auction diversion

marissa saneholtz - "he would have to fight them off with a stick."

copper, enamel, sterling silver, stainless pin wire, powder coat, tie fabric

a week before the auction i went over to adam whitney's house with angela bubash for a wonderful diversion - a powder coating demonstration by marissa saneholtz, the studio assistant for marlene true 5th session. marlene, deb karash (instructor 5th session) and her assistant, jessica benzaquen, and elizabeth brim were also there and we had a hilarious time together watching the demo and then trying it for ourselves. i really had no concept of what powder coating is all about but now after marissa's demo, the technique is demystified. i tried scratching my sample and then layering color, treating the material like my spray painted pieces. it works similarly except i had to put more elbow into it to remove color.


more images on flickr.

thanks for reading.

new work for sienna gallery

in early august i made three new regal graffiti pieces for sienna gallery. i began by repeating two different designs - the four-teardrop pendant and the large medal-style pendant. i wanted to revisit these designs to see what else i could do as working in series can be a helpful tool. this time i discovered a few things by making "mistakes" - i did more masking of large areas with paper and when i lifted the paper it stuck to a few spots, peeling some paint away. at first i was frustrated but then i quickly realized these spots could create some interesting effects if i layered more paint on top of them. i was delightfully surprised when i started scratching and sanding a few days later. the final surface reminds me of the cracked and repainted ceilings in a former apartment of mine. i also tried creating stripes on another piece by repeating the same sanded mark around the edge of each element.

more detail shots on flickr.

thanks for reading.

studio portrait

august was a busy month and i was not able to keep up with everything here on the blog...so begins a series of catch-up posts. if i remember correctly, early in the month a tour visited the barns accompanied by rob bousa of rob and roberston imaging from charlotte, nc. rob has been working on a portrait project of artists in their studios and he took a bunch of pictures of me in action that day. the above image is the one he chose to publish and i like it a lot. i like that you can see my work space, i like the lighting, and i like that it's not fussy in any way, just a good likeness in my favorite place.

check out more of the portrait series, including a picture of my friends, devin burgess (also a penland resident artist) and his assistant, mike krupiarz at work and another of mike rossi in the penland iron studio.

thanks for reading.

my writing, published

late last spring i submitted my work for possible inclusion in a new journal of art, literature, and culture called trachodon. i thought maybe i could get a few images published along with my artist statement or maybe an interview. surprisingly, the editors asked me to write an article about my work and, although the task seemed incredibly daunting, i knew it would be a great opportunity so i said yes. i also knew i would be in good hands with the editor, john carr walker, and associate editor, katey schultz. i started writing the article in april and went through the editing process with john over several weeks. i would send a draft to john and he would read it and comment, asking me questions and making suggestions to draw things out of me. slowly but surely we got to a place in the piece where it felt complete and we were both pleased. the article is about what happened to me and my work over the winter. it is accompanied by several images from my borderlines series and my artist statement. it was a tremendous challenge to write about my experience in this manner and wonderful to get it all down and sort it out.


the first issue (which includes my article "part of the process") just came out a few days ago - if you would like to learn more about trachodon or get a subscription, please visit the trachodon website or find them on facebook.

thanks to katey for asking me to write for the magazine and for being so supportive and a special thanks to john for being such a great editor.

thanks for reading.

4th place!

my brooch no. 1 was given 4th place at the strassen kunst exhibition currently on display at artspace in richmond, va. i'm excited to represent art jewelry in this predominately visual art exhibition and winning an award makes it even more special. best in show went to marc anthony polizzi for "in over my head," while one of my favorite pieces, "under deconstruction," by john mccaughey received honorable mention.

john mccaughey-under deconstruction
(honorable mention)

check out the other winners here.

thanks for reading.

teaching part 5

textured bangles (hammered, chased) with riveted clasp
by sarah james

my class ended on saturday. we cleaned the studio and had a class show and tell together, followed by a school show and tell with all the students. i am very excited about the pieces my class made and how hard they worked. like i said a few days go, i gave them a lot of information over those 5 days and they responded with energy, enthusiasm, and hard work. i had a great time teaching them and spending time with them. i have posted an image of a piece by each student and added lots more on flickr. teaching a one week class was challenging - it's not a lot of time and i think it's very important to strike a balance between demonstrations and work time, structure and freedom. having such a fantastic group made things a lot easier, though!

mushroom rings (dapped, hammer texture) by alexis dunfee

"C" ring (etched/roll printed) by chris keener

etched minimalist pendant with tab setting by stacey lanning

box necklace with etched/roll printed text & gold details
by lisa shepard (work-in-progress)

roll printed, dapped, and riveted copper pendant by kathleen franza

contemporary sandblasted earrings with burnished edge detail
by pam adan

leaf cuff (roll printed, hammered, oxidized) with keum bo detail
by joann graham

deconstructed plaid brooch by joyce dunfee
(roll printed, work-in-progress)

unfortunately, i was not able to get any pictures of annetta brady's final work because she had to leave early on saturday. annetta made some great pieces with modern, minimal geometric patterns and details.

thanks for reading.

teaching part 4

yesterday i showed my students keum bo and gold leafing. keum bo is a korean technique of fusing pieces of thin gold to sterling silver. i also demo-ed leafing, an inexpensive low-tech alternative. this was a fun demo to teach. not only because keum bo is such a cool technique with beautiful results, but also because we got silly and leafed a few random things in the studio, like the cap of the peroxide bottle from the first aid cabinet.

kuem bo sample

gold leaf on peroxide bottle cap

more on flickr.

thanks for reading.