I Left My Jewelry in San Francisco: Part 6

I have some good friends in SF who are incredible metalsmiths--Suzanne Pugh, Cynthia Rohrer, and Raissa Bump. I have written about them before and this time I want to share some images of their studios...I always love seeing where and how artists work, especially my friends.

 

 

From the top: Raissa's bench, Suzanne's stump on wheels, Raissa's stump, Cynthia's stump, Suzanne's knotty stump, Cynthia's bench, Suzanne's bench

More images on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.

I Left My Jewelry in San Francisco: Part 3

On November 3 I taught two back-to-back 3-dimensional drawing with materials workshops at City College. I began each class with a lecture about my work followed by a short question and answer session. Then I set the students to work. They had to complete a piece of jewelry in one hour using common and found materials they had brought from home. I asked them to try different things, to work gesturally, to be mindful of the time, and to have fun. After the hour we talked about the pieces--what students were thinking about as they worked, what their intention was, why they chose the materials they did, how the process made them feel, etc. Students moved quickly and seriously during work time (it was very quiet) and had fantastic things to say during the critiques. I was delighted with the results and how articulate everyone was.

Thanks to Suzanne Pugh, the metals instructor at City College (and my good friend!), for inviting me to teach.

More images on Flickr.

Thanks for reading. 

once again...SF, part 4

"j. franklin, artic" - suzanne pugh

on the night of the opening of fault lines, there were two other openings happening at another gallery, velvet da vinci. these began an hour earlier than fault lines so i was able to attend. i even got there early enough to hear the curator of "chased + repoussed," nancy megan corwin, talk about the show. the exhibition includes varied work by artists who use primarily chasing and repousse in their work. the pieces, both jewelry and holloware, range in style from minimal to organic, abstract to representational. (see all the images here.) my favorite pieces include the funnel pictured above by suzanne pugh and:

miel-margarita paredes - from the "gnaw" series

kate case - brooch

also opening that evening was "rob jackson - the eloquent nail." for this exhibition, rob created a body of work using "found steel fragments." the resulting work includes an excellent mix of fine metalsmithing, elegant materials like gold and faceted stones, and aged, organic, and wonderfully textured nails. see all the images here.

nail head earrings with nail head dangles

ruby nail rings

it was such a treat to be able to attend these openings at one of my favorite galleries and they definitely added to the excitement of the evening for me.

thanks for reading.

oh my, SF!

i am flying to san francisco tomorrow afternoon and i am psyched! not only do i get to go to my opening at rare device, one of my absolute favorite stores/galleries, but i get to see some dear friends, my cousin, and other things that i love love love, like:

two shows at velvet da vinci - chased and repoussed and rob jackson - the eloquent nail - not to mention, their regular selection of art jewelry.

suzanne pugh

rob jackson

the cartier in america exhibition at the legion of honor - a retrospective of cartier jewelry. here's a link to a great article about the show.

i also hope to get over to berkeley to visit shibumi gallery and see the tina rath show.

tina rath

...and details on fault lines:

fault lines
opening reception friday, march 19, 7-9pm
show runs through may 2
rare device
1845 nw market st.

thanks for reading.

it's saturday, the last day of the SNAG conference. so much has happened! it's been a great couple of days, but i am ready to go home. it's going to take me a bit to process everything, so i thought i would break it up into segments over the next week. i can say right now that the best part has been spending time with my faraway jewelry friends that i don't get to see that often.

i did not expect to get so much quality time with them...
suzanne pugh (above left), adrienne grafton (below left), seth papac (middle), andy cooperman (above right)...more on that and others later. now i am off to the big party.

thanks for reading.