Big Bang

Well, our trip to Tucson started off with a bang. Hopefully it will end the same way! If you want to know why there is a picture of a cop at the top, you have to read all the way to the bottom. Its a funny story. But first, for those of you that are not familiar with Arizona geography, I live in the Phoenix area and Tucson is about 100 miles southeast of Phoenix. It is about a two hour drive. About halfway to Tucson last night we encountered some pretty powerful Arizona weather. Some places get rain, some get snow, we get massive walls of flying dirt.

(I didn't take this picture but it shows what I am talking about, you really have to see it to believe it! This picture is of downtown Phoenix.)

We have a monsoon season in late summer, which is really something to experience. The best part of the monsoon season is the awesome lightning displays.

(I didn't take these pictures either, but they were taken in Tucson.)

Anyway, I had to pull off the freeway for about 20 minutes until I could see enough to drive. Then, after the dirt, came the rain. We got a great little downpour!

(These two pictures I took when we pulled off the road. Visibility was pretty low.)

Here is where it gets funny...

As if that wasn't enough, when I was about two miles from home I had some more excitement! Driving in the opposite direction of me was a cop. My heart always starts racing when I see them, I don't know why, it just does. Just as I passed him, he flipped around and started tailing me VERY closely. Bummer. I knew exactly why too. I had a headlight out. Just as I turned on my blinker to turn, his blue and red lights went flashing. Big bummer. I pulled over and the officer came to my window and what surprised me then?! It was a kid I went to high school with. Funny. Fortunatley for me he remembered me, so luckily I walked away with no ticket...this time. I told Scott he is driving home!

It is finally Friday! Scott and I had high speed internet installed in our house yesterday so now I can blog at the speed of light. Yay! It used to take like 5 minutes for one picture to load! I've never really been one to keep up with technology though...

So, I finished a ring the other day but no brooches. I leave for Tucson tonight and can't wait! Who knows when the next time I can go home will be. Once school starts I will be an art slave! I never really found a gallery to approach about my work. I guess I will have to visit some in Tucson this weekend and see what I stumble upon. Wish me luck!

(This picture is of the mountains in Tucson, one of the things I miss most! They surround the entire valley and are so gorgeous.)

Better Shots...

I took new images today of my newest pieces, as promised! I am also almost finished with a ring that goes along with the series, which I will be posting pictures of soon! I am super disappointed because the gallery that I was hoping to get these into is not currently look for artists. Anyone know of a space my work would fit well into?
(The piece pictured above is called, "Belonging.")

This one is my favorite. I like the colors, the texture, the size, I think this one is the most sucessful so far. It's called, "Inclusion."

This one is not my favorite...So far it has been dexcribed as a "70's bathroom" and a "plate of peas and carrots." Hmm, not exactly what I was going for...

The back of peas and carrots. Actually this one is called, "Acceptance." I got the texture by hammering it on the concrete for a while. All of these pieces are made with sterling silver, copper and embroidery thread (with the exception of the first piece, "Belonging", which does not contain copper.)

Progress

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

-Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

That quote perfectly describes how I feel. I love getting things done knowing that after that thing there is just another thing to do. With art, there is always something to improve on the next piece, always something to do differently the next time. I love knowing that I will never run out of ideas!

I pulled a twelve hour day in the studio yesterday and finished one more necklace. That makes three. Im hoping to have enough in this series done to take to a gallery in Tucson this weekend. Now I need to make some brooches and a ring or two. Back to work!

(Once again, I am so excited when I finish pieces I take pictures of them right on my bench, so I apologize for the yucky background!)

Last Chance

This weekend I took my last chance at a break before school starts and went camping. Scott and I went with some friends and family to a place called Haigler Creek. While everyone else fished I took pictures. I love photography. I think it is a good thing I took a photo class so late in my undergrad career, if I had taken it any earlier I don't think I would have been able to choose between photo and metals! Anyway, we had a blast! I even went swimming in the frigid creek. It felt great until I started thinking that crawdads were eating my toes! The boys caught lots of fish, we saw a bobcat, a horny toad, TONS of bugs, a snake, a squirell, 3 blue jays, and lots of crawdads. I felt like I didn't sleep a wink at night because I was listening to all the scary creature sounds outside my tent, but I must have slept a little heavier than I thought because everyone else heard the rain at night except me! It was a good time. We left just in time too, as soon as we started packing up to leave it sarted pouring rain. Talk about good timing (packing in the rain is NO fun!).

So that was fun, but now there is two more weeks until school starts, and I hope I am ready! I plan on spending the next two weeks finishing my "connection line" of jewlery and applying to galleries. Then I will be able to focus completely on school. This semester I will be taking two metals classes and Art History of the 20th century (I think). I want to take a light load my first semester. I will be posting projects I am working on every week, so keep checking!

Here is some cool tree fungus that I couldn't stop taking pictures of. I don't know why. It reminded me of my favorite childhood movie, "Ferngully the Last Rainforest". I love that movie!

This is a fallen tree across the creek that I was not brave enough to cross.


A smaller, less scary bridge from two fallen trees that I was coaxed into crossing.

The Horny Toad.

