Guest Star Friday #104...Susie Ganch

Susie Ganch has been one of my metalsmithing heros for years. I met her at Penland in 1999 the first time I took a class there. She was a resident artist then and her work really impressed me. Over the years we have stayed in touch and have become good friends. I'm in Richmond, VA for the Hand-Crafted Entrepreneurship Symposium and get to spend a day with Susie tomorrow which I will post on next week. In the meantime, I want to share her work with you now. I've always liked her forms, surface treatments, and use of materials. Her latest work uses enamel to create distressed and highly texturized surfaces and the pieces are both minimal and luxurious.

Thanks for reading.

sparkle plenty

i don't think i've written about sparkle plenty yet...SP is an invitational group exhibtion at quirk gallery in richmond, va. the show was curated by susie ganch. susie chose several jewelers and we were asked to invite another jeweler whom we admire. i chose lori talcott, my friend and mentor. here's a list of the other artists (among them you will see many of my favorites so i am pretty psyched to be in this show):

joanna gollberg
caitie sellers
marlene true
sharon massey
blanka sperkova
biba schutz
sandra enterline
amy tavern
lori talcott

i have been working on spray painted pieces for the show, taking my little graffiti pin concept a bit farther by layering paint and by adding inscribed lines and marks. the look of the jewelry is based on medieval, renaissance, and victorian pieces that i've been reading about. i thought it might be interesting to combine something traditional with something unconventional. here are pictures of my process so far including taping the pieces down to protect the connections from getting covered by paint, my spray paint booth with ventilation, and the jewelry with the first layer of paint.

more images soon...

thanks for reading

studio visitors

i've been really lucky to have had some amazing guests in my studio over the past few weeks since the penland summer sessions began. we've had some interesting conversations about jewelry and art, penland happenings, and they were also kind enough to talk about my work and my residency plans. i'm won't go into detail; there is just too much and i might bore you, but i will say these conversations gave me lots to think about and have made me even more excited to make my work. i want to say thanks to all of these wonderful people for sharing their precious and valuable time with me. the above photo is in my studio before one of these visits. i usually set up my table with things i've been working on so my guests can see what i've been up to. in brief...

leslie noell, a mixed media artist - we talked about my new life at penland and how i am adjusting to my surroundings, the busy/unpredictable/strange schedule, and the multitudes of new people i meet. we also talked about drawing or making marks on paper, something i am very interested in. leslie suggested some exercises to get my ideas going and advised me to start by working with what i know.
mary lee hu, my former jewelry professor from the university of washington - we talked about what "one-0f-a-kind" means because i am having a hard time defining it within my work. she suggested going bigger, for one. she also noted i need to find my "thing" and run with it.
anika smulovitz - this was my first time meeting anika and i really enjoyed getting to know her. we talked about things we are struggling with in our work and traded suggestions on pushing through, motivation, and idea generation.
bob ebendorf and jim meyer - we talked about trends or themes in jewelry and the overlap that can occur among artists. we discussed how important it is to know who's making what and the pros and cons of keeping up with what others are doing versus not looking at others' work to steer clear of overlap. it's tricky...
most recently susie ganch and christina miller were here teaching radical jewelry makeover. we talked about making jewelry, susie's experience as a penland resident (i met susie as a resident in 1999), and radical jewelry makeover. these two are some of my favorite people and i loved spending time with them!

thanks for reading.

radical jewelry makeover part 2

i made two pieces for the radical jewelry makeover exhibition and sale between monday and tuesday. i enjoyed being in the metals studio working alongside the RJM students and loved the challenge of creating new work from old jewelry. i would have liked to spend more time in there and to make more pieces but i just couldn't because i had to tend to my own studio.
last night i helped susie ganch and christina miller, the RJM instructors, price all the work. i was impressed with the pieces they made and how many they were able to crank out in less than two weeks. when i left at 11:30 the class was busy installing the show. i am looking forward to the show today and plan to be there early to choose the piece i will take home. i donated some old jewelry so i have a coupon to redeem.

the exhibition and sale is today from 10am-7:15pm in the printmaking studio at the penland school of crafts.

thanks for reading.

sienna gallery

i am very, very excited to announce that sienna gallery is going to represent my work this summer! sienna is one of my favorite contemporary studio jewelry galleries and represents many of my jewelry heros. sienna will be showing my current studio jewelry series, line drawings. i will be able to make new work in this series which will be my top priority when i return from greece. what a fantastic task to come home to!

raissa bump

jimena rios

lina peterson

susie ganch

melanie bilenker

esther knobel

biba schutz

thanks for reading.