London Again

19th century jewelry at the British Museum

The first stop on my Europe Part 2 trip was London. I spent just two days there but packed in tons of stuff. The first day I arrived very early in the morning and after putting my luggage in storage at my apartment I hopped on the tube and went to the British Museum. I specifically went to see the wonderful collection of 19th century jewelry and then weaved my way through several more rooms to see as much jewelry as I could from other time periods. My favorite piece was this gold cape from the Bronze Age.

Gold Cape at the British Museum

Spare Parts

Later that evening I met up with metalsmith Mark Fenn and went to the opening reception of "Spare Parts," a solo exhibition of the work of David Clarke at Gallery SO. I know both artists via Facebook so it was fantastic to meet them in person and spend some time. David's show was great to view up close, too. 

Raven Row Gallery

The next day I went to Raven Row Gallery to see an exhibition of the work of Běla Kolářová. I was not familiar with her work until I visited this show and I'm so glad I did not miss it! Her photographs of arranged objects, collages of broken razor blades, and prototypes for jewelry were incredibly appealing to me. 

Běla Kolářová "Enclosed World" in broken razor blades

Běla Kolářová "The Alphabet of Things"

Běla Kolářová - prototypes for earrings

Crafted

Next I visited Somerset House where I saw two different exhibitions: "Crafted: Makers of the Exceptional" and "Landmark" The Fields of Photography". Crafted featured the work of artists in a variety of media and included mock studios and Landmark was simply astonishing. 

Landmark: The Fields of Photography

Finally, I visited the Victoria and Albert both Friday and Saturday. On Friday I met up with Helen Carnac and we looked at the collection of contemporary ceramics. Then on Saturday I indulged myself with yet another visit just to see the jewelry which I will never, ever tire of. I got there right as the museum opened so I had about 20 minutes completely alone. It was heaven. 

To see more photos please visit Facebook or Flickr.

Thanks for reading.

Thinking Points via Heat-Exchange

Here's a post I wrote for the Heat-Exchange blog...I’ve been collecting visual information since I last posted here. Lately, I find myself drawn to the winter landscape of my home in North Carolina–it’s quiet and stark, everything is  “dead,” for lack of a better word…but everything is so beautiful! The dim and golden light, the gorgeous palate of brown, white, and gray, the movement of trees and grasses in the wind…

I drove to New York to visit friends and family for Christmas. It’s a long drive, providing 14 hours of thinking time. I noticed these same things as I drove through Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and then New York and couldn’t help but think about them. This is when I knew they were going to influence my enameling and be the starting point for my new work. I took lots of new pictures and sorted through files of images from the past on my computer, gathering together my favorites for this specific project. I have posted several images here and started a set on Flickr for all of them to be together and for you see, if you like. I have also posted some images of things I made during a wonderful enameling class with Helen Carnac. I see a similar thought pattern in these pieces, too.

To read the first post I wrote for "Heat-Exchange, please visit this link.

Thanks for reading.

enameling part 10, finale

for my last post on enameling i thought i would share some images from a walk i went on with helen carnac. i took her to spruce pine to explore one saturday morning and we just wandered, talked, and took pictures.

now two weeks after the end of the class, i'm working on other things, but i think about what i learned a lot. i'm curious to see what happens when i try out some of the marks and layering i did in enamel on my spray painted pieces, i'm wondering about the orientation of my marks--almost always along one side, and i'm thinking about why i love white or the lack of color so much. hmm...(it was such a great class!)

more images on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 3

a sampler of marks on the opaque enamel

after spending the first two days thinking about mark making, we started enameling on wednesday. helen began by introducing us to liquid enamel (industrial enamel--think large appliances) in 4 basic colors: an opaque white, a slightly transparent white, black, and "flux" that varies in color from white to brown to clear depending on the firing). we were also given a stack of steel plates to enamel on. then helen demonstrated the basic process and some ideas for making marks in the enamel before firing.

one big scratch also on opaque white-i got some nice blue undertones one this one

liquid enamel requires lots of time which i came to really appreciate. although the firing part takes just moments, all the steps leading up to it and then after it need time in order to get the best results consistently. for example, once the enamel is applied, the piece should dry for a long time, say overnight. then once the piece has been fired, it's best to allow the piece to cool, again, at least overnight. the materials and process sort of "forced" me to slow down and i liked taking my time. as for the limited color palette, i also really liked it. i tend to gravitate towards white generally and found only a few colors to choose from helped me to stay focused while learning something new.

more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 2

on tuesday we went for another walk and collected more objects and pictures. this time around, i definitely collected more visuals than objects. these walks have given me a chance to take pictures of many of the things i love seeing every day at penland. when we got back to the studio we laid all of our collected bits on a table including what we had found the day before. helen asked us to make 10-20 mark making tools in the two hours before lunch. then she made a beautiful arrangement of all the tools on a big sheet of butcher paper. next we shared the tools and made marks with them on another giant sheet of butcher paper using black paint. the remainder of the afternoon was ours to experiment with the tools in our sketchbooks. the top image is a detail of some marks i made in my sketchbook using bamboo.

i really enjoyed the first two days of class. i got to do some things i normally wouldn't take the time to do like taking long walks, taking pictures, and experimental drawing. it was good to be out of my element--drawing and mark making can be awkward for me. i felt pretty relaxed in class, though, so it was more fun than anything else.

more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 1

i've been "away" for two weeks...i thought i would blog during my class with helen carnac, but i was too immersed and only wanted to work. now i have some catching up to do so over the next week or so i will post about what i learned and made.

on the first day we went for a walk and collected objects and images. then we shared our findings with each other. we talked about how we keep track of and sort information--sketching, photos, cutting pictures out of magazines, collecting objects, writing, and so on. here are two images of some of the things i found while walking and a picture of one of many rusty/peeling paint images i took along the way. all my images can be seen on flickr.


thanks for reading.

enameling with helen carnac

for the next two weeks i will be taking an enameling class with helen carnac. the class is titled "mark making in enamel." here's the course description:

"The world is full of marks. They may be left accidentally or made with a purpose. We might see them or they might go unnoticed. Through photography, drawings, or found objects, we will collect a range of marks found in the Penland landscape. These will be used as the basis for an exploration of nontraditional enameling processes. Through a series of demonstrations and studio work, we will explore a range of techniques including mark making, drawing, sgrafitto, collage, and the appropriation of found materials."

i am, of course, excited to learn more about enameling, a technique i tried briefly last year when elizabeth turrell was teaching here. but, what i am most excited about is the mark making part - i am so curious about marking marks and drawing. i've been doing a little on my new work, namely my regal graffiti series, and i am also interested in just plain old drawing. being in a class is one the of the best ways for me to try something new. the structure of the class environment and the fact that i am out of my element really gets me to do stuff. plus, i really like helen's work...

thanks for reading.