Resurrect: Opening Reception

On Friday night I went to the opening reception for the Resurrect:Art of the Reclaimed Object show at Mesa Art Center. The opening was well attended and the show was laid out beautifully (as always). I love Mesa Art Center, they have the most gorgeous space, everyone that works/volunteers there is wonderful and they always have awesome shows!

Here are some views of the gallery:This was the piece I had in the show:

Lock for a Lost Love

Found silver platter, copper, glass, embroidery, pearls, hair

12"x12"x2"These are some of the pieces from the show that I really liked:This one above I thought was really funny.

Cindy Imhoff

Place of Magic

Collage on TileTom Shields

Family

Found furnitureFrancesca Vitali had 3 pieces of jewelry that were really cool to see in person, check out photos of her work by clicking on her name.

Also the work of Marlene True.

St. Elise

Tin, Steel, Enamel Paint

Denise Laws

My New Panties Series

Wallpaper, hoop, mixed media

Lilyana Bekic

Life is Splendid (Bustle)

Splenda Wrappers, cotton, plasticMargaret Whiting

Deforestation

Law Books The Sergei Isupov show Androgyny was still up, and his work is amazing in person! The textures and shading are so unbelievable!
This is one of his pieces (above).Here are some shots of the art center...it really is a beautiful place!

They had a live band playing which was really fun.

The Fragmented Landscape public art pieces by Ned Kahn.

The Mesa Art Center Store. Be sure to stop in if you go to the show, I have jewelry for sale there!

Laser Engraved Ebony: New Series

Currently working on a new series of laser engraved ebony pieces for jewelry. These are the first completed pieces in the new series. I took some pictures as I made them so you can see the process. I forgot to take pictures of the actual laser engraving so I will do that next time.After I engrave the ebony I rolled some wire out flat to frame the piece with some scroll work.This is after the pieces of wire have been shaped.Soldered to the bezel.Set into the bezel.Now rolling some jump rings for the chain.Connecting the links.Links shaped and connected ready for soldering. Soldering each link closed (takes FOREVER!)
Waaalaaa! The final products. Stay tuned for lots more of this, I've got lots of ideas brewing and will be asking for reader participation in this series really soon.

Phoenix New Times

My piece for the Resurrect show made it into the Phoenix New Times this week! Read the full article here. It doesn't mention me, but I got a nice half page photo in which is awesome!

Don't forget about the opening tomorrow night at Mesa Art Center from 7-10!

Resurrect: Art of the Reclaimed Object

I almost forgot! This Friday, June 12th from 7-10pm is the opening for a show I have work in!Resurrect: Art of the Reclaimed Object

The exhibition is at Mesa Art Center, feel free to drop by the opening and say hello!

The show runs: June 12 – August 9, 2009

"Resurrect is a national juried exhibition that focuses on art created from found objects, materials or items initially designed for another purpose but fashioned into works of art. The "reclaimed object" serves either as the main focus or as an embellishing feature that is visually present in the work. This exhibition showcases 55 artworks in nontraditional mediums by 51 artists from 18 states."

Artists include:

Christine Alaniz (Sinking Spring, PA)

James White and Joe Milosevich (Crest Hill, IL)

Lynette Andreasen (Mesa, AZ)

Nancy Arthur-McGehee (Sandiego, CA)

Lilyana Bekic (San Diego, CA)

Elyse Pignolet and Sandow Birk (Long Beach, CA)

Jen Blazina (Philadelphia, PA)

Carol Cole (Bala Cynwyd, PA)

Kat Cole (Salem, AL)

Allison Cooke Brown (Yarmouth, ME)

June Corley (Loachapoka, AL)

Emily Dvorin (Kentfield, CA)

Irene Embrey (Anacortes, WA)

Elissa Farrow-Savos (Sterling, VA)

Gayle Friedman (Washington, DC)

Rodgell Helm (Tempe, AZ)

Cindy Imhoff (San Francisco, CA)

Soyeon Kim (Urbana, IL)

