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."


thanks for reading.

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.

45th annual craft and design show

some pieces from my preface collection will be part of the quirk gallery booth at the 45th annual craft and design show in richmond, va. the show benefits the visual arts center of richmond. i oxidized the pieces i sent and love the new feel they now have.

nov 21 from 10-6
nov 22 from 11-5
science museum of virginia
2500 west broad st, richmond, va
free parking

admission:
public $12
vis arts members $10
weekend pass $15

you can see a list of participating artists at the vis arts website, including my friend and former studiomate, geoff giles.

thanks for reading.

news and updates

i recently had my klimt02 page updated with some new images and information. i changed my portrait, too. the last one was embarrassingly large. i think the new one is much better. you can view the page here. i am also a new jewelry artist on object fetish, an online jewelry gallery. when i was invited to be on the site i spent some time getting to know the other artists and site features. i was happy to find lots familiar names and several friends including sarah loertscher, aran galligan, geoff giles, and arthur hash. i know i will spend more time there over the next couple if weeks getting to know the artists that are new to me. (i see a great resource for guest star friday...) you can view that page here.

i also added some new studio shots to my flickr page. these pictures were taken when i first started painting the space. this week i will be painting the windows and the entryway door. i will be adding more pictures soon once the project is complete.

finally, i started adding model pictures to my website shop. you'll find them in the preface collection. more coming...
thanks for reading.

in the meantime

i was just trying to post another greece installment, but discovered i can't find the cord that one uses to transfer digital pictures from camera to computer. although i have lots of pictures of greek jewelry shops and the jewelry inside them, i don't have pictures of the work i actually bought. since the cord is missing, well, more greece posts will have to wait. in the meantime, i thought i would write about a few new happenings.

i have more new gallery representation with heidi lowe gallery in rehoboth beach, de. heidi will be carrying my studio jewelry and my preface collection. she also invited me to make cuff links for her upcoming cuff links show, "night of the stud" which opens august 2.

my ring "this came a bit later" will be included in the upcoming exhibition "30 small works" at gallery up in rock hill, sc. i sent my application and images for the jury just before i left for greece and the acceptance letter arrived while i was away. when i got home i had a huge pile of mail to sort through and happily discovered that my ring is featured on the show postcard before i even saw the acceptance letter. needless to say, it was a great surprise!today i got the new metalsmith magazine in the mail. i saw the back cover first and was so excited to see my studiomate geoff giles. he is featured in an ad for rio grande because he won a saul bell design award last year. i've known about the ad for awhile but this is the first time i've seen it. i think it's pretty awesome - go geoff!



jewelry of the month is coming up in just a few weeks. i will debut this new project july 1.

finally, item of the week will return tuesday, june 10 and guest star friday will return friday, june 13.

thanks for reading.