Countdown - 80 Days

Only 80 days until my thesis show!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything on here! I have been very busy with working on my thesis show, teaching, and selling work over the last couple of months. With the sales I did, I am just about wiped out of my inventory, which is awesome! I will post a sneak peek of my show within the next month or so, so check back soon!

I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to teach different classes over the last couple years I have been in grad school. This last semester I taught 3D Design at ASU, which was a lot of fun! I had a great class who did some really great work. Next semester I will be teaching Color. It'll be a lot of work, but I'm looking forward to the new experience. Here is some of my students' work from 3D Design.

Heather Freitas - 3D Paper Sculpture

Kyle Reyna - 3D Paper Sculpture

Michele Coomer - 3D Paper Sculpture

Michele Coomer - Wire Sculpture

Michael Martin - Wire Sculpture

Quetzal Vargas - Cuttlefish Pewter Casting

Kyle Reyna - Cuttlefish Pewter Casting

I will also be teaching classes at Phoenix Center for the Arts, and I will be teaching a couple of workshops at The Shemer in January and April. 

Enamelist Society Online Student Show

This is a little late, but I just wanted to announce that I have work in the Enamelist Society Online Student Exhibition. There is a lot of really great work in the show! It's exciting to see all the incredible ways that people are using enamel. I'm not sure how long the show will be up, but I encourage you to check out the show before it comes down!

MicroDwell & MicroBrew Event

Next weekend I will be selling my jewelry at the MicroDwell & MicroBrew event at the Shemer in Phoenix. It looks like it will be a really fun and interesting event! Here's a sneek peek of some of what I'll be selling:

The event is Saturday, November 17 from 10-6, and there's a $10 entrance fee. The Shemer is located at 5005 E Camelback Rd on the corner of Camelback and Arcadia. Come by and say hello!

Here's a little blurb about the event:

MicroDwell 2012 is an exhibit of owner-built micro-dwellings featured on the grounds of the Shemer Art Center in Phoenix. The exhibit showcases the design features of small modular structures, their varied uses, and alternative construction techniques through cost-effective ways. MicroDwell 2012 highlights the positive benefits to the environment through conscientious material selection, use of salvage materials, and minimization of waste.

The exhibit showcases the creative effort of each builder and includes varied designs from practical to artistic. Structures are 600 square feet or less, self-contained, modular, and portable. Built to reduce their impact on the environment, microdwellings are no longer an option only available to wealthy environmentalists. These micro homes are sustainable architectural solutions for those looking to build a home or studio in an affordable manner.

The opening celebration will take place on November 17, 2012, from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. with an event called Microdwellings & Microbreweries featuring Arizona microbreweries, food trucks, artist booths, lectures, and demonstrations by the builders.

Admission is $10 per person. The Shemer, located at Arcadia and Camelback Road, boasts a wonderful scenic view of Camelback Mountain. Open to the general public, the hours are Tuesday - Saturday from 10 am - 3 pm and Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:30 pm.

For more information go to www.shemerartcenter.org

Wood Exhibition

One thing I love about fall is that gallery shows start happening again after a quiet summer. There will be a show exhibiting wood work at Tempe Center for the Arts, in which I will be showing one of my pieces.

The opening will be September 8 from 7-9 pm, and the show will be up until January 5.

There will also be a panel discussion with some of the artists in the show November 1 from 6-8 pm, which will very interesting and exciting!

The Start of My Last School Year

It's been quite awhile since my last blog post! We have just begun the new school year, which I am excited, scared, happy and sad about all at the same time! I had a wonderful summer spending much needed time with my amazing and supportive boyfriend, teaching classes at Phoenix Center for the Arts, and working in my studio.

This is my final year of graduate school, and I'm looking forward to many things this year, including my THESIS SHOW, teaching 3D Design, meeting new grad students coming in, and thinking about what I'll be doing when I'm finished with grad school (which is sort of a scary thought).

This year is also nerve wracking because my thesis show is coming up sooo quickly (March 18-22). I'm sure I'll be ready by then (fingers crossed), but I have a lot of work to do! Let the stress begin!

Here are some images of new(ish) work that I finally got the chance to photograph.

Wall piece. Copper, brass, nickel silver, lithographs on metal.

Neckpiece. Sterling silver, brass, copper, enamel, photo decals.

Detail.

Back of the necklace.

Back detail.

I'll be busy in my studio, so I should have more to share soon! :)

New piece

This is a piece that I made recently. It's made with wood, copper, enamel, silver and a lens. More to come soon...

SNAG Conference 2012

I had an amazing time at the SNAG Conference here in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago! This was my second time attending the conference, and this time it was slightly less overwhelming, having known what to expect. It was still jam packed with things to do, which was exhausting, but very inspiring and amazing!

I think the highlights for me were the Education Dialogue, Megan Auman's talk, and the Trunk Show. As well as of coarse meeting new people and seeing people I hadn't seen in awhile. It's so great having those few days to spend with so many metal smiths with interests that are the same as my own.

