Meet the Maker

So I thought it appropriate since I am Friday's featured artist for Smithsonian Craft2Wear to post a short bio. and the (ever so infrequent) portrait shot.

I was born in 1968 in Baltimore, MD but grew up in a tiny Pennsylvania town, the eldest child of a high school art teacher and the most encouraging mother who thought I could do anything I set my mind to. (I think she secretly hoped I'd illustrate children's books and hey, there's still time.)

I studied communication design and then craft (so thats ceramics, fiber, metal...) at Kutztown University. Next I started toward working toward an art education certification, got married...and found out I was pregnant.

After 15 years dedicated to raising kids (3) and home schooling, I found myself with a bit more free time and stumbled upon polymer clay.  Here I had found a material that was approachable, did not require a huge outlay in new tools, could safely be worked on with kids in tow and, importantly, with which I could take everything I had studied (see above) and apply it in someway.  It provided me a very easy re-entry into what I liked to make, wearable sculpture.

Although I continue to find the material compelling, I'm also slowly growing my studio practice to include more metalwork, recycled paper and other recycled materials.

If you're interested in keeping up to date with my shows and new work you are welcome to sign up for my emails at my main website. I only send about 1 or maybe 2 emails per month because I'm sure your life is busy enough and of course I never, ever share your information.

Hope to see you at Craft2Wear Oct. 3-5!

Craft2Wear

I'm full on preparing for Smithsonian Craft2Wear at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. This is an invitational, wearable-only show and I'm thrilled to be included for the first time this year.

You can find me in my spacious 15x10 booth, #37. That's A LOT of space for jewelry (standard booths are 10x10 or smaller in some cases) so my husband and I took over the dining room yesterday to stage a mock set up to plan how we can make the most of it. I'm especially considering how I can give one full wall to my one-of-a-kind recycled pieces. Here are some in infancy form...

Craft2Wear is a more intimate sized show than say, ACC. You don't feel rushed and you have time to linger and really see what's in each booth...with plenty of the day left for a meal in the city and maybe some other sightseeing.

Hope you can make it!

TGIF

In all honesty, I have had a rough week, replete with hurdles and failings, problems to be solved, mistakes to be amended. The comfort lies in knowing I am not the only person who has times that they feel like this. Bring the weekend!

New Recycled Earrings

While working on my next batch of one-of-a-kind recycled, Redeemed earrings for Smithsonian Craft2Wear coming up in October, I chose a small selection to release right now.

They are live in my shop and I've moved them right to the top of the page so that they are easy to find.

Necklace washed away

Since I leave most of my found necklaces in place, I've always wanted to stretch the idea a bit further by photographing a piece being carried away by the tide. I tried it once before and learned the lesson to never look away because I did indeed turn my head - just once - to talk to my husband and missed the shot I had been kneeling in the sand waiting over half and hour for.

This sequence found me standing in the cold ocean water, fearing the fading daylight, fighting off mosquitoes. (A very wet spring has made for a bad bug situation in Maine this year.)

Here I actually condensed the number of photos from a total of 51 to just 16. (It just occurred to me though that a flip book with all of them would be interesting.)

The waiting and watching the tide was meditative and the whole experience a good lesson in 

letting go.

Jewelry on site

I am finding that restriction is often a component, in some way, to my creativity.  I'm a complicated human being though so you might catch me at the right (or wrong) moment also whining about restrictions, inevitably in regard to money as it is the vehicle for making so many other things happen.

This piece started out with all brick but then I found several stones, including the focal one, that were just right so I changed gears. 

I relied upon my "stash" collected throughout the week and built this necklace on the ledge that holds the cottage.

The in situ pieces in this series of work act as an exercise in making peace with this concept - restriction in materials, time, even daylight in some cases. When working on these at the beach, high tide becomes my focus as each one brings with it a new set of "supplies".

I make most of my pieces life size - this would have been lovely to wear if it had been real...and not quite so stinky. 

The beach that comes along with the cottage is a dream and most mornings I was down there before anyone was up.

Artful Home

"A great opportunity came my way" is sort of my tagline for 2019 thus far. Not that every bit of life is perfect but gosh, good things have been happening. I am immeasurably thankful.

I met a buyer for Artful Home at ACC back in February and they recently started carrying a selection of my work. I can't recommend them enough (to other artists and shoppers alike).

Their once/year site wide 15% off sale continues until Sunday.

Headed to Maine

We're headed to Maine for some much needed time away and messing about on the beach, sketching, kayaking and what have you.

I'll sneak just a bit of "work" in with a delivery to KoT Contemporary Craft in Ellsworth. I'm quite please they've chosen to include me as their jewelry selection is always top notch! Please do stop there if you're in that part of Maine (Ellsworth is the town on the mainland where you get off Rt. 1 to go out to Mount Desert Island). Highly recommended.

These are images from our 2016 trip staying at the same cottage in Friendship, Maine. That was the year I started my "found" jewelry pieces.

And to state the obvious perhaps, since I won't be here, I won't be able to ship anything.  If you happen make a purchase next week though, please know it will ship just as soon as I can June 24 or 25.

New tube bead necklaces

My new Tube Strand necklaces and earrings are now in my online shop!

My favorite part about this design is that the wearer can chose different ways to wear the necklaces. Shift the necklace a bit around the neck or form a second loop and the joints between tubes shift and form different shapes.

Quantities will be limited with these for now as I'm building stock for Ann Arbor Art Fair next month. So what is in the shop is probably all I'll have until the end of July.

On Display

This past Sunday we had the unexpected pleasure of seeing ON DISPLAY/RESTON - part art performance, part art installation, part dance.

Artists, seen in the photos in all white, positioned themselves about 10 - 20 ft. apart from each other throughout the park in Reston (Virginia) Town Center. Each artist moved slowly, holding certain poses for a minute or more, responding in movement to the other artists within their field of vision. It was open-ended, almost like dance in slow motion.

Spectators were encouraged to join and of course children did...because children "get it" and don't care who's watching. Yay for children!

The most interesting part for me was that about half of the artist were disabled and either in wheelchairs or using some walking support. The sign at the entrance to the park provided further background...

"ON DISPLAY is a deconstructed art exhibit/fashion show - a commentary on the body as spectacle and society's obsession with body image. People in the disability, performance 

and fashion world are often stared at and objectified in their daily lives.

Reverting the gaze is integral to disability culture. In this installation, the performers 

have the power to choose what they do or do not reveal, giving them control 

over a personal journey that cannot help but be affect by an audience. 

The tenuous and complex relationship between viewer and viewed that exists in 

performative work also permeates everyday life for people who are different in some 

physical way, and hence draws attention to them whether they want it or not." 

Gallery Show

So excited to be able to tell you that I've been accepted to UNTAMED: National Exhibit of Contemporary Jewelry Art at Gallery Route One in Point Reyes, CA!

Sadly I won't be able to make it to the show but if you are on the West Coast June-July and can visit, I'd love to see it through your eyes. Conversely if you know a very inexpensive way to get across the United States that would be good too.

The opening is June 22 and it runs to July 28.