Paris

Paris! Over the summer I was in Europe with my husband, and we had an amazing time! I wanted to share with you some of the incredible sights and art that we saw (and also the food). We spent about 5 days in Paris, and then went to London (which will be in the next blog post). 

It had been 8 years since I had been to Paris, and it was my husband's first time abroad, so it was quite a magical experience.

We didn't end up having time to go up the Eiffel Tower, but we had an incredible view from one of the bridges. At the top the hour, the lights shimmered in a beautiful light show for about 5 minutes.

Croissants and cafe creme. Perfect French breakfast.

Nutella and banana crepes. Yum.

Of course we had to see the Louvre! There was a huge line to get in. We probably waited about an hour or so, but it was worth the wait.

Some of my favorite paintings...

I saw some amazing jewelry at the Louvre from ancient Egypt and Greece.

One of the things I was most struck by in Paris was all the beautiful doors everywhere.

Versailles

One of my favorite places on this earth. Such beautiful grandeur! Every inch of the palace is draped in detailed beauty. The photos above are in the chapel in Versailles.

The famous hall of mirrors.

When I was at Versailles eight years ago, I missed seeing the inside of the Petite Trianon, which is where Marie Antoinette spent a lot of her time away to get away from court. This time I got to see it!

I also wanted to see the Queen's Hamlet, which is where she pretended to be a milk maid and live the "simple" farm life, but I didn't realize how large the property was, and by the time we walked over there it was closed. :( It just means that I'll have to go back! Seriously, the Versailles gardens are so huge it would probably take a few days to see everything.

This is the Queen's Hamlet from the outside wall. It looks like it's from a fairy tale!

We had to run through the Musee d'Orsay before they closed, but I was really excited to see some plique-a-jour enamel!

We also went to the Notre Dame Cathedral while in Paris. Such beautiful detail!

And I saw enamel! This is a reliquary with enamel and gemstones.

There is also a really cool exhibition at Notre Dame on the jewels of the cathedral. We had to pay a few euros to get in, but was well worth it. I was hoping they had a book for sale with images from the show, but no such luck.

A really amazing book cover with metal and enamel.

A beautiful challis with enamel and gems.

Some of the amazing looking (and tasting) food...

While walking around, we happened upon this beautiful garden market. I so wanted to buy a Paris plant, but there was no way to take it home. :)

We also went to the flea market at Clignancourt, Le Marche aux Puces de Saint-Ouen. It was amazing! We never would have found it without our Rick Steve's book, but once we did, it was so much fun to walk around and see all of the treasure. We didn't end up taking anything home because everything we wanted was either too big to fit on the plane, or too expensive. But it was still fun to see!

We also went to this crazy restaurant called Chez Louisette, where there are performers singing Edith Piaf songs, and supposedly a fake Toulouse-LauTrec (though I didn't see him). The food wasn't great, but it was a fun atmosphere with tacky Christmas decorations everywhere.

We also went to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. It was raining almost the whole time we were in Paris, and on this day it was raining pretty hard. It was a pretty amazing experience walking through the rain with our umbrellas (something we don't experience too often in Arizona).

We also found this little flea market while walking around, and found some really cute things. 

Including this jeweler's bench! I wanted to take it home, but obviously I couldn't fit it in my suitcase. :)

Be sure to come back to read my blog post about my London visit! Coming soon!

Student/Faculty Art Exhibition

I will be participating in the Student/Faculty Art Exhibition at the Shemer Art Center. If you have never been to the Shemer before, I urge you to go there. It is in a beautiful old, charming house, and they always have amazing exhibitions that change every couple of months, as well as many classes that are taught in all different mediums. I will be teaching 2 workshops there in the fall (not sure of exact dates yet).

There will be an opening for the show this Thursday night, July 31 from 7-9pm. I hope to see you there!

Behind the Brooch

It has been quite awhile since I've posted anything! So many things have been going on since I was last on here, I will have to write a couple of different posts.

I wanted to share some news about some of my work being published, which is very exciting! A few of my pieces are in a new book called Behind the Brooch by Lorena Angulo.

This is a fantastic book (and not just because my work is in it), but because Lorena has brought together some of the most interesting contemporary brooches that have been made with a viewing of both the front and back. For a metalsmith, this is huge. It gives the viewer the opportunity to see the mechanism, and the interesting way that the maker often pays just as much attention to detail on the back side as they do on the front.

Life After Graduate School

Life after graduate school...

I am way overdue on my blogging! So much has been going on since I graduated! For one, Jorge was finally able to move here over the summer, and we are getting married in a few months! :) I couldn't be happier. It's been great having him around all the time, especially after 3 years of us driving back and forth between Tucson, Sierra Vista and Mesa.

Over the summer I was hired as a Faculty Associate to teach a 3D Design class at ASU. I was thankful to have another opportunity to teach 3D Design to make the changes I had wanted to make since the first time I had taught the class. Teaching is a constant learning process, which is one of the things that I love about it.

Now I am teaching in two schools, which has been a dream come true.

I am an Artist in Residence at Mesa Arts Center, one of the most amazing and well equipped metals studios I've seen, and feel incredibly lucky to be there! I am also an instructor there, and have been LOVING it! The other instructors who teach there and the students and everyone else I've met have been great, and I am having so much fun.

The only thing that has surprised me about life after graduate school, is that I am even busier now than I was then! Not that I'm complaining. As Artist in Residence, I have my own work space, which has been so incredibly amazing, especially since I don't have enough space at home for a proper studio until we can move into a larger place. 

Also, Mesa Arts Center just purchased these beautiful brand new enameling kilns, large enough to enamel large vessels! They are great for the enameling class I'm teaching, as well as for working on my own work.

I am also an adjunct instructor at Central Arizona College in Collidge, AZ. I'm also loving it there! I teach 3 classes there one day a week, and my students are so hard working. 

Here are some images of the CAC Metals Studio:

And some images of the campus:

We just had an opening reception for the student exhibition that my classes participated in, and I am so proud of the work they did! It's a little challenging to squeeze everything into 3 short hours a week, but they were up to the task! I was really impressed with the turnout for the opening yesterday as well. CAC does an excellent job of making sure that students in the fine arts get involved. There are 3 student shows each semester, with one large juried show at the end of the year. 

This particular show had work by students from Jewelry, 3D Design, Photography, Ceramics, and Illustrator. The CAC Jazz Choir sang, and a band called "Smoke in Your Eye" played, and then there was some improv going on. The culinary students provided the refreshments, which was amazing. I've never seen a school opening quite like it, where so many different areas within the arts pulled together to make it a truly wonderful show. Unfortunately my phone died so I wasn't able to take photos with the huge crowd of people there, but maybe next time. The exhibition will be up in the Student Gallery until November 27.

Emma Van Leest

I came across this incredible artist, Emma Van Leest, who makes intricate paper cut pieces. I'm teaching 3D Design this summer, in which I had my students create a 3-dimensional paper sculpture, and her work would have been a great example! I love the intricacy of the designs and the layering of some of the pieces. I could definitely see this being pierced into metal too. :)

Certain Place

Possessor

Attainment

St. George

Necessities

Within

Arcadia

Bucolica IV

State of Being

(title unknown)