I have a big show opening next week!  The show is titled eleMEnTAL and features the work of Tedd McDonah, Becky McDonah, and myself.
I hope to see you all at the reception next Friday, but if you can't make it, the show will be up through August 12th!  Details below!

eleMEnTAL

Featuring Arizona Artists Becky Chader McDonah, Tedd R. McDonah, & Lynette Andreasen

When:

Friday, May 25 - Sunday, August 12, 2012

Where: 

North Gallery: Mesa Art Center, (480) 644.6500

One East Main Street

Mesa, Arizona 85201

This exhibition brings together three Arizona metalsmiths, whose aesthetics complement each other but retain their individual forms of expression. With precious and semiprecious metals and stones, these artists create reliquaries and containers, fishing lures, jewelry and other intimate art objects that beacon closer examination. Beyond the elegant surfaces, the work provides a deeper conversation on relationships, attraction, heritage, status and other implications of society.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 25, 2012 (7-10pm)

FREE and Open to the Public
• Musical Entertainment by JT’s Island Steel
• Artists in Attendance
• Benefit Raffle Drawing (Raffle items on display and tickets available for purchase starting Friday, May 18. Contact Betty at 480-644-6567 for more information or visit Mesa Contemporary Arts’ front desk.)
• Light Refreshments and Cash Bar

Phoenix Magazine

I'm excited to share with you that I've been featured in the May issue of Phoenix Magazine. Check it out on newsstands now...I'm on page 38!

The feature includes a plug for my upcoming 3 person show at Mesa Art Center. The exhibition is called "eleMEnTAL" and includes the work of Becky McDonah, Tedd McDonah, and myself. See details below.

When: Friday, May 25 - Sunday, August 12, 2012

Where: North Gallery, Mesa Art Center, Mesa, AZ

"This exhibition brings together three Arizona metalsmiths, whose aesthetics complement each other but retain their individual forms of expression. With precious and semiprecious metals and stones, these artists create reliquaries and containers, fishing lures, jewelry and other intimate art objects that beacon closer examination. Beyond the elegant surfaces, the work provides a deeper conversation on relationships, attraction, heritage, status and other implications of society. "

Opening Reception:
Friday, May 25, 2012 (7-10pm)

FREE and Open to the Public

Graduation Gifts

So, I'm bragging, plain and simple...but its my blog...so I'm allowed...right? I don't know. Anyway, I got some really sweet gifts for graduation and they were just too cool to keep to myself:)My parents bought me this sweet solid wood jewelers bench from Starr Gems in Tucson.Two of my sister in laws gave me this mini jewelers bench, which is working perfectly as a little soldering station for me.My husband bought me this AWESOME hydraulic press (made by Michael Dale Bernard).

My friend Lizeth Garcia, a woods grad at ASU, gave me this carrot spoon she carved from basswood. Check out her etsy shop.

My professor, Tedd McDonah, gave me this fishing lure he made from recycled tin. Get your very own Recyclure in his etsy shop.
My friend Ellie Richards, another woods grad at ASU, made me this beautiful little wood chair from recycled 4x4. I love it! Ellie just opened up an etsy shop and you can get your very own chair here.And my friend Katie Poterala, made me this necklace and earrings, which I totally love. Check out her etsy shop here.

Patterned Metals

This semester I am taking a patterned metals class with Tedd McDonah (a piece of his mokume work pictured above). We are learning how to make mokume gane and Damascus steel. On Wednesday half the class fired their billets. My turn is next Wednesday. After I fire my billet I will do a more detailed post on the process and take you through the whole thing. For now, here are some teaser photos. Oh, and just in case you didn't know...100 degrees outside and a 2000 degree forge makes for one very hot night!!

The picture above is of the metal stacked in alternating layers in the torque plates ready for firing. We did billets in combos of copper, nickel silver, and brass.Putting the billet in the forge.Heating up the billet until bonding of the metals takes place. The metal sweat beads above are evidence that the layers have bonded. Removing the billet from the forge.Clamping in a vice to remove torque plates.The billet after being removed from the forge.Hot forging the billet down to a thinner gauge.

The billet after it has been hot forged. The next step will be to roll it down in the rolling mill to a workable size and then pattern it and roll it out even more. Stay tuned for a more thorough post on the process!

Loot

Check out the awesome stuff I got at our last ASU Metals Club Jewelry Sale. I love our club sales...it is so fun to buy/trade jewelry with my talented friends!!

I got these fun little pins, and this ring below from my professor, Becky McDonah. Its an Olive you ring...get it? I LOVE (Olive) you!! SO awesome.This ring was made by my professor Tedd McDonah. I have a couple of his forged rings and they are all super gorgeous. This new one is my favorite. Visit Tedds etsy shop to get your own forged ring, and check out his flickr.

These brooches (and the necklace at the top of the post) are from my good friend and fellow metals grad, Victoria Altepeter. Check out her etsy shop, and her flickr.

If you want to be notified about sales at ASU, go to the ASU Metals Blog and sign up to be on the mailing list.

Presenters at Yuma 30

As promised, here is my post on the Yuma Presenters this year... I am only posting on the presenters whose lectures I actually went to. Unfortunately they schedule them to overlap, so you have to pick and choose. These are the artists I chose to see...

