Whimsical Wares!

Today (Friday 11/12) and tomorrow (Saturday 11/13), my work will be in a great new art and craft show that is being held here in Richmond, Virginia. I'd like to introduce you to Whimsical Wares!

This great show is being held at the Smoketree Community Center, which is located at 11100 Smoketree Drive in Richmond, VA 23236. The show is open from 11am to 7pm today, and on Saturday from 10am to 3pm. Lunch will be offered in the cafe, and there will be a huge variety of beautiful work to fill all your holiday shopping needs. We have original paintings, printmaking, mixed-media sculpture, ironwork and blacksmithing, woodworking, jewelry, cards, unbelievable pottery, and some of the best polymer clay millefiori work I have EVER seen! Amazing stuff, all of it made by a group of local artisans (including me!).

I took a few quick cell phone pictures this morning just before the show opened...sorry for the less-than-stellar quality...everything is SO much more amazing in person!

My display

The amazing polymer clay millefiori work done by Carolyn Schallmo

The stunning pottery of Steven Summerfield

The show!

Yes, this is my little Noah, helping out!

So, come on out this weekend and get your holiday shopping list taken care of, have some lunch and enjoy a unique shopping experience. Your loved ones will get a terrific handmade gift that is one of a kind, and YOU will be helping to support local artists and artisans.

Well, it's Tuesday

So, I've been working on my Art Every Day month pieces, and truth to tell, I haven't shown any here because I haven't finished any yet. I've been grabbing a few minutes here and there to work on some journal pages and some jewelry pieces, but nothing is completely done enough to show. I'm occasionally scatterbrained when I get several good ideas all at once!

Anyway, I realize that I actually HAVE completed a few things in the last few days....if you look at beads being 'complete' even if they are not made into jewelry. For some reason, I have been very interested in focusing very intently on the beads I am making over the last couple of days. By this I mean that I have been spending a lot of time in my head, rummaging around in there, and so the beads I have been making have been detailed, large, complicated to make on my torch, and have consisted mostly of very very small dots and thick layers of encasing. I love working with dot designs, as most of you may know, and encasing is one of those skills that I feel you really have to work on and practice. The base bead has to stay warm throughout, but develop a solid skin on the outside so that the encasing layer can be applied without smudging the base. I've also been playing with a variety of methods to get the encasing layer to go on evenly and cover the base bead as completely as possible.

And the dots....I am a huge admirer of Brad Pearson's work (and he even lives in Richmond! I need to take a class from him someday), so I have been trying to incorporate some of his detail and technique into my own beads. Of course, compared to his work, mine look like they were made while I was drunk, but, hey, practice makes perfect, right? (and kids, don't drink and torch. Bad idea.)

Anyway, that has been my focus for the last two beadmaking sessions. I've been trying out different color combinations, too. I think some of these are successful. Some, not so much.

I'm liking this current focus on focusing. I am feeling very insular right now and spending a lot of time thinking. My favorite way to deal with a 'mood' or an introspective period like this is to hole up with some loud music directly into my head and something to do with my hands. Somehow I think this helps me work out whatever it is that's in my head. My mood and state of mind definitely informs the work I make at any given time.

At this point, I am going to sing the praises of Pandora. I absolutely LOVE listening to my Train station (ha!), and now that my husband has bought and installed our new media server, I am thrilled to be able to listen to my music in the house like we have a real stereo system! (How dated do *I* sound??) Music is an essential component of life, especially mine.

Oh! For any of you who are local to Richmond, VA, my work will be available for sale at Whimsical Wares, a new art show and sale that will be held this weekend, November 12 and 13th. It will be at the Smoketree Clubhouse on Smoketree Drive in Richmond. Open from 11-7 on Friday and 10-3 on Saturday, there promises to be a lot of really great work for sale -- jewelry, painting, ceramics and other fantastic gifts. You should go check it out!

Celebrate!

Oh, there are so many things in life to celebrate! SO many! Just the fact that the weather here has gotten cooler and we are now coming into the holiday season is enough for me to celebrate!

But I think in this post, I am going to take a few minutes to celebrate what I think is a major accomplishment for me this year, although for some in the art jewelry world, I'm sure it's pretty minor.

Publication.

I have always been an artist at heart. Always. When I was younger, it was only applicable to whether I could draw. I sure as heck could dance. I was thoroughly trained and beautiful. Plenty of recognition in my world. But that didn't make me an artist, really, said my young adult self. What baloney! Thankfully, I realized what was at my heart before I got to the end of my life! Now, I am an artist, in multiple media, to be sure, but that is how I describe myself, because *I* believe it. I don't really need to have anyone else acknowledge that fact, because it's essential to my soul.

