Monday, June 11, 2012

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!