Stan Klimek (Aquila, AZ)

Roberta Lavadour (Pendleton, OR)

Denise Laws (San Francisco, CA)

Zeke Leonard (Providence, RI)

Scott Lizama (Gilbert, AZ)

Mary Ann Lomonaco (Larchmont, NY)

Joetta Maue (Brooklyn, NY)

Barbara McLaughlin (Tucson, AZ)

Timothy McMahon (Brooklyn, NY)

Libby and Jim Mijanovich (Marshall, NC)

Justen Morgan (Tempe, AZ)

Joe Muench (Ames, IA)

Armin Mühsam (Maryville, MO)

Rik Nelson (Liberty Lake, WA)

Sue Norton-Scott (Chandler, AZ)

Jacki Orr (Phoenix, AZ)

Laura Prieto-Velasco (Oak Park, IL)

Kiki Revoir (Anguin, CA)

Carol Russell (Prescott, AZ)

Jeffrey Scanlan (New Orleans, LA)

Tom Shields (New Bedford, MA)

Anne Straus (Wyoming, OH)

David Terpening (Charlotte, NC)

Ruth Terrill (La Honda, AZ)

James Thurman (State College, PA)

Marlene True (Sandy Hook, VA)

Francesca Vitali (Rochester, NY)

Margaret Whiting (Waterloo, IA)

Ira Wiesenfeld (Tucson, AZ)

Peggy Wyman (Macomb, MO)

The guest juror for Resurrect was Claire Schneider, Senior Curator of Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona.

Black and White

Working some lazer engraving into my jewelry. These are some in progress experiments...lazer engraved ebony (and white paint). Hopefully something will come of this that I can use for the portrait show at Shaw Gallery next month! Especially since ebony is $130.00 per board foot. Thats almost like buying silver. Craziness!!!

More photos of this in my flickr stream.

Portrait/Self Portrait Show at Shaw Gallery

This week I am finishing up my work for the Portrait/Self Portrait show at Shaw Gallery. These brooches will go to the show along with some new work. Here is the postcard, my image made the cover (or at least I think its the cover!)

Other Artists in the show include,

Margaux Lange

Robert Ebendorf

Tom Mann

Susan Hoge

If you are in or near Northeast Harbor, Maine on July 9th, head on over to the opening reception from 5-7, or be sure to check out the show, it runs until July 22nd.

New Earrings

Something I have wanted to do for a really long time is create a production line of my embroidered jewelry. I think I am finally off to a good start! The earrings below are pieces I created for the Earrings show at Heidi Lowe Gallery.

The show runs from June 9th-September 12th. If you are in Delaware make sure to attend the opening on June 13th (and take pictures for me!) My next step is to expand on this series, make some necklaces, rings, pendants and brooches and submit my portfolio to some galleries (which I still have never done and has been one of my goals for a very long time now.) Wish me luck and if you have any feedback on the new production work, it would be very welcome as it is very new for me!

1. silver long with turquoise embroidery 3, 2. copper long and orange embroidery 3, 3. silver long with turquoise embroidery 4, 4. silver long with red embroidery 3, 5. silver long with red embroidery 2, 6. copper long and orange embroidery 1, 7. brass long with turquoise embroidery 2, 8. silver scalloped teardrops with red embroidery 3, 9. brass and turquoise dangles 1, 10. brass and pink embroidered earrings 2, 11. copper and green embroidered earrings 1, 12. brass and turquoise embroidered earrings 2

Final Snag Post

Day 4 of SNAG began with the panel Revolution/Evolution moderated by Helen Williams Drutt English, with Marianne Aav, Fritz Falk, Liesbeth den Besten. When I read the program and it called this event a "panel" I assumed it would be a discussion. It was not. Each of the speakers gave a lengthy description and historical overview of jewelry in the last 50 years...but only really up until the mid 1970's. It wasn't at all what I thought it would be, or what it could have been. I guess I was a little disappointed with this one.

