guest star friday #40...joanne haywood

earrings

today's guest star is joanne haywood. i am often attracted to jewelry that incorporates textiles and their related techniques and joanne's work is no exception. she complements her simple stark metal structures with complex crocheted forms. she also created a group of embroidered and felted wool brooches. these brooches were inspired by a trip to oslo, norway and were part of an installation at flow gallery in london.

red rings

100 oslo brooches
joanne haywood installing 100 oslo brooches

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new work is almost here!

i will be adding new work on friday, march 20 to my new condensed shop. i decided to pare down this year so my signature and layered collections are now retired. egg & bean, steel and gold, and preface were trimmed a bit but also got some brand new pieces and a few updated styles. i also moved men's over to preface since the look of these two complement each other so nicely. to celebrate the changes i will be offering free shipping on all orders from march 20-april 20.

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acc shout outs

stacey lee webber necklace

along with all the great show attendees and customers i talked to at acc, i also wanted to mention some of the great artists i met and spent time with. i even got to do a little trading with a few of them right at the end - images are above and below. it's the people at events like these that really make it worthwhile for me.

arthur hash pins

richard saja - historically inaccurate
jane d'arensbourg
geoff giles (my former studiomate)
erica rosenfeld
nanda soderberg - solos glass
christina miller - ethical metalsmiths
annie chau - imogene
erica gordon - steel toe studios
elisa shere (a former student!)
todd reed
jessica benzaquen - jika james jewelry & sculpture
sondra bonazoli and jim dowd - beehive kitchenware
gabriel ofiesh (my mentor for the show)
arthur hash
talya baharal
ali dryer - pistol designs
sylvie rosenthal

jennaca davies earrings and ring

one of my trades, a brooch by maya kini, is missing. i'm just waiting for maya to photograph it. i'll post an image soon.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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march jewelry of the month

for march's jewelry of the month i created a group of earrings i fondly call "the wee earring trio." wee is my favorite word for small and was definitely my starting point this month. i've had a lot on my plate lately and march arrived too quickly. a few weeks ago i had to design and make march's jewelry of the month on the fly. i began by keeping things simple and small. really small. wee. i've also been thinking about value in these current economic times and a modestly priced trio seemed like a great way to get your money's worth. i made 3 different pairs of sterling silver earrings perfect for everyday wear. they are simple, sweet, delicate, modern, and wee, of course.

my wee earring trio is priced at $54 and i will make up to 10 sets. these tiny earrings measure about 2mm for the facets, 3mm for the cushions, and 7 mm for the circles. as always, each trio comes with a numbered and signed card.

you can read more about jewelry of the month here.

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