PEWTER: not just for tableware

I was really excited to be invited to participate in a Wearable Pewter exhibition. It is a material I have always wanted to work with but, as with so many things, I needed a purpose and a deadline to make it happen. Enter Teresa Faris and James Thurman and the Wearable Pewter exhibition. Its going to be at City Soles in Chicago during the 2019 SNAG conference, then it will travel to Ayse Taki Galerisi in Istanbul, Turkey and Alliages in Lille, France. In addition to myself, it includes work by David Clemmons, Umut Demirgüç Thurman, Dan DiCaprio, Teresa Faris, Frankie Flood, Kyle Patnaude, Juan, Riusech, Michael Rybicki, Donna Sweigart, James Thurman and Jennifer Wells. I hope you will join us for the reception on Thursday during SNAG’s Gallery Crawl from 5-8.

WEARABLE PEWTER EXHIBITION POSTCARD

WEARABLE PEWTER EXHIBITION POSTCARD

Pendulous (necklace)

Pendulous (necklace)

Pendulous (necklace) detail

Pendulous (necklace) detail


Best of 2019

Two of my bollard necklaces will be touring with the Ohio Designer Craftsman’s Best of 2019 exhibition this summer. London Bollard and Viennese Hydrant and Bollards will be in the exhibition that is opening this Sunday May 5th at the Ohio Craft Museum and then moving to the Springfield Museum of Art on September 20th.

London Bollard

London Bollard

Viennese Hydrant and Bollards

Viennese Hydrant and Bollards

Houston Goes to Nacogdoches

The wall piece, Louver: Houston, has made its was to Nacogdoches for the biennial Refined Exhibition at Stephen F. Austin State University. This year’s Juror was Perry A. Price, executive director of Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. I feel very fortunate to have had a piece selected. I will not be able to make it to the reception but perhaps you will! Its Friday the 26th at 6pm at the Reavley Gallery in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House. Price will give a talk at 5:15. The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

Louver: Houston

Not-So-Lone Star Studios: A Gathering of Texas Makers

Natalie Macellaio and Kathleen Janvier have put together a beautiful exhibition of works by Texas Metalsmiths. I count myself quite lucky to be among them and am looking forward to the reception on Friday, September 14th from 6-8. Hope to see you there!

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Recent Works at the Delaplaine and a talk at Towson University

Tomorrow I am heading to Maryland for two very exciting opportunities!

Leslie D. Boyd of the Metalsmithing and Jewelry Area at Towson University is being so gracious as to host met for a talk excerpted from my History of Crafts Class, entitled "Foundations of the Studio Craft Movement." It will take place Thursday May 3rd at 6:30 in the Art Lecture Hall at the Center for the Arts.

I am pleased to be exhibiting at the Delaplaine Arts Center in Frederick, Maryland, from May 5 through June 24. If you are in the area, stop by and say 'hi' on the 5th. The reception is from 3-5pm.

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SHELTER

The Jodee Harris Gallery at Seton Hill is currently hosting the "Shelter" exhibition, a sibling exhibition to the "Shelter: Crafting a Safe Home" exhibition at the Contemporary Craft Center in Pittsburgh. My piece, aptly named Shelter, is one of many in the exhibition. If you are in the Greensburg, Pennsylvania area I hope you will check it out!

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Shelter is based on the form of a plumb bob - a device for finding a true vertical line. Similarly, the need for dependable shelter is a significant element in decision-making.

Shelter is based on the form of a plumb bob - a device for finding a true vertical line. Similarly, the need for dependable shelter is a significant element in decision-making.

Industrial Arts: Exhibition and Public Talk

I will be exhibiting a wide variety of work at the University of Texas at San Antonio's Terminal 136 Gallery from August 31st through September 16th with a public "lunch and lecture" at the Southwest School of Art on Saturday September 16th at 12:30.

For more information about the exhibition please contact Laura Crist 210.458.4391

For more information about the talk please contact Jillian Sortore 210.200.8254

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Versailles in Iowa

The Clay Fiber Paper Glass Metal Wood (all media) show at the Octagon Center for the Arts is in its 49th year and I am pleased that one of my pieces is participating. The title itself is a bit of a time capsule, back to half a century ago when craft media was rarely mixed and the postwar studio movement was just starting to organize within media-specific groups. 

