New piece and Jewelry Sale

My latest piece is titled Looking Lenses. It is currently showing in the 6th Annual Intercollegiate Metals Exhibition at Step Gallery at ASU. They are all brooches that each sit in a petri dish for display. They are all made of copper, silver, brass, enamel, camera lenses and various stones, including peridot, citrine, amethyst, topaz and garnets. The lenses are magnified, showing an intensity of color from the enamel and stones on the inside.

I also wanted to announce that the Metals Club at ASU will be having a jewerly sale next week, October 18! It will be from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in front of the Art Building. The Art Building is located adjacent to Neeb Plaza on the ASU Tempe Campus. We will have unique jewelry made by ASU students! Hurry so you can get first pick!

6th Annual Intercollegiate Metals Exhibition

This week we will be having our 6th Annual Intercollegiate Metals Exhibition at ASU! Come by to the opening reception on Tuesday! I have a new piece in the show that I will post later in the week, so you have to go to the gallery if you want to see it before then!

October 10-13
Opening reception Oct. 11 6-8 p.m.
Step Gallery, ASU Tempe campus

Come and see incredible metalwork from 6 different schools from around the country!

Arizona State University
California State University at Long Beach
Colorado State University
East Carolina University
Kent State University
Northern Michigan University

Workshop at Arrowmont

I have been taking forever on getting to this, but here is part one of my stay at Arrowmont for the Enamelist Society Conference:

While I was at Arrowmont a few weeks ago I took a workshop with Ricky Frank on "Light and Color in Cloisonne." Ricky Frank is a really great artist, and he taught me so much in the 2 1/2 day workshop. We focused on clarity and blending of colors in enamel. I was really pleased with how my sample turned out. I was able to blend colors like never before, and the enamel was crystal clear!

Ricky giving us a demo:

Here is a progression of my samples I worked on during the workshop:

The Arrowmont campus was beautiful! Here are some images I took of the campus:

The Red Barn - where I stayed

The dining hall

I saw a black bear behind this building! They were all over!

The Enamelist Society Conference

I just returned from The Enamelist Society Conference at Arrowmont in Tennessee. What a wonderful experience it was! I will tell a little bit about it now, but will have to share more later in the week since I have tons of pictures to go through, and need time to gather my thoughts.

I was pleased and honored to be included in the Alchemy exhibition which opened during the conference, and will also be showing at the Metals Museum in Memphis and the Knoxville Museum of Art. I recieved a travel grant through ASU and a scholarship from the Enamelist Society to attend the conference, which was also a real honor. The exhibition was amazing to see, with so many incredible pieces from many different artists! It was so nice to see so many enamel pieces in one show together, and how everyone approaches enamel work in different ways.

Before going to the conference, I was a little nervous about going somewhere I had never been for a week where I didn't know anyone. But I'm really glad I did! Everone was really friendly and approachable, and I met many wonderful people who I enjoyed talking to, and hope to keep in contact with and see the work they produce in the future!

The week was packed with presentations, breakout sessions, auctions, workshops, and incredibly delicious food. My stay at Arrowmont began with a workshop with the incredible Ricky Frank, who taught me so much in 3 days! His work is amazing! I especially love his abstract landscapes, and the mermaids he does! (I'm a sucker for mermaids)

I had a great time, and will share more in the next few days. Another bit of exciting news is that I will be teaching torch fired enameling this week and next week at Harold Studio. It will be great, especially since I'm all hyped up about enameling after the conference!

New production pieces

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, so I just wanted to give a quick view of the newest production pieces that I posted in my etsy shop. These will probably be the last etsy pieces I will post for awhile, since school is starting up again, and my schedule is going to be crazy! I am very excited to start teaching this fall though! I will be teaching a Beginning Metals class at ASU. It should be a lot of fun!

Here are some of the pieces I posted (or will be posting later today) on etsy!

Summer Work

The summer is quickly passing by! Here are a couple of things I have been working on this summer. I'm hoping to have at least two more finished before the new semester starts (if everything goes as planned). This has been my first summer in grad school, and it's been a great time to work in a quiet studio with little distractions and reflect on what I'm doing. Lets hope these next few weeks are productive!



Brooch - Copper, silver, garnets, plexi glass, patina

Series of brooches - Copper, reticulated brass, silver,

enamel (transparent enamel undernearth liquid enamel), garnets

Terrain

This piece is titled "Terrain" and is a neckpiece I finished awhile ago, but finally photographed. The layers and line work in the piece are inspired by geological sediment layers, while the shapes and colors in the enamel are reminicent of microscopic organisms. A lot of my work lately has been about miscroscopic images, with the idea of taking a closer look at the world around us.

The neckpiece is made of copper, brass, silver, cloisonne enamel and peridots.

I also have a bit of exciting news! One of my enamel pieces was accepted into the International Juried Student Exhibition in conjuction with The Enamelist Society Conference. It is a traveling exhibition that will show on the following schedule:

September 9 - October 29, 2011 at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN

November 14, 2011 to January 13, 2012 at the Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

February 6 to March 23, 2012 at the Metals Museum, Memphis, TN

Here is the brooch that will be exhibited in the show:

And......

I recieved a scholarship to attend the conference and a workhop at Arrowmont!!! I am so excited!