Fall Classes 2012

Here's whats on my plate for fall...sign up now, classes start soon!  I'll be at Mesa Art Center, Central Arizona College, and doing a few weekend workshops all over the place(more details on those to come).

Mesa Art Center:

Intro to Fabrication Basics: Beginning Jewelry

Mon. Aug. 27-Dec. 10, 9:30am-12:30pm

Hand Fabricated Chains

Thursday, August 30 - Thursday, October 18, 2012, 9:30am-12:30pm

Brooches and Pins

Friday, August 31 - Friday, October 19, 2012, 9:30am-12:30pm

Filigree
Saturday, September 8 - Saturday, September 15, 2012, 9am-5pm

Creative Entrapments/Cold Connections for found objects

Saturday, September 22 - Saturday, September 29, 2012, 9am-5pm

Earrings

Thursday, October 25 - Thursday, December 13, 2012, 9:30am-12:30pm

Marriage of Metals 

Friday, October 26 - Friday, December 14, 2012, 9:30am-12:30pm

Holiday Ornaments with the Hydraulic Press

Saturday, December 1, 9am-5pm

Central Arizona College (Superstition Mountain-Apache Junction Campus)

Beginning Jewelry Design/Metalsmithing

Tuesdays 2:30-5:00pm

Tuesdays 6:00-8:30pm

August 20-December 12

A few more classes this spring...

I'll be teaching a few more classes at phoenix center for the arts this spring, click on each one for details. Don't wait to register, these classes fill fast!
Findings and Finishing Touches
Marriage of Metals and Solder Inlay
Forming, Shaping, and Embossing (working with the hydraulic press)
Creative Entrapments

Arrowmont: The Class

I went to Arrowmont as an assistant to my professor Becky McDonah for her class, "Pressure and the Hydraulic Press." It was so fun to meet everyone in the class and spend many hours a day working along side such great people.Becky covered SO much material including, creating surface textures and volume using the hydraulic press, creating and using dies, embossing to deeper forming, anticlastic and synclastic forming, how to create hollow forms using the press, and even more!

(These bracelets are the work of Chris Legaux)

Mostly, people in the class created small samples of all the various different techniques. Not everyone left with a completed piece, but all left with a huge new library of techniques! These are some of the pieces created by class members...Becky also asked me to give an etching demonstration, so that people could learn how to use etched surfaces in conjunction with the hydraulic press. I taught various resists such as asphaltum, paint pen, nailpolish, and the PNP photo transfer technique. I think people had a lot of fun experimenting with etching for the first time!

(Annette Leeuw created this piece above.)

I like how people creatively combined techniques to create really interesting forms. This piece was etched, fold formed, and then a matrix die was used to form it in the press.

(This bracelet the work of Chris Legaux.)

This nickel bracelet was created by etching, forming, and then nickel rings were added for decoration.

(Annette Leeuw)

This was one of my favorite etchings that came out of the class!

I didn't have as much time to work as I thought, but I decided that I wanted to make something small to give to a few of the people that made my experience at Arrowmont so great. I wish I could have made something for everyone that I met, but there just wasn't time! I made a die for these small copper scalloped forms, and then embroidered differently on each one. On the last day of class, after the studio cleanup, we had a little critique. I really think everyone got a TON out of this class, and I very much enjoyed working with everyone.Most of all I am grateful to Becky and everyone at Arrowmont for giving me this opportunity. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was so hard for me to leave arrowmont when the week was over. I met so many amazing people and had such a great time! I will go back someday, there is no doubt. I hope it will be soon.

Adventures in Arrowmont: Days 3&4

Well, I knew it would be, but Arrowmont is a beautiful amazing place. There are so many talented and inspiring people here...all willing to share and learn from eachother. I feel priveleged to have taken part in such a great experience, and to have met all those that I have encountered here.

The studios are wonderful too...
This is the metals studio. It has 3 rooms and so much nice equipment. It also has big bright windows that look out into the lush greenery outside. I could stay here forever...I had the opportunity to come to Arrowmont to be a Faculty Assistant to Becky McDonah (my professor at ASU) for her "Pressure and the Hydraulic Press Workshop". I feel so fortunate to be here and have been having the time of my life! Becky is a really great teacher and everyone is busy working and enjoying the class.Here is Becky giving a demo... I am pretty sure I was supposed to be assisting her and not taking spy photos from the balcony, but I don't think she noticed.This is our class admiring Becky's piece in the Faculty show.This is the outside of the studio. It is surrounded by the Smoky Mountains. The last couple of days we have had a few big thunder storms, and I now know why they call them Smoky! When it rains everything starts to steam. The whole area just fills with a smoky haze. It is really pretty and far from anything I have ever seen in Arizona!This is looking into the metals studio from outside during the downpour. I am especially envious of this friendly yet necessary sign, and have already vowed to Becky that I am making one for our studio as soon as I get home.Another one of my favorite parts of the studio was all the sample boards, especially this one by Charles Lewton Brain. Wow.I have lots more to post, but this is all for now. Arrowmont is a truly inspiring place and I am having a really great time. Every corner holds someone or something new and there is just so much creative energy here, its great!I will leave you with some more entertainment from Gatlinburg's strip...
This is the Pancake Pantry, and the best dang pancakes you have ever had in your life. I promise!
See, I told you there was a Guinness Book of World Records Museum!I love all the little candy shops. I stopped and bought way too much old fashioned taffy. It was so yummy!And, just in case you thought I was lying about the airbrushed T-shirt craze... That is all for now, more to come soon!