James Thurman is currently a professor at Penn State University. He creates wearable and sculptural pieces out of laminated paper. He calls his technique "Mokume Kami" or wood grain paper, made to look like the traditional metalworking technique Mokume Gane.
His work "contains both actual and metaphoric relationships to ideas of recycling and sustainability. The paper involved has been directly recycled as new objects. What is created emphasizes its origins both literally and conceptually: vessels of recycled material that embody the principles of sustainability. The largest gain from this process is not the physical reduction of landfill, but the infiltration of these ideas through unconventional and unexpected channels."
Check out his flickr.
Or his website. Tedd McDonah is a metalsmith who lives in Tempe, AZ but would rather live in Wisconsin. He is currently a professor in the Metals Department at Arizona State University. Tedd says this about his work,
"Taking a cross-section of American culture and modifying it with my own hypocrisy, cynicism, and aesthetic is the best way to describe what goes into my work. As today's fishing tackle manufacturers crank out their "up-to-date, high-tech, fish-catching, signature-series," there is simultaneously a brand of people (myself included), who are snatching up and collecting antique fishing lures, and to them, the older and more rare, the better. It used to be these lures were meant to catch fish, but now they seem to be lures for people rather than lures for fish.
My approach to making lures has covered both aspects: people lures, and fishing lures. Bringing these two elements together has allowed me to make a seemingly utilitarian object.
The "jewelryesque" type lures have been inspired by both jewelry and spinner baits which have been cross-bred to produce this object which was not meant to be worn--or fished with.
The plugs, or top water lures, appear to be more straightforward. I chose to use traditional materials (wood and metal) and nontraditional materials (found objects).
While the majority of the pieces in the exhibition were formally influenced by actual lures, some are of my own invention.
And finally, to answer the most asked question......Yes, they do catch fish."

Check out his flickr.

And his blog.
Elliot Pujol is currently the metals professor at KSU. He creates forms, usually in copper, that are loaded with texture and folds. His wall pieces and vessels are a beautiful combination of texture, color and form.

Michael Hosaluk is a wood sculptor and turner living and working in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

(This image taken from functionart.com)

Michael says about his work,
"My love of woodworking is not only for the beauty and mystery of the material, but in the inventing of new techniques and processes to create objects.The materials I use relate to the objects I make. At times, a piece of salvaged wood will become a starting point of design. Other times, a design will call for a piece of wood with incredible grain. Using plain wood, like birch allows me to approach the object as a three dimensional canvas. Here, I can apply a variety of surface design techniques to express an idea.My work tells stories from my life, places I’ve been, people I’ve met, architecture, our environment. These stories are interwoven into the objects I create. Craft goes beyond the pleasure of our senses and deals not only with aesthetics, but our social and ideological lives.Fascination with how turned forms can be manipulated keeps me excited about future possibilities related to woodturning."

(These images taken from Del Mano Gallery)
Dana Moore is currently Director of Programs at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Her work focuses on historic processes and she often takes found photographs and alters them to narrate her own personal life experiences. Unfortunately I could not find any of of her work online, and the only image I have of her work is terrible quality. I absolutely LOVED Danas work. She was probably my favorite presenter this year...her talk was very honest and eloquent and her work was so beautiful and personal. If you ever get the chance to see it...I highly recommend taking that chance!

James Viste is a blacksmith living and working in Detroit. Sorry for the poor quality images, this was all I could find online, but his work is really beautifully textured containers.

Other presenters that I wasn't able to see were the following:

Jim Romberg-Ceramics

Greg MacGregor-Photography

Nancy Worden- Metals

Mardis Nenno- Ceramics

James Todd- Printmaking

Sarah Whorf- Printmaking

Stephani Stephenson- Ceramics

Matthew Herbet- Furniture

Allen Dutton- Photography

Daniella Woolf- Painting/Sculpture

The Yuma Symposium is AWESOME. I love going every year and the presenters are always amazing. It is such a good time and I highly recommend it to anyone!

Two New Etsy Shops You HAVE to See!

Two friends of mine just opened up their etsy shops! The first one is:

Newclassicpottery.etsy.com

My friend Jason Woolery just started an Etsy shop for his pottery. I met Jason at Arrowmont this summer. One of my favorite parts about going to Arrowmont was the friends I made. I feel like in one week I made friends that I will have for many years to come. Jason is a very talented ceramicist who will be applying to graduate schools this year to start next fall. I've been trying to talk him into applying at ASU but I am not sure if he is buying my sales pitch. As much as I love ASU, I'm not sure I would want to live in Phoenix after living in beautiful Tennessee! Anyway, his work is great and I am sure he will do well wherever he decides to go.
I bought this bottle above from him the other and can't wait to get it. Isn't it gorgeous?! He has some other really beautiful things (like the jar below) in his shop too, go check it out!

http://www.newclassicpottery.etsy.com/

The other shop you have to check out is:

TeddMcdonah.etsy.com

Tedd is one of the metals professors at ASU. He teaches blacksmithing and patterned metals (mokume gane and Damascus steel) and a few other classes. He is one of those people that you can spend 5 minutes with in a metals studio and wonder if you will ever in your lifetime know as much as he does about metalsmithing. I probably won't. Anyway, his work is awesome! He makes fishing lures (and lots of other stuff). Here are some of the lures he has for sale so far (but keep checking back because he is adding more everyday!) Also, check his blog to see his other work.

Floralure Orange and White Twitch and Pause IV Recyclure E Cheesy Recyclure Good as Au

Go check out his shop to see more of his work!

Craftsmanship Opening Reception

Please join me for the opening reception for the Arizona Designer Craftsmen Juried Exhibition, "Craftsmanship" on Monday, September 22nd from 7-9pm. I will have two pieces on exhibit. There will be lots of work in media including metals, ceramics, glass, fibers, wood etc. Fellow graduate students Victoria Altepeter (metals), Nick Deford (fibers) and Erik Bogner (metals) will also have work in the show, as well as my metals professors Tedd and Becky McDonah. Awards for the show will be announced at 8pm. The show is located at Gallery 100 on ASU's Main Campus. Here is a map to the gallery. Hope to see you there!