Tagged!

I have been tagged by Chris Parry, a fellow etsy metal member! I have to tell you seven random facts about myself.

Here goes:

1. I hate light pollution. Very few things make me happier than being able to look up into the sky and see it sprinkled with beautiful, amazing, twinkling stars.

2. I love the desert. I love the cactus, the rock covered mountains, the dry warm air, the intense sunlight, the super hot weather...everything about it.

3. I love old trucks and in my dreams I drive a 1951 Chevy truck with stepsides, painted fire engine red.

4. I am hopeless when it comes direction...I can get lost anywhere...even if I've been somewhere a hundred times, I usually get lost. My parents didn't let me get my drivers license until I was 17 because they were afraid I would get lost and never come home.

5. I love to swim. I think that swimming is the most relaxing thing in the world because you just focus on the water...you can only hear your own breathing...there are no distractions and you are free to just think.

6. I love school. I love learning and if I could stay in school forever I probably would.

7. When I get stressed out about something, instead of doing whatever I need to do, I clean. I start scrubbing my tile grout with a toothbrush just so I don't have to face the stress. Dumb, I know.

So, thats 7 facts about me. Heres who I tag in no particular order:

Corey Ackelmire

Shannon Duffy

Valerie Heck

Danielle Embry

Mindy Sue Meyers

Emily Barletta

Sophie Wiggins

Lauren McAdams

Here's how this works:

THE RULES:**Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.*Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their name as well as links to their blog.* Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Whirlwind Day

Saturday was absolutley crazy. Wonderful, but crazy. I had to be at Mesa Art Center at 8:00 am to set up my booth for the Holiday Art and Music Festival. The fair has been going on for 3 years now, and my friend and studio mate Victoria Altepeter and I have shared a booth together all 3 years. So we got all set up, and then I had to drive all the way to downtown Phoenix to teach my etching class at Phoenix Center for the Arts (more on that later). It was fun, but then after the 3 hour class I had to rush back over to Mesa to watch my booth for the last 2 hours of the show before takedown. We got all cleaned up, I drove home and unloaded the truck really quick and then dashed to the movie theater to go see Twilight. Besides the fact that I got virtually NO sleep for a week before the show because I was frantically trying to get jewelry made, that was a really exhausting day! It was super fun though. Oh, and can I just point out that it was a beautiful, sunny 78 degrees?! I know you are all jealous!!!

My husband sat at the booth with Victoria while I was teaching. I was so happy that he was willing to help me out. I am a lucky girl! I think he may have even had fun:)

Victoria won 1st place jurors award for the show because her jewelry is AMAZING and she gets her booth for free next year! I will be sad that we won't be sharing the booth, but we decided that we will just have to have our booths right next to eachother so we can still be together! This is some of the jewelry (below) she had at the show, isn't it amazing?! She has opened an etsy shop and is working on getting things listed. You should check it out. If she doesn't have much listed, check back later as she is just getting started!

These are her married metal belt buckles. She uses lots of different patinas in her work. Aren't they gorgeous?

These are some of her cast organic brooches.

Sky map rings in brass and sterling silver.
Galaxy brooches.
Anyway, it was really a fun day and we both did really well. There was so much traffic! Our booth was busy all day. One thing that was so great was that we had so many friends come to support us. So many of our customers were return customers from last year, which is such a compliment. We were so glad to have so many friends, family members and supporters come and stop by our booth. Thank you so much. You make all of our hard work worth it!

ASU Metals Club Jewelry Sale

ASU Metals Club Jewelry Sale

"Red Hot and Riveting!"

Come support our metals club and buy awesome jewelry for yourself or gifts! We will be having our bi-annual sale, Monday the 24th-Wednesday the 26th of next week. The table will be located in front of the Art Building from 10am-5pm. Lots of handmade work by students!

Tons of New Jewelry and a Reminder

Guess what?! I have TONS of new jewelry in stock and it will all be at the:

HOLIDAY ART & MUSIC FESTIVAL

When: THIS SATURDAY! Nov 22, 2008
Start time: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Where: Mesa Arts Center

"The annual Holiday Art & Musical Festival will feature original works of art for sale by several local and regional artists, live entertainment showcasing local talent on two stages, artist demonstrations in Glassblowing, Metals and Ceramics, children’s activities, and a variety of food from featured local restaurants. Come to Mesa Arts Center to kick off the holiday season at this fun-filled community festival! Admission is free to the public.
For more information about this event, visit our Interactive Brochure"

Come, buy handmade gifts and support local artists!

Here is just a sampling of some of the jewelry I will have. I still have tons in progress and lots of fabricated work in the finishing process. Come check it out!

Unfortunately I have to teach at Phoenix Center for the Arts that day, so I have to leave my booth for a stretch in the middle of the show. My husband Scott will be there to watch my booth and he is a much better salesman than I so watch out! I should be around at the beginning of the day, and also for the last few hours so be sure to stop by and say hello.

New Work

I just finished some new work (sorry the image is so dark). I did a sketch of this image over the summer and am just finally done with the piece!

I am pretty happy with how it turned out and can't wait to make more like this!

The materials are a found silver platter, copper and embroidery. Measures about 14" across and about 5" wide.

PhotoStamps

I found out about these awesome Photo Stamps through Danielle from etsy metal . She did a post on the etsy metal blog about using them as a marketing tool and I just had to get some for myself. Awesome! I'm not totally sure they are worth the cost, they end up being about double the cost of regular stamps, but I will only use them for very special things:) I think over the winter holiday break in December I am going to put together a little catalog of my production work and mail it off to some galleries. My expensive stamps can be for that!