The Education Dialogue was organized a bit differently than last year's, in a way that I really liked. The organizer was Victoria Altepeter, and she brought in a panel of experts in different areas that were paired up to talk about different topics. They were broken up into groups for more intimate discussions, and participants could choose which topics interested them the most. I was a note taker for the Business group, which I was thrilled about. The two experts were Johanna Ingram, who owns Harold Studio here in Phoenix, and Dana Cassara, who owns Danaca Designs in Seattle. We also had some people who joined the group who were business owners themselves, and had a lot to contribute to the discussion. It was a really great in-depth conversation, and felt that I learned a lot about owning a business.

The conference kicked off with the Pin Swap Pool Party. It was awesome! There was a mariachi band and a mechanical bull, and I was able to swap for some cool pins! These are the pins that I made for trade.

The exhibition crawl was amazing as well. There were exhibitions at the Scottsdale Museum for the Performing Arts, the Shemer and Mesa Art Center. The Mesa Art Center shows will still be up until August 12, so you should go see them if you haven't already!

All of us at the Final Night Party!

Lithographs

This semester I have been taking a Lithography class at ASU. Like anything new, it's a bit of a challenge, but so much fun! I really love printmaking, and have always wanted to try lithography, so I jumped on the chance. My instructor, Ellie Honl, has been so great and so supportive. She's been really great about allowing me to incorporate my metalworking into the prints, which has been a fun and different way of working for me. I've been less resistant to making wall pieces and haven't been making as much jewelry lately, but I'm back into making some that are nowhere near finished yet. I'm also printing directly onto metal in my latest piece, but you'll have to wait to see!

This was made by drawing on a stone and then printing the image, while also blocking out part of the image with stencils. The portraits in blue ink were then printed on using a smart plate, then I pierced copper pieces that are fastened to the image, which is mounted on wood. 

This is the same process, only the pierced metal parts are extended out from the image. 

Here are all 5 that I made!

As soon as I'm finished, I'll post images of other recent work!

ASU Art Museum Store

I have exciting news! My work is now being sold at the ASU Art Museum Store! Next time you are in the museum, pop in to see my pendants and earrings! And don't forget to tell your friends!

Yuma Art Symposium 2012

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Yuma Art Symposium with the ASU crew, and it was a lot of fun! I saw some great speakers, hung out with some fun people, and saw some great art!

This year the ASU grad students and our professor Becky McDonah collaborated on trophies for the National Saw, File and Solder Relay Race. This is what we made! Jackalopes! Totally awesome! We also made one for the auction.

The ASU team won 3rd place in the Saw, File and Solder Relay Race! And we won our trophies, so the jackalopes were able to come back home with us!

The ASU gang

At a gorilla art show that Bob Ebendorf and Kat Cole put together! This was so much fun to see! They both do found object work, and they created an impromptu art show in someone's backyard with all of their findings from the area.

Here are all the trophies that were made by different schools (including ours). Everyone did an amazing job. 

Marlene True giving a demo on making a tin box.

Marlene True drinking a beer while giving a demo. Hilarious!

There were great metalsmiths who spoke this year including Bob Ebendorf, Helen Shirk and Marlene True. It was really interesting to hear Bob Ebendorf talk about his work, since I had never heard him speak about it before. We also went to some antique stores, and ate great Mexican food while we were there! Can't wait to go again next year!

Wedding rings

My sister got married over the weekend, and I made the wedding rings for her and her new husband! They are both made of sterling silver, and the bride's band has three flush set blue sapphires. I'm happy to say that they both love their rings! 

Mokume brooch

New piece! Mokume game with copper and nickel, copper, enamel and decal.

I also wanted to announce that the Metals Club at ASU will be having a jewelry sale next week! Come by  and support the Metals Club! We'll have great gifts for Valentine's Day!

This weekend there will also be a trunk show at the ASU Art Museum that Katie Poterala will be participating in. Go and check it out! February 4, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Paulette Werger Workshop

So, I'm really late in writing about this, but a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in a workshop by Paulette Werger in Tucson, through Arizona Designer Craftsmen. The workshop was titled "Making Your Mark" and we learned a number of ways to to make your own mark on metal. It was a pleasure meeting Paulette. She is very friendly, knowledgable and helpful. Most of the techniques were ones that I've done, but it was interesting to see the different ways in which she does them, so I still learned a lot.

On the first day we did etching. Something I hadn't really thought about before was etching on brass plates to use for texturing metal in the rolling mill. As long as you don't apply too much pressure, you can use the plates 50-60 times. Another interesting thing was the way in which she sets up her etching bath. The metal turned out to have a much cleaner etch than the way that I had been doing it. Instead of laying the metal upside down, suspend with tape, she had the metal sitting vertically, and had a bubbler from a fish tank agitating the acid.

Paulette giving a demo on different ways to apply a resist for etching

Container for acid

Etching outside

Paulette also talked a lot about using argentium silver, which I had never used, but will definitely be trying out. She fuses all of her argentium, so there's almost no cleanup! That's always something to aspire for!

The keum boo was what I was most excited about learning during Paulette's workshop! I had tried it once before, but wasn't entirely successful with it, so it was great to see her process. For those of you who don't know, keum boo is a Korean technique in which 24k gold foil is fused onto fine silver, or the other way around. The gold is applied to the silver through heat and friction, by burnishing the gold onto the silver over a hot plate. Paulette makes her own keum boo foil, which is thicker than commercial foil, and you can certainly see the difference. I managed to roll down my gold to the right thickness during the workshop, but now I need to finish the rest of the process.