Tease...

Charmed

In January, I was invited to enter work into a new show at the Society for Contemporary Craft, called Charmed. I was excited to put work into the show considering I had just finished over a year of intense research on amulets, talismans and fetish objects, I felt like this show was perfect for me.

Since there has been a ridiculous amount of snow on the eastcoast, Sharon Massey who is running the project decided to put all the charms up online for everyone to see and purchase. I love this idea, since it makes the work more accessible for everyone. More and more galleries are trying this out. It looks like a few have already sold, but I wanted to make sure you could all go see it if you haven't heard about it. Check out the shop here.

UW Oshkosh, Textural Patois and Susie Ganch: Bits and Pieces

Last week I traveled up to Oshkosh to visit the metals lab at UW-Oshkosh, meet Jessica Calderwood, see the 2010 National Juried Exhibition: Textural Patois at the Allen Priebe Gallery and see Susie Ganch's lastest work at the Annex Gallery.

Whew! What a whirlwind day. Myself, Stacey Lee Webber and 7 undergraduate metals students traveled up in two cars and got a chance to wander around the campus before the lecture and show closing events. What a great campus. We wandered around for a while since some of the events were cancelled. We did get to take a look at the metals studio, which was small but still packed with huge amount of tools and space to work. Everything was so clean, Jessica admitted it HAS to stay that way in such a small space. I thought it was still a really great space, and I would love to work in it! I especially loved the big open room where everyone had a really nice bench to work on.

The show looked great! I wasn't able to take any pictures of the work, however I did pick up this postcard they printed which has images of all the work on it. Very hard to see individual pictures though. I hope the gallery will put some images up online.


Susie Ganch's work looked so great all by itself in the Annex Gallery. I love how her work has shifted from its roots in jewelry to more sculptural/installation based work but still references the body. I really enjoyed hearing her talk about how she would like viewers to interact with the work as she walked around the gallery explaining each piece. I'm not sure if I have ever heard her talk about her work before, so it was a real treat, and it only makes me love the work even more. Here is the e postcard for the show with Susie's newest piece on it:


This is the biggest piece she has ever made, and no sooner than she said she wouldn't go much bigger, she took it back and said she wants to keep going and going and getting bigger. I'm excited to see what she comes out with next. Thank you to everyone for an excellent trip!

SUPER PICKLE!!

My students this semester are so RAD!

Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum

Colnik's Masterpiece (the ironwork piece he completed to earn the title MASTER blacksmith) it includes all the elements a blacksmith would ever use..

tools from his shop

Examples of some of his work

On a beautiful, sunny Milwaukee morning I was invited to come visit the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum along with my the advanced undergraduate metals students at UW-Milwaukee and all the graduate students from UW-Madison. We were invited to come visit the museum and draw inspiration for a brand new project. The museum's curator is heavily interested in supporting the emerging craft artists of Milwaukee, and wants us to propose exhibition ideas of how we could exhibit work that is specific to this space.

Two weeks ago, I went to the mansion of Captain Frederick Pabst who is most well known for his contribution to the brewery market. What I loved about that home was how extremely decadent it was, and it was only built about 100 years ago. He was from German Heritage, and came to Milwaukee because of the thriving brewery market, and the Villa Terrace is another example of this expedition by German immigrants.

Cyril Colnik was an Austrian master blacksmith, who traveled to Milwaukee after finishing his apprenticeship in Vienna, and his instruction in France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and finally Munich, Germany. He came here to support his peers for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, and stayed because of all the work he was able to get in the large German community of Milwaukee at the time.

The large collection of his work is scattered around the mansions in Milwaukee and the largest collection of work at the Villa T. Martha Monroe, the museum's curator boasts how fascinating it is that his work was not meant to be art, but it was just the way he was trained.

Anyhow, there is a lot to consider here in preparation for my proposal to the museum for a show. I love how exciting it is to hear about the rich German history here in Milwaukee. First breweries galore, now decorative arts. I've been so excited about working with iron lately, I'm very appreciative to have been invited to this wonderful opportunity, and I am pumped to start working on it a bit more. For now, I am really responding to that last image. Something about the palette of that dark wood, the drapery and the pattern of the white embossed ceiling is really striking me.

What is your Heart Made of?

In the aftermath of the destruction in Haiti, the world is coming together to help Haiti rebuild. Advanced level jewelry/metal students from the VCU Craft/Material Studies department want to contribute in this effort by organizing a jewelry sale and donating the proceeds to the Red Cross. Quirk Gallery will host the sale February 11th-13th. All jewelry pieces are affordably priced and made from a variety of materials that are both precious and mundane, yet all treated with the utmost care and love. Join the opening reception for "What is Your Heart Made of?" 6-8pm on February 11th to contribute in the complex effort of rebuilding Haiti. Quirk Gallery is located at 311 W. Broad St Richmond VA 23220

Sale Dates and Times: Opening Reception: February 11th, 6-8pm Feb. 11, 12-8pm Feb. 12, 10-5pm Feb. 13, 11-4pm

Neo Futurists

"TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND" is the name of the 6 person rockstar showing I saw a few weeks ago late on a Saturday night in Chicago. The Neo-Futurists are a collective of performers who engage in a somewhat unconventional performance style that is more artistic and theatrical, but in all the good ways.

You must get there early, wait in line for at least 30 mins before the show starts at 11:30 on a Saturday night. Then you are greeted by a vivacious performer who hands you a trinket of some sort (mine was an army man) which you exchange for ticket inside the tiny 150 person theatre. If you are lucky enough to go on a night when the entire theatre sells out, they order pizza for the crowd! The price of your ticket is $9+ the roll of a six sided die. And of course, and additional donations are gladly accepted.

There are only 3 rules, turn off your cell phones, if you are too drunk - go home - so you don't barf in the theatre, and have FUN! Participate!

Every show is different and full of energy! The show is 60 mins and the actors attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes, so only 2 minutes each! They didn't finish all of the skits on the night I went but I really wanted them to. The work is contemporary, serious at times, funny most other times, full of fun and amazing how quickly they run around and pull of the amazingness that is independent art. From cake being smashed in the hands of a lucky few audience members, to a race around the building to see who has the "Advantge" to meeting "Ryan Walter: Bad Ass Bar Back" it was definitely the best $11 bucks I've ever spent and I can't wait to be able to go back.