A Day at Woodmere Art Museum

This past Saturday, I spent the day at Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, taking part in the 'Meet the Designers' event.

It was a lovely day.

Seven of us, local artists/designers, who are represented by the Museum Gift Shop, sold our wares in the Founders Gallery.

Without question, I have never sold my jewelry in a more beautiful venue.

 

The gallery as we were setting up displays and before the space filled up with shoppers and museum-goers.

 

 

It was wonderful to be in the midst of beautiful and historical artwork.

It was also a little nerve wracking.

My space was at the front of the room.

Behind my table was a pretty narrow space that was bordered by a brass rail around 30" high.

 

 

On the other side of the brass rail was this beautiful bust of Abraham Lincoln on a pedestal.

I was a nervous wreck having to stand so close to pedestal Abe, with my back to him.

It felt like potential disaster was hovering over me for the entire day.

A couple of times, I forgot the details of my setting and was overcome with the uneasy feeling that someone was closing in on me from behind.

Of course, it was only stoic and quiet Abe.

 

I'm sure that I will offend art historians with this, but.....to my immediate left was a very peculiar portrait.

All right....I admit to describing it to some as creepy. 

I was uncomfortably fascinated by the face with shifty eyes and a five o'clock shadow.

 

It was nice to have the reassuring presence of Abe close by, even if it was a little too close.

Woodmere Art Museum 'Meet the Designers'

This Saturday, my jewelry and I will be at Woodmere Art Museum in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia.

If you're in the area and stop by, please say hello!

Hanging of Paintings at Burlap & Bean

For years, I thought about trying to paint.

Around 1 1/2 years ago I finally decided enough of this thinking about trying....just do it!

I'm lucky to live close to three different art centers, each offering a nice variety of classes and workshops in different areas of artistic pursuits.

After checking out the various oil painting classes that were available, I signed up Portrait Painting Tradition with Geroganna Lenssen at Wayne Art Center.

I wasn't especially interested in doing portraits, but I was interested in learning from Georganna after seeing her work. 

Georganna is a fabulous teacher, and my fellow 'classmates' are lovely people with an abundance of talent.

 

My goal has always been to develop my painting skill so that it could hopefully become a source of income.

This week, I hung paintings for my first show.

For the month of May, I am the featured artist at Burlap & Bean in Newtown Square, PA.

 

 

Burlap & Bean is a wonderful, independent, family owned and operated coffeehouse.

Coffee beans are roasted onsite, and I think that they brew the best cup of coffee in the region.

The Burlap & Bean folk are also great supporters of local talent, offering their walls as gallery space and the shop as a comfortable, intimate venue for musicians on Thursday and Friday evenings.

 

Want to stop by?

Burlap & Bean is located at

The Shops at Springton Pointe

204 South Newtown Street Road (Route 252)

Newtown Square, PA

 

If you like coffee, you will not be disappointed!

Special Order Earrings

I was recently contacted by someone who saw my jewelry in a local gallery that carries my work and asked if I might consider doing a special order.

Absolutely!

We met to discuss what was wanted, and my new client was hoping that I could make earrings similar to ones that I had previously made, using baroque pearls that she had received years ago.

The pearls have great sentimental value and the earrings were going to be a gift for a family member.
 

 

Seeing the pearls and appreciating the emotional significance of this project, I suggested using sterling silver.

We agreed on the choice of sterling and I was given the pearls to come up with my version of what I thought was wanted.

I needed to make sterling hoops/rings of very particular sizes and began scanning my studio for the right form for wrapping the wire into shape. 

In the past, I've used knitting needles, tomato paste cans and Sharpies to get a particular size.

 

 

For this project, I turned to my dapping punches and wrapped 14 gauge sterling wire to make coils that were then saw cut into individual rings.

 

The rings were soldered and then hammered, hammered and hammered.

And then I hammered some more.

 

 

I did consider using my planishing hammer to remove the texture marks, but chose not to do that.

I decided I liked the textural marks that capture and reflect the light at different angles.

At the base of each pearl is a small, sterling bead cap that I cut from a sheet of sterling textured with lace in my rolling mill.

The earrings were delivered last week.

 

When making the rings for this pair of earrings, it only made sense to make more for.....whatever.

 

 

I now have a little collection of various sized sterling rings for other projects like.....

 

 

my new favorite earrings.

 

These earrings have lots of movement with the outer and inner rings rotating independently of each other.

I think they're both simple and elegant, and I also think I have to keep this pair for myself.

 

But....similar earrings and others made from my collection of new sterling rings will debut at the upcoming 'Meet the Designers' show at Woodmere Art Museum on Saturday, April 11.

Early Spring in My Garden

If I had to choose a preferred time of year, I think it would have to be early Spring.

I love seeing a haze of green on the trees as leaves begin to develop.

I love the smell of the year's first, fresh cut lawn.

And I love to see my garden come back to life, especially with my camera in hand.

 

Creeping Phlox in front yard planter.

 

Surprise of a beautiful backyard tulip, not planted by me.

 

Lovely daffodils with gossamer petals.

 

Front yard crabapple.

 

Yes, crabapple again.....it's kind of irresistible with blushes of pink as the flowers emerge.

 

A while ago, I read an article on photography in which the expert stated that you couldn't be taken seriously if you were taking pictures of flowers.

Meh.....who cares?

Garden Textures

My recent successful texturing of sheet metal with garlic skin has made me look at lots of things from a new perspective.

I find that I am often wondering, "Hmmmmm....I wonder what would happen if I put that through the rolling mill?"

I'm especially thinking that as I clean up my garden beds.

When texturing with organic material, the item has to be completely dried.

If there is still the slightest bit of moisture in the leaf, petal, whatever...., you will end up with a smushed mess and no impression.

Trust me.....I know.

 

Old fern fronds were my first rolling mill candidate.

Sections of the fronds were sandwiched between pieces of brass.

I positioned the rollers close enough that it required both hands to turn the crank.

In spite of the amount of pressure, I was only able to get a very faint impression.

Even though it's lovely, I had hoped for and expected something a bit more dramatic.

 

I'm happier with the results that I got with parts of my miscanthus.

I first layered segments of the leaves between brass....

and love the impression that they left.

 

Then I sandwiched a seed head between two pieces of brass.....

and love this impression even more.

 

There are lots of  rolling mill possibilities in my garden beds.

Spring cleaning is probably going to take a long time.

Playing With My Food

You might need to work in metals to appreciate why I'm excited about these two pieces of brass.

 

For me, developing unique textures with my metals is central to developing unique pieces of jewelry.

That's why I do a lot of etching; I like knowing that I'm working with a piece of metal that no one else has.

I'm always interested in finding promising, new textures.

Once a week, I work in the metals studio at Main Line Art Center to take advantage of certain tools that I don't have in my home studio.

It's also nice to be working alongside a group of creative and talented jewelry designers.

A lot of work gets done, and there is also a lot of sharing of thoughts regarding jewelry design and techniques, politics, economics, relationships, art, music, etc....one of the reasons why we are known as the Hammer and Yammer Group.

Someone in the group had recently read about using garlic skins for creating texture on metal.

I always have garlic in my pantry.

I sandwiched some of the garlic skins between pieces of brass and then fed it through my rolling mill.

I love the delicate, ghostly impression that was created.

More experimenting is definitely called for.