Outside validation, though, is still pretty darn cool.

So today I am celebrating something I never thought would happen. In 2010 and early 2011, I will have six pieces of my work featured in five magazines. Two of the publications are out right now....

First was the September 2010 issue of Bead Trends magazine:

And the second is the October/November issue of Step By Step Wire Jewelry:


And the third should be available on December 1st, according to the website. I will be in the Winter issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry! That would be exciting enough, but what really takes it over the top for me is that two of my friends are also in the same issue -- Cindy Wimmer and Melissa Manley! I am so thrilled to be included in a publication along with such fine artists!

Edited to add: I just heard from another friend, Barbara Lewis, who is ALSO going to be in the Winter Belle Armoire Jewelry! That makes it even more exciting! I {heart} Barbara Lewis!

Check this out!

There's a little sneak preview for you, of one of the two pieces that make up that article. I have to admit it was a complete shock to see this, and I am thankful to Cindy Wimmer for sending it to me, otherwise I would still be in the dark about it! I cannot wait to actually hold the magazine in my hands and see the photography for my pieces....and see what Melissa and Cindy have in their articles, too! Only a few more weeks til it's out!

Sigh. I love celebrating things. This has been an especially fruitful year for me, personally and professionally, and I am just thrilled.

What are YOU celebrating today?

Art Every Day Month!

Today is November 1st (wow! HOW did THAT happen?!). It's All Saints Day, the Dia De Los Muertos, the first day of Samhain, and various independence and national days for a few countries. It's probably also the official start of the holiday shopping season, and there are only 60 days left until the end of 2010.

Today is also Art Every Day Month, which is an annual challenge event hosted by Leah Piken Kolidas, designed to encourage creativity and daily artmaking among all of us. I've been a subscriber to her Creative Every Day blog for a long time, but never have "officially" participated in AEDM. This year, though, I thought I would make the effort to really do a piece of art every single day in November.

So, today is the first day. It's 9:30a.m. local time, and I have created nothing yet, but a dream of my new kitchen island (which will be red). I'm debating between just making something every day, versus doing something structured every day, like a page in an art journal, or a piece of jewelry. I don't know yet, but hopefully by the end of today, I'll have something. I'm optimistic, if nothing else.

So, stay tuned and see what I come up with! The kids are out of school for two days and they are already hopped up on sugar from last night, so we'll see what ends up happening.

Hmm,...candy wrappers....

The Green Man

I received a request from a friend of mine to create a Viking knit bracelet that has some beads shaped like the Green Man on them. This friend has an affinity for this Celtic motif and uses it in her home and even has a Green Man tattoo. Of course, I love a challenge and I also love to sculpt in glass. Some of you who read my blog entry from October 7, about soul-filling, have already seen the beads.

The finished bracelet looks like this:


It's on the way to my friend in Illinois right now. Enjoy, Katie!

Edited to add: The lovely wirework endcaps are a creation of the brilliant Kerry Bogert. I want to be sure to give her credit for the design of those!

Travelogue, Day Four: My Hometown

The shore of Lake Ontario

I was born in, and lived in, Rochester New York for half of my childhood. My extended family still lives there, and I have many, many fond memories of that city. It's fairly rare that I find myself able to travel "home" very often, so I knew that a trip to Corning (only an hour and a half from Rochester) would mean a definite side trip.

On Saturday, the weather was beautiful -- sunny and slightly chilly and just perfect for looking at all the gorgeous fall leaves along the way. We made good time getting up to my grandmother's house, which is in a suburb of Rochester, literally right on the shore of Lake Ontario. It was great to see my grandmother, who is 85 and getting along in years. I brought her a photo album stuffed full of pictures of my family. Her memory isn't what it used to be.
The great thing about my family (well, one of the great things, anyway) is that we all live fairly long lives and most of us maintain our ability to be physically active long into our 80's. That makes me happy. Gram is doing great, and I wish I could see her more.

Kitty and I also spent some time on the lakeshore, which was incredibly windy and blustery!
I have such amazing memories of this beach, from childhood and from college years. I have always loved it, and always spend time skipping stones and looking for beach glass and heart-shaped rocks. I found both, plus some shells tossed up by the nor'easter.

On our walk, I discovered that the house I have coveted since I was a little girl is for sale. It's a beautiful 1907 house with incredible views of the lake and a loooong stretch of property that includes a portion of beachfront. It faces the lake and it just breathtaking. Alas, it is only 3 bedrooms (not enough for my family) and it's way out of our price range. Still, it was fun to think about.