Albert Paley gave a talk on his work that afternoon which was awesome. His talk was refreshing, inspiring and honestly motivating. He talked about his evolution from goldsmith to blacksmith, to making monumental sculpture and public art. It was nice to hear from someone who has been hugely successful but is still very involved in the field and has a passion for the making. I really loved hearing him speak. I also really liked seeing his sketches. Made me realize how far I have to go in that department (as well as in many other areas!!) Great talk!

The last event I attended was the Education Dialogue. I wish I had been able to stay for the whole thing but I had to catch my flight back home and only stayed for the first hour. Unfortunately the first hour was pretty much spent arguing over the definition of Craft and where metals fit in the academic world...in a crafts dept. or a fine arts dept. Not as productive of a discussion as it could have been. Maybe it was better after I left.

Overall, SNAG was an AWESOME experience. I met many people but not as many people as I wanted to. I was shy and didn't introduce myself to people I wanted to meet. That was dumb. Next year I will be smart and get some guts. I feel like I got tons out of the experience and definitely plan on going back. I may not agree with some of what is said, may not agree with the politics, and I may not like some of the speakers, but I think you get out of it what you want to. I went in with no expectations and had a genuinely wonderful time. I saw lots of great art, met lots of great people, ate lots of great food and had tons of fun. Thanks for a great time SNAG. Ill be back next year.

SNAG Conference in Philly: Part 3

On day 3 of the SNAG conference, Neri Oxman started the day off with her lecture, "Craft by Ecology." Although mostly over my head, her talk was captivating, energetic, and really really interesting. She discussed the differences of design in nature and the man made world. She talked about how we as humans design by separating environmental concerns from structural and functional concerns. Nature has no such distinctions. She gave the example of an egg and how when squished vertically, the egg won't break, but when squished horizontally the egg cracks immediately. This is because a hen needs to be able to sit on the egg, but when the chick needs to hatch it breaks through the side of the egg. She talked about how she has been researching how to design by letting the materials dictate the form of the object. By programming complex algorithms into the computer, she lets whatever materials she is using control the form of the object she is creating. The chair above is one of her more recent pieces.

Neri Oxmans talk was very interesting and even though not directly applicable to metalsmithing (or at least the way I work) it was definitely worth attending.

Camille Paglia spoke next on "Art and Sex." I opted not to attend this lecture and instead went to the Fabric Workshop. It was an awesome space with work by tons of my favorite artists, but my favorite piece was a 52 foot felt whale (inflatable inside) made by Tristin Lowe. Thanks to sokref1's flickr stream for the photos. The Fabric Workshop was definitely worth the trip!!! It was awesome! That afternoon was Myra Mimlitsch-Gray's talk, "Anti/Icono/Clastic". Myra showed images and talked about her work, focusing on her recent residency at the Kohler Center. There was so much of her work that I had never seen and it was sooo great to hear her thoughtful explanations behind the pieces. Here are some images from her flickr stream:

That night was the Gallery Night tour, which was tied with the Jewelry in Motion show for my favorite part of the conference. There were sooo many shows to see, we didn't even get to see half of them, but we saw SO much work!! Among my favs were Wexler gallery and Philadelphia Art Alliance.

Stay tuned for one more post (Day 4) and my post conference thoughts.

Jewelry In Motion

My favorite event at the SNAG conference this year was the exclusive evening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Part of the evening was a fashion show called "Jewelry in Motion" curated by Gail M. Brown. It was awesome to see some of this stuff in person! Check out the flickr set of my snag photos for more! 1. snag79, 2. snag73, 3. snag64, 4. snag61, 5. snag36, 6. snag38, 7. snag59, 8. snag56, 9. snag54, 10. snag52, 11. snag50, 12. snag46

At the museum we also got to see the Arms and Armament collection, which had some awesome metalwork in the form of weapons and armor. Photos of that can be seen in my flickr stream as well.

SNAG Student Show Video

Arthur Hash just posted the slideshow he made of the student work...now you can all see it! Isn't the music he chose great?!

