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."
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."
"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!
Here is where it all starts...at Lutes Casino (not a casino at all, actually more like a bar/restraunt), in historic downtown Yuma. At Lutes we spend many hours socializing and swapping trade pins with other Symposium go-ers. The pin swap will be a whole post of its' own because I have too many awesome trade pins to show you!
Anyway, here you see us all decked out in our pins. I know I look scary in this picture, but it illustrates how much fun the pin swap is, and this wasn't even all the pins I traded for! 
After the pin swap, we all head over to the old theater to hear the presenters give their sales pitches as to why we should attend their lectures or demos for the rest of the weekend.
This year I attended the lectures/demos of...
And (my asu professor) 
After all the presentations, we have the National Saw File and Solder Sprints! Its a relay race to make a band ring. 
The first person has to saw out the ring blank, the second person has to file and form it, and the third person has to solder it. Our team was named "Two grads and a spaz."
It is super fun and really competitive and the three winning teams take home some killer trophies. Unfortunatley ASU didnt bring home any trophies this year, but we are already gearing up for next years competition!
There is also a pin auction the last night, which benefits the Yuma Symposium. 
It gets a bit crazy, but it is always fun and I like to come home with something every year. This year I bought a bracelet (a lot like this one) made by James Thurman. 
And you probably remember me showing you this already, but this is the wall vase that I made with the other ASU Metals grads as our contribution to the auction.
These ladies come every year and make the best tortillas (over a trash can fire) that you have ever had in your life!
Last weekend I went down to Tucson with my good friend and fellow metals grad Victoria, for the Tucson gem and mineral show. 
Even crazy huge belt buckles.
It was a really fun trip and I came back with some awesome new goodies.