After time at Grandma's, we met up with the wonderful Kerry Bogert for an afternoon (and evening!) of antique/junk/thrift shopping, the BEST margaritas and Mexican food I've ever had, and general hanging-out fun. I got to meet her beautiful children and terrific husband, see her house (I know, you are all jealous after seeing her pictures), and take lots of pictures.

Oh! I forgot! I took a quick side trip on the way to Kerry's house...I drove through the neighborhood I lived in when I was a kid. Seeing my old house is always fun. It's even red again (it has been red and brown over the past 30 years)!

227 Albemarle Street

I even remember our old phone number there. Isn't it funny how some things just stick with you? Of course the house looks smaller, and the driveway much less steep than it did when I was riding my bike down it as a child, but overall the feel was the same. The Japanese maple I climbed, the brick steps at the neighbor's that we all used as "base" for endless games of tag, the carriage house that was the garage...all there, and all the same. I wish I could have seen the inside and the yard, but I was polite and didn't want to intrude on the current owners.

But. I digress.

Back to the shopping! We visited Antiques and Old Lace, All That Jazz, and Rehouse, then went to Maria's in Webster for food and margaritas. Yum!

It was a fantastic day, and I was so happy to hang out with great friends and scour some really outstanding shops for great old stuff! I only bought a few vintage Rochester postcards from the early 1900's, but I was happy.

That night, we stayed at my aunt's house in Webster, and then got up really early to begin our trek back home. It was the end of a terrific, soul-filling trip, and I was happy.

Thanks for sticking with me through my travel stories! Back to art and jewelry in a few days, I promise!

Travelogue, Day Three: More Medieval Glass and the Tour De Nostalgia

On Friday, Day Three of our Upstate Adventure, we woke to some pretty typical mid-October weather. Cold, rainy, windy....yeah, it was a nor'easter blowing in. Thankfully, I had the forethought to make sure we brought real coats and umbrellas and gloves and scarves with us, just in case. We needed 'em.

In the morning, I had signed up for a lecture in which we were to learn about the comparison of medieval material culture with ancient material culture, and the importance of glassware in relation to other table utensils. Unfortunately, the scheduled speaker had some travel issues resulting in his being stuck in Philadelphia, so a change in the lecture was made. Fortunately, once again, I had the distinct privilege of listening to a joint presentation by Dr. David Whitehouse and William Gudenrath on the specifics of making blown glass vessels in period. Dr. Whitehouse discussed a variety of different objects, how they were used and what they represented, and then Mr. Gudenrath showed specifically how most of those objects were actually made. He showed several videos in which he himself was creating a replica claw beaker or enameled beaker or carafe. Unbelievable! I just cannot truly express just how exciting it was to go over the actual process by which a modern glassworker was able to exactly replicate a medieval object using pretty much ONLY the tools that were available in period. And then see it happen before your eyes. Seriously. I was a total fangirl and managed to sneak a photo during the lecture...

That's William Gudenrath on the left and Dr. Whitehouse on the right. I found out, by surfing the Museum webpage, that Mr. Gudenrath has two degrees, neither of which have anything to do with glassblowing or history or the Roman period. They're in MUSIC, of all things, and one of his degrees is from Julliard. He gives me hope. :)

I also wondered how totally ridiculous it would be to ask for a photo with the both of them...I was too chicken to really do it, but I wanted to.

After my lecture, I took a few minutes to do some souvenir shopping for my children (kaleidoscopes for everyone!), and headed back to the library to finish up some research there while my friend Kitty went to another lecture right before lunch.

As a short aside, and for your viewing pleasure, let me show you some images of 19th century lampworking paraphernalia:

The sign on the door of lampwork artists, Rudolph and Leopold Blaschka in Dresden, Germany

Their lampworking lamp

Nineteenth-century jars of frit!

Any of these tools look familiar?

At lunchtime, we hopped in the car and drove up to Geneseo, which normally is just barely an hour from Corning, but in a nor'easter, it takes longer than that. The wind and rain were pretty impressive, actually. Thankfully, my college friend, Ken, whom we were meeting for lunch, was patient and waited for us. It was terrific to see Ken again -- it's been nearly twenty years since we had seen each other -- and the turkey subs at Aunt Cookie's Subs in town were still as delicious as ever. It was great to walk through the Brodie Fine Arts building on campus again -- it looks the same, it smells the same, it feels the same, except in some ways it seems so much smaller than it was when I was in college. Still, it was nice to just steep myself in the nostalgia for a while.

After our visit, we drove back to Corning and spent a little while longer in -- you guessed it -- the library! Crazy. I know.

Then, back to our new favorite restaurant for dinner:

After yummy burgers, we dragged ourselves back to the hotel. Saturday, the last full day of our trip, promised to be just as packed as the previous days.

Next up: A day in Rochester, NY, the Flower City!