Weekend and Website Update

I had a nice relaxing weekend at home in Tucson. We even caught a rare November rainstorm on the highway while driving back. Right before I took this picture we crashed into a huge tumbleweed. It was cool. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that!

Also, I just updated my artist statement and resume on my website for those of you that are interested. Although, at my 15 hour review one of the faculty told me to come talk to her about my artist statement. She said, "I'll make you sound more like you than you ever could." So, my artist statement will probably be getting another makeover very shortly. I am grateful for the help. Change is good.

Its Over.

Well, my 15 hour review was yesterday. It was quite possibly the hardest thing I have ever done. I feel like I have been a stressed out crazy person since August. I really do not deal well with anxiety. It will be good to get back to normal (just slightly crazy and stressed out!). Anyway, basically I had a committee of 5 faculty that I had to talk about my work to. The committee was composed of my metals professor, two fibers professors, the wood professor, and an art historian. I had everything all set up and I had about a 20 minute talk prepared. I introduced myself, talked about why I was in grad school, and why I chose ASU. I then began to talk about my work, going pretty much chronologically through everything I have done in the last year and a half. I explained each piece, the thought process behind, the techniques, and all the ideas about it. I talked about what I learned from each of the pieces and how they led me into what I did next. When I was done talking I opened up the floor for questions. Their first response, the first thing they said the second I quit talking was, "Wow, you have been busy." I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt to hear that. I have put everything else in my life behind this. I have put school first for so long...it just felt like ok, it has been worth it. I do feel like I need to find a better balance though. Anyway, then they went on to ask me lots of questions and to make comments about my work and ideas. They asked things like what I was reading (and then they told me I needed to broaden my reading horizons which is totally true), who I looked at for inspiration (I had a big long list for that), where I saw the work heading, etc. They also asked questions more specific to my work like why I was using certain colors, why the found objects were important, why I was using certain symbols, why why why why why why why. They gave me tons of feedback, all positive. They encouraged me to check out some artists they named and to consider some things that I hadn't thought of before. They helped me see my work in an objective way. Then they sent me out and deliberated. After a few minutes they let me back in and shook my hand. I passed! Within an hour and a half, it was all over. I talked so much all the moisture in my mouth dried up and I couldn't feel my tongue! I was so nervous, I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my whole life (which says a lot since I live in Arizona!) It was hard and not fun and pretty much horrible (or at least all the moments leading up to it were horrible) but now its all over and I have a lot to think about. I am really grateful for all the positive feedback I was given and for all the new directions I can now take my work....Which is good, becuase now I have to get to work on my thesis.

I decided to take the weekend off and am enjoying a couple of days with my family in Tucson.

Work in Progress and The Day of Reckoning

Finished drilling holes on a new wall piece. Hopefully I will get it all embroidered in the next week or so. In this piece I am using the embroidery more as a drawing tool than I have before...instead of just a decorative element. The two figures are connected by a chain. In some of my work I use the chain metaphorically...kind of an allusion to humanity. Each of us are links in a chain, connected to others around us whether we are aware of those connections or not. I think in my next pieces I will take the embroidery even a step further with the figures and not just have them be in silhouette. I will use the stitching to draw in some features, or maybe outline clothing. We will see. Oh yeah, and my 15 hour review (the day of reckoning:) is tomorrow. Wish me luck. I decided that if my committee hates these platter pieces, then I can always use the rest of the ones I have collected to just serve the food on at my opening reception for my thesis show (that is if I EVER get there!)

Today is a Big Day

I am happy and hopeful...and I feel a passion for politics that I have never felt before! When I watched the acceptance speech I got goosebumps and was so overcome with emotion I actually cried (which isn't really that rare for me...) but I thought it was really moving.

Image above the work of Partick Moberg, via Creativadoration.

Etsy Featured Artist

Thanks to Debbie Gooter, I am being featured today on the Etsy Featured Artist Blog! Go check it out to read the interview!

Debbie features a different Etsy Artist every day of the week. Her blog is a great place to find some of the best items/sellers on etsy!

Thanks Debbie!

What I'm Wearing on Tuesday

Proudly.
And, no matter who/what your political choices may be, get out and VOTE!

T-shirt From Satisfactory on Etsy.

Mark Your Calendars!

This year, I will again be participating in the Mesa Contemporary Arts

HOLIDAY ART & MUSIC FESTIVAL

When: Nov 22, 2008
Start time: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Where: Mesa Arts Center

"The annual Holiday Art & Musical Festival will feature original works of art for sale by several local and regional artists, live entertainment showcasing local talent on two stages, artist demonstrations in Glassblowing, Metals and Ceramics, children’s activities, and a variety of food from featured local restaurants. Come to Mesa Arts Center to kick off the holiday season at this fun-filled community festival! Admission is free to the public.
For more information about this event, visit our Interactive Brochure"

Come, buy handmade gifts and support local artists!

15 Hr Review Practice

I set everything up for my review and did a practice run through yesterday. My talk needs some polishing and I need to be more prepared to answer questions, but I am feeling more ready. Lets just get this over with already! (Its this coming Friday)

If you notice lots of junk in the background and strange wall arrangements its because the room where my review is held used to be studio space, but is now a big storage room (and also where we take photos). I have to make it look as nice as possible while trying to hide all the junk in the corners. Its funny. Oh, and the reason I have pictures of my pieces on the walls and not the actual pieces is because those pieces are away at shows or sold.