The coolest picture I took, I got lucky and caught an insect in mid flight.

Here is Scott with his catch. I am not the biggest fan of fishing. I am by no means a vegetarian or P.E.T.A. member, but it just seems a little mean to me, especially when they catch one and decide it is too small and then throw it back with a giant wound in its mouth. Anyway, they had fun fishing, I had fun finding cool things to take pictues of.

This is a tiny seedling no larger than a small finger, isn't nature beautiful and amazing?!

One More!

Well, I finished one more necklace today. I think I'll make a ring next. A really big one...

(I know these are bad images, I was just so excited to get it posted when I finished! Better pics soon to come, I promise!)

Inspiration

This past week I spent all day everyday helping out at the Boys and Girls Club in Guadalupe. Although I spent almost no time in the studio, I am posting what I did do this week with the kids because I believe that we are inspired by everything around us. So, even though I wasn't working in the studio, I was spending some quality time with some very inspiring individuals and getting ideas for new work! The kids gave me lots of headaches, lots to laugh about, all their germs (and a nasty cold), and lots of them gave me beautiful original artworks that I would like to share with you. Some of these are portraits the kids did of me, and as you can see, children see the world much differently than we do! Unfortunately I cannot post pictures of the kids themselves, but here is some of the artwork they did for me this week, and in the past.

Work vs. Work

Well, today was the first day I've been into the studio in about a week. Sad, I know. I've been helping out at the Boys and Girls Club everyday this week and have come home too exhausted from crazy children to even think about working on anything creative! I love those kids, but I love my studio time too, and this week I have been going through creative withdrawl! Tonight I spent a little time working and I got about 75% done with another necklace in my "Connection Series". I just need to do the embroidery, set the top piece, and do a little bit of finishing work. Hopefully I will get back into the studio this weekend! Here are some pics of the newest (unfinished) necklace...

(Top picture shows the top piece of the pendant with holes drilled and ready for embroidery.)

This picture shows the top piece of the pendant and the chain.

This picture shows the top piece of the pendant on top of the back plate before the prongs have been soldered on. This picture shows pendant with unfinished prongs. All that is left now is embroidering and setting the top piece!

"Connection Series"

This summer I had a goal to get some of my jewelry into a gallery. I've been finding a million ways to keep myself busy and away from that little task. It's funny the things I can convince myself that need to be done first (like creating business cards, a blog, and custom return address labels with my name and logo). Well, after much procrastination, I am finally approaching that task and starting on a line of sterling silver embroidered jewelry. I finished the first piece yesterday and am almost finished with a second. Here are some pictures of the first piece in progress. I will be posting pictures of the pieces that will follow as soon as I finish them. If you are a frequent gallery attender and know of a place my work would fit well into, by all means, let me know. After I make the pieces I have the daunting task of searching out a gallery who will show me. Yikes!

This picture was taken of the top piece that I sew into and the back of the bottom piece which is what the top piece is set into. The back piece has two hooks which will be where the chain attaches. This way the piece serves dually as pendant and clasp. (I took these pictures right on my bench so, sorry for the ugly background!)

This is a picture of the pendant as I am embroidering on it. In the background is the back piece with the prongs which the embroidered piece will be set into.

This is a picture of the finished pendant. I embroidered the top piece and then prong set it into the back piece.

This shows the back of the pendant and how it works as both pendant and clasp.

This is the finished piece, complete with oxidized chain. This necklace is for sale in my Etsy shop.

Check back for more as I hope to have several more pieces completed before school starts!

My New Shop

I finally decided to take the plunge. I quit my job to make jewelry full time. I set up an online shop for my jewelry and have spent the last few weeks photographing all of my inventory in order to post it online. The shop is through a site called Etsy. Etsy was created for artists and crafts people to sell their work. Everything on the site is handmade by artists all over the world. Most of what I have up now is beaded earrings and some small fabricated items. I will be spending the next several weeks before school starts working on a line of finer pieces. I want to create a line of pendants, rings, and brooches, incorporating sewing into silver. Please check out my shop and let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy looking at what I have so far, tell your friends, and get your jewelry on! Check back often as I am updating the site almost daily.

To visit my shop go to:

http://www.asymmetry.etsy.com/

There are also many other great artists/metalsmiths on etsy.com! Check it out!

Grad School

In the fall I will be starting the next chapter of my life...graduate school. I will begin working on my Masters of Fine Arts in Jewelry and Metals at Arizona State University. The program takes three years to complete at the end of which I will have to present my thesis (a cohesive body of work large enough to fill a gallery). I believe I am taking on my greatest challenge yet and cannot wait to get started. I have already moved into my "Studio" and started working. My space is small, but I feel right at home and am just happy that I have a place to work.

Exciting News

Excitingly, I was recently published in the book 500 Necklaces, and in the July 2007 issue of Art Jewelry Magazine. Please check them out if you are interested.

Art Jewlery Magazine

500 Necklaces

Chapter Closed

In December of 2006, I closed a monumental chapter in my life. I graduated from Arizona State University with my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Metals and Jewlery. The follwing images are some pieces completed during my undergraduate career.