auction prep: display

like i've said before, i love displaying my work and my collections of things. i wanted to create a really beautiful display for this year's auction and spent a few hours this morning putting it together. the beginning stages are usually a little slow - i tend to feel overwhelmed because there's so much to display and i don't know where to begin. then i make a move and then another and then change something and then...one thing leads to another and i'm done. i am going to sleep on this one and maybe tweak it some in the morning. i do like it, though - it's clean and i think the work looks really good.

more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

auction prep: regal graffiti

for the past few weeks i've been making lots of work for the annual penland benefit auction. on saturday, august 14th the residents will host a special show and sale at 9am. it's called "breakfast at the barns" and auction-goers who attend get a lovely handmade mug for their coffee along with breakfast goodies to enjoy as they visit our studios and shop. last year's event was a huge success and we are all hoping for a repeat this year.

i made a number of new spray painted pieces including some single pendants, lots of earrings, and a few big necklaces. my color palate at the moment is red-light blue-yellow-hot pink-white. in the past i've hesitated a lot before painting the work, debating which colors to use and how to layer them, but i've found in making this work that i really like these specific colors and i am comfortable with them. painting was easy and i barely had to think.

i also created a new spray booth which has been great to use. it's safer and efficient and that makes spray painting so much easier.

more images on flickr.

thanks for reading.

auction prep: line drawings

my line drawing series has been on the back burner for some time now because i have been developing new ideas. this year's auction prep allowed me to revisit the series and make some pieces i started thinking about over a year ago. in the last few weeks i gave myself the time to make these pieces and repeat a few as well. i made some things with 18K gold solder and made a necklace using elements similar to my line drawing brooch. it's been fun to make these pieces because the series is so familiar. i found i could just be in the process, designing away, and there was an effortless to it that i don't necessarily feel when i am making new work.


more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

auction 2010

this year's featured artist is hoss haley, a former resident

this year's penland benefit auction is right around the corner, as in next friday and saturday. this year i donated the pendant from the first regal graffiti pieces i made last fall. i chose this piece because i wanted to give something i had made in my first year as a resident artist, a piece that i was able to make truly because of my residency.

and here are a few images of the catalog. i'm pretty excited about my lot because i was quoted again this year and i share the page with two friends, lola brooks and david chatt. you can view the entire catalog online at the penland website. i highly recommend perusing the pages - there is some incredible work in there!

thanks for reading.

a small installation

i love displaying my work (and all sorts of things, really) and try to do something different for every open house the resident artists host (one per session, so one every 2 weeks). for session four i combined the new regal graffiti pieces for heidi lowe gallery with the tiny gallery pieces and some silhouettes in a small installation.

more on flickr.

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new work for heidi lowe

here's some new regal graffiti i made for heidi lowe gallery...more experimenting with color, more bows, and i was also able to revisit some of the marks i made in my enameling class with helen carnac (see the footprints in the light blue earrings below). i'm really into that hot pink, especially when paired with red, and i'm also really into the four-teardrop pendant design and have made a few more similar pieces since.

more images on flickr including some process shots.

thanks for reading.

the yellow brooch

my friend, marcia macdonald, passed away almost 2 weeks ago and i decided to focus on my work as a way to recognize her passing and to honor her memory. this time has been therapeutic and cathartic. this is a difficult topic for me to share so i won't say much, but i do want to say that marcia was important to me and i cherish the time i knew her. the above piece is something i made for her a few weeks before her death. it was part of the tiny gallery. i am sorry i was not able to share it with her.

thanks for reading.