch

earrings

you can see many examples of her work at sienna gallery, gallery loupe, and velvet de vinci.

thanks for reading.

what i've been up to

i've been back from acc for two weeks and since my return i've been busy catching-up in my office. first i had to do some tedious tax related stuff including a physical inventory of my materials and finished work. it was a struggle for me to get it done. in addition i had to sort through various invoices and payments which made me realize i'm not as organized as i thought i was. in response i recalled all my inventory that's on consignment in an effort to clean the slate. i will then send each shop a fresh batch of work including many of the new 2009 pieces. i'm kind of excited about doing this. i like a clean-sweep. later i wrote thank you's to the people involved with the searchlight show and the residency program here at penland. i think giving thanks in an official way like this is really important and it certainly makes me feel good. most recently, i started prepping and updating my website with the new work and a few new features. all this will go live on friday. (and don't forget, there's free shipping starting friday for a month!)

in between computer sessions i was cleaning my studio and trying to rid its windows of beetles that i like to refer to as "ladybug posers." they look like ladybugs but with more spots and are orange, not red. my windows were crawling with them - hundreds and hundreds. just listening to the clicking of their wings on the glass as they flew around was driving me crazy...and if that's not enough, they are stinky and they bite.
this week i hope to reunite with my bench. i have some work on my plate already and it seems to be piling up which is exciting and is also making me hopeful. i have several shows over the next 6 months and i am super psyched about all the new work i am going to make. finally!

thanks for reading.

maya kini brooch

i went to get the mail yesterday and was surprised to find several packages waiting for me. i remember saying something like "i'm sure none of these are for me" to a friend as i scanned the names. there were four! one of them was my trade from maya kini - an enameled brooch. (maya was one of the jewelers at the acc searchlight show.) it's more lovely than i remembered. thanks, maya!
thanks for reading.

something new...part 2

i've been working on some new ideas since moving to penland. i've been thinking about lines and different ways they come together, especially borders and other outlines. when i was flying a lot in the fall for my west coast trunk show tour i became increasingly fascinated by the outlines of farmland and the meandering patterns of roads. also, around election time, i looked at the blue and red map of the u.s. a lot and really began noticing the shapes of the states. i think between my birds eye view from the plane and that map, these shapes developed.


as i am sure many of you can relate, i have to be thriftier than usual right now. i had all these little circles in my scrap bin that were the insides of my flat egg shapes. instead of recycling them, i just started cutting them up. what came from that light bulb moment are these shallow domes. all this work is for the acc searchlight show at the end of the month. i will also be bringing lots of line drawing pieces.
thanks for reading.

american craft exposition

i leave for the american craft exposition next tuesday. i've been working on one-of-a-kind pieces for this show, both line drawings and borderlines. the above picture is a new brooch which i am really excited about. i think a big necklace needs to happen next.
i will be one of 12 different emerging artists at the show. we will be grouped together much like at the acc searchlight show i did back in february. the other emerging jewelers are grace chin (first image below) and genevieve yang (second image below). the list of other jewelers is pretty incredible (biba schutz, sandra enterline, pat flynn to name a few) and i am excited to see their work in person.

the show takes place in evanston, il, near chicago. i've never been to chicago before and i am looking forward to spending some time there. i here the museums and food are excellent!


show details:
ameican craft exposition
henry crown sports pavilion, northwestern university
2311 n. campus drive, at lincoln street and the lakefront
evanston, il
friday, aug 28 10am-8pm
saturday, aug 29 10am-6pm
sunday, aug 30 11am-5pm

tickets are $12 advance, $15 at the door and are good for all 3 days

thanks for reading.