It was an honor to have had a piece chosen and then it was a whole other thing to figure out how to ship the Versailles Gate Ring! I ended up making a display fixture that would also hold it during shipping. And chastising myself (not for the first time) for designing work without considering gravity or display challenges.

Maker Moxie

I am very pleased to report that I have had a piece accepted into the Maker Moxie Exhibition which celebrates the impact of the craft school experience. My time as a resident and student at Arrowmont School of Art and Craft was formative and indispensable to the professional life I now enjoy. I was proud to submit a piece for the consideration of the three jurors and even more pleased to find that it was selected for both the catalog and physical exhibition at Peters Valley School of Craft. Images of the exhibition and pieces for sale are here.

The piece I submitted is called "Model Universe" and it is based on a technique I explored in a liquid enamel workshop with Elizabeth Turrell while a resident at Arrowmont. It was then executed at Banff in Canada during a one week residency. The forms are stitched together copper foil and derived from alchemical symbols for the sun and planets in our solar system, rotated on their vertical axis to create a volume. The study of alchemy and practice of enameling just make sense together for me.

More information about the event is here.

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 26 from 5-7pm.

On view March 26 - May 15, 2016 in the Sally D. Francisco Gallery, Peters Valley School of Craft, Layton NJ

Content/s is on its way to Taiwan

My silver kylix, Content/s, is currently on its way to the other side of the world for the Taiwan International Metal Craft Competition at the Gold Museum in New Taipei City. It is heading there for the final screening and awards process. Sometimes I really wish I got to travel with my pieces!

Metal-Phors

I was awarded a solo exhibition at the Sheetz Gallery of the Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts at Penn State, Altoona. The exhibition is free and open to the public and will run January 15 - March 15. A reception will be held 3-5 p.m. January 15 in the Titelman Study of the Center. 

The pieces in the exhibition utilize disparate forms of metalworking in order to create metaphors for intra- and inter-personal relationships. The exhibition consists of a mixture of small sculptural pedestal pieces, wearable objects and framed drawings executed in vitreous enamels. These pieces address a variety of relationships including those of the contemporary constructed body to industry, the alchemy of interpersonal relationships and those of the individual to one’s core beliefs. They represent a collection of metaphors in metal. 

 

CraftTexas Juror's Award

I am pleased to announce that "Attic Turbine" (shoulder broach) won a juror's award at CraftTexas this year. CraftTexas is a biennial, juried exhibition at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

CraftTexas 2014 was juried by Carol Sauvion, the visionary behind the PBS TV series, Craft in America, and HCCC Texas Masters, Piero Fenci, Ceramics Department Head, Stephen F. Austin State University, and Clint Willour, Curator of the Galveston Arts Center. The jurors were tasked with selecting the finest works from a pool of 176 applicants and 477 pieces.

The exhibition is up through December 24th. If you find yourself in Houston, I hope you will have a chance to go by and see it.

Soulcology: exhibition and award

Plumb Bob: Shelter and Plumb Bob: Loving and Faithful were both accepted into Soulcology: An Exhibition in Metal at the Guilford Art Center in Guilford, Connecticut. It is a national, juried exhibition and will be on view from June 6 through July 27th, 2014. It was organized by Lanette Barber and adjudicated by Robert Dancik. I am additionally pleased to announce that Shelter received the third place award! Both pieces are part of a series of plumb bobs that either hang from forged wall hooks or may be worn as necklaces.

 

The following is the statement which pertains to these pieces:

 Plumb bobs have been used to find “true” vertical lines as well as depth. These plumb bob pendant necklaces come from the understanding that hard decisions must sometimes be made and those things upon which we base our decisions are reflections of what we value. “Shelter” references the idea of a secure home as a concern around which major life decisions may be built. It is not difficult to see great significance in the ability to access a dependable shelter, and the gold key is an exact duplicate of the back door key to my first house. “Loving and Faithful” is about a commitment to another in a partnership as a foundation for decision making. My husband and I were married according to the traditions of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and our vows were to be “with divine assistance, loving and faithful” unto each other.

 

Plumb Bob: Shelter (detail)

 

CraftForms 2013

Attic Turbine Vent is currently on display at the Wayne Art Center's annual, nineteenth international juried craft exhibition, Craftforms. The juror this year was Lena Vigna, Curator of Exhibitions at the Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wisconsin. Information, including an online and downloadable catalog, may be found here. The exhibition runs from December 6 - January 25, 2014.