SNAG 2009 slide show from arthur hash on Vimeo.

SNAG Conference: Day 2

Day2 of the Snag Conference in Philly-Thursday
At 9 am the conference officially started with a welcome and opening remarks, followed by a presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Stanley Lechtzin. Stanley gave a moving speech expressing gratitude for all who helped him along the way, most especially his wife who, "is the solder that holds all his parts together." Its always nice to hear people give recognition to those in their lives deserving thanks.

Stanley then gave his talk as the keynote speaker on, "American Metalsmithing Revolutionaries". Stanley's talk consisted of video (no idea where it came from) of some early educators in the field who he felt were revolutionaries in the field. The video was hard to follow, mostly due to the quality of the sound, and I felt the talk would have been better received if Stanley had simply quoted relevant parts and discussed why he felt each individual contributed to a revolution, while also showing each individuals work and contributions to the field. What was nice about the video was being able to see people I have only read about in books...being able to put faces with names. There was very little dialog from Stanley himself which I found disappointing. He concluded his talk with a light call to action for educators saying, “This is not a dress rehearsal. When they [opportunities] come up, grab them.” And also, “Those who CAN, Do. Those who can Do it Better, Teach.” Overall Stanley seemed like an individual with relentless dedication to the field and his students. It seemed like he was very deserving of the award and it was awesome to see an overview of his 40+ years of metalsmithing.

Dr. Sandra Alfoldy – Imagining Ourselves: Looking into the Future of Craft

This was a well spoken talk about craft today and where it is heading. I think a meaningful part of her speech was when she addressed venues like etsy and the roll they play in the future of craft. Although I wasn't at last years conference, it seemed to me (in reading on blogs in the aftermath) that last year it was implied that things like etsy would be the downfall of "fine craft". Obviously...I wasn't there, this is just the vibe I got from the grapevie. Dr Alfoldy proclaimed the opposite, encouraging us to embrace these new technologies to educate the world about what Craft (with a capital "C") is...to educate people that Martha Stewart does not = Craft.

Leo Caballero who is one of the founders of Klimt02 gave a lecture that afternoon about the website and its mission/purpose. From what I gathered he is a philosopher who founded the company with a metalsmith. His talk was heavy with theory, high diction and hard to understand due to his thick accent (he is from Spain and this was the first lecture he has given in the states...brave guy!). He spent almost an hour on two powerpoint slides that were just text in bulletpoints. I wish there had been more images to keep my interest up simply because it was hard to follow what he was saying. He did play an awesome video at the end that made the first hour worth the wait. Too bad its not on youtube or you could watch it too.

The student exhibition and slide show were AWESOME, but lacked one thing...work from ASU!! Arthur Hash did a great job putting the slideshow together (and had an awesome soundtrack...wish I knew what the music was!)

There was not a single ASU student represented in either the show or the slideshow. Why not? Because not one of us even applied. LAME. I have to admit, I applied the first couple of years I was a student, never got in and got discouraged. This year (after finally being able to attend the conference) I realized how important it is to be represented in those shows. I promise to get ASU people to apply next year because we have a great program with some really talented students with work that deserves to be seen! I am so bummed that we flaked on that (bummed about not submitting myself especially).

Anyway, I wish I would have taken photos of the work in the student show...but I wasn't sure if that was appropriate or not so I didn't. I made the assumption that if I looked them up when I got home I would be able to find their work online. Not so. It is 2009 people...with free/inexpensive sites like flickr, crafthaus, blogger, etc. there is NO EXCUSE not to have your work on the web. Why?? Why would you not?? I don't get it.

See some images from the show here on Emiko Oye's Blog.

Anyway, last but definetly not least on Day 2 was, my favorite part of the conference...

The Exclusive Evening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jewelry in Motion

So glad I paid the extra $$ for this event and it totally made me want to have something like this at ASU...hmmm.

I am actually going to make this event its own post because I have so many pics.Stay tuned!